Authors: Dara Horn
MY MORE PERSONAL DEBTS
in this book are both small and large. I am grateful to the editors of
Granta
, in whose Spring 2007 issue I was privileged to publish an early version of part of this book, and to former
Granta
editor Matt Weiland for his generous comments at that time. Dr. Nathan Winter, my family’s teacher of generations, has continued to inspire me from the world to come through his extensive library, in which I first came across Bertram Korn’s book and many other relevant works of history. I owe my initial interest in Jewish history in New Orleans to those who welcomed me to the New Orleans Jewish Community Center’s book fair in 2002 and directed me to the old Jewish cemetery. I owe the riddle concerning the opposite of meat to Benjamin Lebwohl, and I also acknowledge the inspiration of my cousin Ross Linker, who, at our Passover seder when he was five years old, offered a memorably literal interpretation of the biblical phrase “Pour out Thy wrath.”
As always, I owe tremendous debts to my agent, Gary Morris, and my editor, Alane Salierno Mason, for their immense generosity, sensitive criticism, and enthusiasm toward my work. And as always, I am even more grateful to my “in-house” editors: my siblings, Jordana, Zachary, and Ariel, all three of whom are professional writers or artists, and particularly Ariel and her husband, Donny, who allowed me to write this book in their apartment; my parents, Susan and Matthew Horn, who patiently awaited each serially published chapter with comments and encouragement; and my husband, Brendan Schulman, whose work as a careful reader inspired many elements of the story, and who knows the meaning of devotion.
And last, I am honored to thank those who have served as the greatest impediments to the completion of this novel: Maya and Ari, my dark-haired girl and my blond-haired boy. As I finish this book, I have had the privilege of hearing Maya recite the traditional Four Questions at the Passover seder, beginning with the Hebrew words “How is this night different from all other nights?” I hope her father and I will be blessed to hear our children asking these and many other questions on many Passovers to come—and, someday, to know that they understand the answers. This book is for them.