Q&A with Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky

 

Deborah Bodin Cohen

 

 

Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky are the authors of the new children's picture book An Etrog from Across the Sea. They are both rabbis who have written many previous books. Cohen lives in Rockville, Maryland, and Olitzky lives in North Brunswick, New Jersey.

 

Q: What inspired you to write An Etrog from Across the Sea, which focuses on the citrus fruit connected to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot?

 

Cohen: I am intrigued by Judaica from different time periods. I came across the picture of the etrog cup while doing research on another project. It was so intricate and beautiful and obviously valuable even back in the day. I liked how it made for a different purpose (mustard cup) but utilized for the holiday. 

 

I began to research the family [in the book] and also the etrog trade at that time period. When I read that one uncle in the family had been taken by pirates, I began to wonder about the children in the family watching their father go to sea. 

Kerry Olitzky

 

At some point, Kerry and I started talking about the etrog holder and the family. He was a perfect person to collaborate on this story  - we often write together and he has a deep knowledge of American Jewish history. The history really drove the story, although it is highly fictionalized. 

 

Olitzky: I have always been intrigued by Jewish practices and ritual items in colonial America, ever since being exposed to it by my teacher Jacob Rader Marcus, who was the dean of American Jewish history. We were looking for approaches to holiday stories that were out of the ordinary.

 

Moreover, the etrog has always held a particular fascination for me. Over the years, I always have tried to extend its so-called half life by connecting the holiday of Sukkot to other holidays. 

 

Q: What do you think Stacey Dressen McQueen's illustrations add to the story?

 

Cohen: Her illustrations reflect the time period. She did as much research into the art of the period as we did into the story. The illustrations are creative and unique and really could not be used for any other story.

 

Olitzky: As in most picture books, authors have to write with word paintings so that the illustrator can illustrate the story. In this case, not only did the illustrations tell the story that we wrote, they also added to the story in beautifully aesthetic ways.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you? 

 

Cohen: We mostly did research on the web, using both secular and Jewish historical sites. We researched a very wide range of topics from the family history to silverwork to even things like how stagecoaches operated from the New York City out to countryside. 

 

I was really intrigued by the etrog trade at that time period. There were European etrogs that were considered far better quality than Caribbean ones and the rabbis of the time wrote responsa about which to choose. 

 

Olitzky: The story could best be described as historical fiction. The characters were real. Where they lived and how they lived reflected what we learned about their lives. 

 

We also looked more generally at the life of Jews during that period of time. Of particular interest was that the best etrogs of the period came from Corsica so that allowed us to write the story around them. 

 

Q: How did the two of you collaborate on the book? What was your writing process like? 

 

Cohen: We write often together and really complement each other's strengths. It involves a lot of passing the manuscript up and back and talking. 

 

Olitzky: We have been writing together for several years. Sometimes we are in the same place but generally we write over zoom, over the phone, through Google docs and through email exchanges. We write and then edit one another's work. I always considered it the same as chevruta (collaborative) learning which brings out the best in both writing partners.

 

Q: What are you working on now? 

 

Cohen: We wrote a book not so long ago about contemporary Jewish heroes. We are now working on some stand-alone picture books about some of those people. 

 

We have a biography of gymnast Agnes Keleti coming out soon with Kar-Ben - she's is one of these personalities - and we have a picture book entitled "Rembrandt Chooses a Queen" coming out for next Purim with Apples and Honey Press. 

 

Olitzky: We have several projects simultaneously underway, including a book about unusual Jewish facts--to be published by Behrman House/Apples and Honey Press and supported by an incentive grant from PJ Library--and a biography of Agnes Keleti (to be published by Kar Ben Books) and a biography of Yosef Yekuteli (to be published by Behrman House/Apples and Honey Press) and a Jewish Heroes alphabet book (to be published by Behrman House/Apples and Honey Press)

 

Q: Anything else we should know? 

 

Cohen: A year ago, I began working as an editor at Behrman House/Apples and Honey Press.  

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Kerry Olitzky.