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A review by book_lizard42
Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer
4.0
I cannot say enough good things about this book. I learned so much about Jewish culture, keeping kosher, the meaning behind the strictures around intimacy and the female cycle . Mad respect! What on the surface sounds backward, demeanig, maybe even misogynistic, is in reality meant to perpetuate true intimacy. It was a good reminder to me to quit making judgments about some practices of other cultures.
Don't accuse me of vague-booking. In Jewish culture, women and men only share a bed for 2 weeks out of the month. While the woman is menstruating and for seven days after, she is "unclean." Eww! Women is dirty? NO! Okay, so how it works out in actual PRACTICE is that during the two weeks they sleep apart, they don't talk about sex, don't intimate about it. But the couple does sweet little romantic things for each other. In good modern practice, maybe they send each other a text during the work day. Or they buy a little treat for the other. Or flowers. A little note left on a pillow. They hold hands, cuddle. So that when the two weeks is up, they can't WAIT to share a bed together again, and they feel cherished in the process.
The other thing the author addresses is chronic pain and the toll it can take on the people who experience it. TW; there is a brief discussion of suicide, which is an important topic to talk about in relation to chronic pain. This author GETS it. She understands the endless cycles of doctors, specialists, horrible procedures, only to be told "There's nothing I can do, here let me under-prescribe any kind of helpful pain management solutions." The author doesn't leave it there, though. She reframes chronic pain and shows us how the protagonist makes peace with the body she has. I really loved that. It was a good re-frame for me.
Jewish culture and modern Jewish practice, chronic pain, these topics are revealed very naturally, without the dreaded inf0-dump. I appreciated that.
The romance story line is pretty sweet, and the writing is good. I went through and reserved every title this author has available. I cannot wait to learn more.
Don't accuse me of vague-booking. In Jewish culture, women and men only share a bed for 2 weeks out of the month. While the woman is menstruating and for seven days after, she is "unclean." Eww! Women is dirty? NO! Okay, so how it works out in actual PRACTICE is that during the two weeks they sleep apart, they don't talk about sex, don't intimate about it. But the couple does sweet little romantic things for each other. In good modern practice, maybe they send each other a text during the work day. Or they buy a little treat for the other. Or flowers. A little note left on a pillow. They hold hands, cuddle. So that when the two weeks is up, they can't WAIT to share a bed together again, and they feel cherished in the process.
The other thing the author addresses is chronic pain and the toll it can take on the people who experience it. TW; there is a brief discussion of suicide, which is an important topic to talk about in relation to chronic pain. This author GETS it. She understands the endless cycles of doctors, specialists, horrible procedures, only to be told "There's nothing I can do, here let me under-prescribe any kind of helpful pain management solutions." The author doesn't leave it there, though. She reframes chronic pain and shows us how the protagonist makes peace with the body she has. I really loved that. It was a good re-frame for me.
Jewish culture and modern Jewish practice, chronic pain, these topics are revealed very naturally, without the dreaded inf0-dump. I appreciated that.
The romance story line is pretty sweet, and the writing is good. I went through and reserved every title this author has available. I cannot wait to learn more.