Category Archives: semi-fiction

G’MAR CHATIMA TOVA ET OI VEY by Peter Nolan Smith

October 11, 2024 – 4:17 am

Several years ago I rode my bike down Kent Street to Williamsburg. Scores of Hassidim were flocking out of the Brooklyn shtel. They congregated by the East River to atone for their sins and the Expulsion from Eden. Men and women were separated by a fence and I thought about taking a photo, but realized […]

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CRAZY MUSLIMS by Peter Nolan Smith

October 2, 2024 – 3:37 am

Yesterday I called my ‘niece’ Andy to wish her Jewish Happy New Year. She had already left the diamond exchange for the day and explained that she was having a post-work drink at the Plaza Hotel bar. “I’m meeting my sister and her wife for Rosh Hashanah.” “Nice, I’m in Brooklyn, otherwise I’d come and […]

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SEA LEGS by Peter Nolan Smith

September 24, 2024 – 6:50 am

The oriental lore of processing roots, seeds, and bark into spice inspired ancient western travelers to seek various detours around the Arab middlemen profiting from the lucrative East-West trade route. Adventurous voyagers stood to reap fortunes from their success. Failures were many. Adventurous voyagers stood to reap fortunes from their success. Failures were many. In […]

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SUKKOT / BET ON CRAZY

September 23, 2024 – 12:34 pm

Ten years ago the Hassidim were hurrying home from the Diamond District. The High Holidays had come early this year with Sukkor coinciding with the ancient pagan festival of Mabon, which commemorates the autumnal equinox. Sukkor is not only a bridge across the Indus, but the festival honoring the 40 years during which the Hebrews […]

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THE DUKE OF ROCK by Peter Nolan Smith

September 18, 2024 – 1:07 am

2012 Back in the 80s and 90s Tompkins Square Park in the East Village had several basketball courts. Full-court games were played next to the handball courts closest to Avenue B and East 10th Street. Half-court games was located against the fences of the asphalt baseball field on Avenue A. Players were split between neighborhood […]

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