Greenlight Bookstore (Fulton Street)

Playwright-journalist Samantha Ellis presents her new memoir about resilience, language, and the healing power of our ancestor's recipes.
Samantha Ellis presents Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture In partnership with <a href="https://www.theneighborhoodbk.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life</a>
Playwright and journalist Samantha Ellis presents her new book Always Carry Salt, a life-affirming memoir about resilience, language, and the healing power of our ancestor's music, stories, and recipes. The daughter of Iraqi-Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic—a language that’s now on the verge of extinction. The realization that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s "living in the days of the aubergines" or reminding him to "always carry salt" opens the floodgates. How can she pass on this heritage without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle? A moving meditation on the words and traditions that shape us, in Always Carry Salt, Samantha not only considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves. Ellis discusses her search for answers at Greenlight, before an audience Q&amp;A and signing.

Local Event: Always Carry Salt: Author Talk with Samantha Ellis

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Always Carry Salt: Author Talk with Samantha Ellis

Playwright-journalist Samantha Ellis presents her new memoir about resilience, language, and the healing power of our...

Welcome to the Big Jewish Gathering – a two-day spiritual convening in Brooklyn weaving immersive ritual, embodied learning, and creative renewal. ​On January 24–25, we’ll gather with spiritual leaders, teachers, and artists from across Jewish time and tradition — converging through mystical and ancestral pathways of awakening.

The Big Jewish Gathering is a bold new experiment in Jewish spiritual and cultural life: a two-day spiritual laboratory where emerging and established Jewish leaders will co-create a Judaism that meets this moment — one that is rooted, relevant, and alive.

​This is not a retreat. It's not a synagogue service. It is a practice ground for connection, creativity, and renewal, open to anyone interested in vibrant, meaningful engagement with a Judaism that is embodied, relational, and grounded in tradition.

Local Event: Big Jewish Gathering

Big Jewish Gathering

Welcome to the Big Jewish Gathering – a two-day spiritual convening in Brooklyn weaving immersive ritual, embodied learning,...

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Always Carry Salt: Author Talk with Samantha Ellis

JAN

14

7:30 PM

Greenlight Bookstore (Fulton Street), 686 Fulton St, NY

Big Jewish Gathering

JAN

24

9:30 AM

100 Sutton St, NY

Buying Into Brooklyn | January 2026