Logo for The national award-winning Matzo Chronicles offer light-hearted reflections on family, food, memory, and guilt — in short everything Jewish. The column addresses timely topics and timeless concerns. It’s like a soul-satisfying bowl of matzo ball soup with a pinch of Nora Ephron and a sprinkling of salty Sophie Tucker!

Karen’s column, which garnered a national award from the National Federation of Press Women, appears in J. The Jewish News of Northern Nevada, The Intermountain Jewish News, The San Diego Jewish World, and The Times of Israel.

Read on for a hearty helping of The Matzo Chronicles.

  • FIRST PERSON | What I learned hosting a Jordanian exchange student in my home
    on October 29, 2024

    Here in the United States, politics are fraying the bonds between families and among friends. How then can strangers of profoundly different backgrounds stand a chance of getting along? This wasn’t an abstract question for me. It was a concrete concern as I readied our house for a homestay visit […]

  • FIRST PERSON | In Jewish tradition, I’m not just old — I’m wise
    on August 12, 2024

    I just celebrated my 70th birthday. The transition to a new decade is undoubtedly a milestone. You might wonder, do I have angst about aging? Well, a little. But mostly I’m looking forward to the years ahead. I got hearing aids in March. I’m currently recuperating from bunion surgery. And I […]

  • FIRST PERSON: Tulips, inner turmoil and missing Jews on my trip to Europe
    on May 28, 2024

    Many trips to Europe are filled with exhilarating tours of castles and cathedrals, museums and moats, art and architecture. I love these trips, but during my most recent travels in March, I got stuck on two troubling topics. The first: Where are the proudly proclaimed markers of Jewish life in the […]

  • FIRST PERSON: With modern medicine, I could love to 100. But do I want to?
    on February 7, 2024

    Does the thought of a super long life thrill you or chill you? Once upon a time, the idea of living to be 100 was extraordinary. Now, while hardly commonplace, it’s certainly more common and the ranks of hardy centenarians will only continue to grow as healthcare advances continue. There were […]

  • Broadway’s ‘Harmony’ includes origin story of San Francisco cantor
    on December 26, 2023

    Updated Dec. 27 I was in New York recently to see a jolly round of nine shows. A surprise favorite was the musical “Harmony” about the Comedian Harmonists, an internationally famous German singing group that was forced to disband because of antisemitism amid the rise of fascism before World War […]

  • MATZO CHRONICLES: I'll use Diamond in a pinch — but Morton is the kosher salt for me
    on November 13, 2023

    I come from a long line of Morton Coarse Kosher Salt users. My mother bought it. My grandmother bought it. My sisters-in-law bought it. Even my non-Jewish mother-in-law bought the coarse kosher salt with the girl under the umbrella. But recently, I couldn’t find the familiar navy box. And believe […]

  • FIRST PERSON: A goody two-shoes tries on a liar’s pants — and loves the fit
    on July 31, 2023

    How does the old saying go? Cheaters never prosper. Liars never win. Or is it the other way? Cheaters never win. Liars never prosper. In any case, I confess. From time to time, I lie and that’s the truth. We all know lying is wrong. Bad. Evil. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” We are admonished

  • THE MATZO CHRONICLES: Misadventures of a miscreant Broadway baby
    on June 21, 2023

    It was supposed to be a great adventure. It was supposed to be great fun. And it was all to begin with me heading off to my beloved New York City for a once-in-a-lifetime, forever dreamed of special invitation to a theater workshop featuring a host of Broadway luminaries. My story began with […]

  • Sweet memories of a short-order cook, and my father
    on April 10, 2023

    When I was 12, I had a terrible chronic ear infection. We had just moved across the country to a new town. I didn’t know anybody, couldn’t go to school, was in constant pain, suffered balance problems and had ringing in my ears. I was just miserable. But I found weekly salvation in the kindness

  • Workaholics of the world, unite!
    on February 6, 2023

    Long ago, I had a boss who worked long hours. Commendable, yes, but all too frequently and loudly he bragged of his Protestant work ethic. Each time he pointedly looked at Jewish me, also working those same long hours. It felt uncomfortable, but I just smiled. I knew from hard work and hard […]

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