Unrelenting Jewish mother Debbie Feit is an accidental mental health advocate and
author of the poetry chapbook, The Power of the Plastic Fork: A Daughter’s Highly
Unorthodox Kaddish (forthcoming from Porkbelly Press) in addition to texts to her kids
that often go unanswered. Her work has appeared in Abandon Journal, Five South,
HAD, Harbor Review, Kveller, The New York Times, and ONE ART: a journal of poetry,
as well as on her mother’s bulletin board. A former advertising copywriter, magazine journalist, and person who used to be able to sleep without pharmaceutical intervention,
she is the author of The Parent’s Guide to Speech and Language Problems (McGraw-
Hill), the result of spending six years driving her two kids to speech therapy. Brooklyn-
born and bred, she lives in the suburbs of Detroit with her mini sheepadoodle who refuses to leave her side, and her husband who refuses to acknowledge crumbs on the
kitchen counter. She would kill for a New York black and white.
I’m thrilled my essay The Power of the Plastic Fork is included in this stunning collection celebrating Jewish joy. Whether set in the Catskills, Chicago, or LA; across oceans in Israel, Denmark, or Spain; in the synagogues of youth, redwood forests, or at family seder tables, its stories, like the manna in the desert of our ancestors, sustain both body and soul. Manna Songs speaks to the rich diversity of Jewish lives. Through tallit and candlesticks, paintbrushes and prayer—and plastic forks—these beautiful Jewish voices reach back across generations and pass traditions forward.
I always thought I would say Kaddish for my father.
This was a man who reveled in his Judaism. A man who loved Israel. A man who had been gifted a most poetic ending: he died while walking to the Western Wall.
But my sister and I didn’t recite the Mourner’s Kaddish. And I thought I would feel guilty about that. I don’t.
Because my writing became my own way of saying Kaddish.
I’ve been a professional writer for 30+ years, having worked as an advertising copywriter, freelance journalist, magazine editor, and marketing and communications professional. I’ve spent decades writing and publishing essays, feature articles, profiles, and humor pieces. I’ve made two attempts at writing a novel. Then something happened that was an unexpected as my father’s death.
His loss cracked open something in me and ideas started pouring out at a rate I’ve never before experienced. This outpouring led to my poetry chapbook, The Power of the Plastic Fork: A Daughter’s Highly Unorthodox Kaddish.
Essential to the traditional practice of reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish is the need for the mourner to say it in a group of at least ten people, known as a minyan. As this book serves as my own personal Kaddish, it contains only ten poems.
The Power of the Plastic Fork is an exploration of grief through a decidedly Jewish lens, one that takes a look at Jewish traditions, childhood, and food, as well as the questioning and acceptance of faith, all while processing feelings of loss.
My chapbook will be published by Porkbelly Press in May 2025, but is available for pre-order here.
Take it from a mom who’s been there: If your child has been diagnosed with a speech or language disorder - or you suspect there might be a problem - you want immediate, practical advise about what to do. From the importance of early intervention to simple day-to-day coping, The Parent’s Guide to Speech and Language Problems combines clinical research with real-world, parent-tested tips for you and your child.
—Jen Singer, author of 14 Hours ‘Til Bedtime
To read the deeply personal essays in Manna Songs is to get a kaleidoscopic view of Judaism bursting with so much color, flavor, fragrance, and music, it’s a veritable buffet for all five senses. Rich in symbolism and emotion, this collection is full of descriptions of trinkets and mementos- a bracelet, a toy solider, a Viking hammer and even a plastic fork—which serve as a core around which each author builds their narrative about their own Jewish lineage. Manna Songs is a reminder of how, in an ever changing world, Judaism—Jewishness—is constant, eternal, and steadfast no matter how far back into the past or forward into the future we peer.
—Gila Pfeffer, author of NEARLY DEPARTED: Adventures in Loss, Cancer and Other Inconveniences
