Meet the Author, Ayelet Marinovich

I'm a pediatric speech-language therapist and parent educator, an anti-zionist Ashkenazi Jewish American woman, a humanity-centered, equity-centered business owner, and a facilitator of community spaces.

I’ve always worked with words and life transitions — from helping little ones and families find connection through communication, to guiding individuals and communities through sacred thresholds like birth, holidays, & end of life.

I'm the bestselling author of two books on early child development, Understanding Your Baby and Understanding Your Toddler.

Why is this an offering from Strength In Words LLC?

My “regularly scheduled” work of parent education & professional development trainings for early childhood educators & developmental therapists has invigorated me for over a decade.

My work has always been about supporting others through life transitions and thresholds — and professionally since 2014, I’ve focused primarily on that transition into parenthood via my company, Learn With Less® (Strength In Words LLC).

Since 2021, I've also been:

Educating myself more deeply on trauma and trauma-informed practices
Beginning the work of intergenerational trauma and ancestral healing
Delving into grief work
Learning to use and practice the tools of nonviolent communication and nonviolent action
Working to build my own muscles of radical empathy

Along this journey, I’ve experienced ambiguous loss and anticipatory grief in my personal experience with parents.

I’ve entered into deep community with Palestinians, many of whom have family in Gaza and/or the West Bank.

I’ve deepened relationships with other anti-zionist Jews, as we often serve as lifelines for each other in these times of intense rejection from our families and communities.

All of these experiences have led me to pursue more interests within the realm of grief work, spiritual care & counseling, ritual facilitation, and facilitation of major life events/transitions (e.g., beginning of life, union, end of life, etc).

The way this will continue to unfold remains to be seen as of this writing, and I’m not leaving or diminishing my current role at Learn With Less®, but there are additional expansions of my work that are calling to me, that are asking me to bring them more into the forefront of my being.

This deeply personal offering was written by me, Ayelet Marinovich, and is produced by Strength In Words LLC.

"Upon reading, I became immersed and fascinated by Ayelet's family journey. Her writing is crisp and sharp; her observations are keen and evocative, and her feelings are honest.

I especially appreciate her politics and her ability to constantly think comparatively about her privilege as well as about the starving and murdered in Gaza.

This Jewish journey is highly recommended for those with an interest in family history, Israel-Palestine, the Shoah, trauma, and memory.

- Diane L. Wolf, Professor Emerita of Sociology, former Director of Jewish Studies, UC Davis

"As the child of refugees from the Holocaust & a Jewish American woman born in the state of Israel, I approached Ayelet’s writing with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.

I was incredibly moved by her courage in reconnecting with her ancestral history through the lens of the atrocities committed in Gaza in the name of those very ancestors.

Her description of her journey through Poland - while describing her own spiritual & emotional journey - is indeed moving and illuminating."

- Ruth, LCSW

"Ayelet’s words take me to beautiful and difficult places. As an Ashkenazi Jew, this is my history and my present. As a human being, my body tenses and I often want to look away when confronting the contradictions between our stated values and the actions being taken in the name of Jews today.

We need to work through these knots and fears for our own wellbeing and for our collective freedom. We need to see the beauty and pain in our past and wrestle with our present. This zine holds us as we do so, inviting reflection and curiosity and courage.”

- Roni

"A moving, spiritural, and long overdue, reckoning with the legacy of the Holocaust.
Witnessing the healing in this painful journey through Ayelet’s eyes will open your eyes to the ways that generational trauma leaves its scars on us all.

We are the fortunate ones to be invited into a sacred space, to face hard histories, and to imagine a new way forward. One that honors the trauma suffered by the Jews of Europe and seeks safety for traumatized peoples around the world.

- Kristin Morris, Public Historian

"Ayelet’s reflections on her journey through Poland, her Jewish ancestral homeland, moved me deeply. I see in her reflections a powerful reminder that even in places scarred by unspeakable suffering, the human heart still reaches toward love, remembrance, and forgiveness.

Her courage to face the past with hope inspires me to look at our present world with the conviction that reconciliation and compassion are always possible, even in times of division.

For me, her story affirms that we are called to heal what is broken, to honor the dignity of every person, and to carry forward a witness of peace.

- Maria, Lawyer

"Ayelet gives us a deeply personal look inside her journey to learn about her past. In doing so, we see bits of our own selves, too, and receive a deeper understanding of what can happen when trauma is not honored and healed properly: the cruelty and dehumanization of the past can continue to metastasize and mutate into a terrifying version of itself, wreaking pain on all of us.

This written work goes incredibly deep: an exploration about Ayelet's ancestral history, Jewish history in Poland, the attempted erasure of that history (and subsequent reclamation), and the intertwining of the past with the present.

Through her writing, Ayelet masterfully interlinks the pain of Jewish trauma in Poland to the trauma still manifesting itself through the genocide in Gaza. She guides the reader on this journey with beauty and rawness, providing the reader with the visceral sense of feeling human in a way we all need in this moment.

Ayelet shows us how to make space for both the pain of the past and the pain of the present. She shows us that there is room to slow down and sit in the trauma, then reflect and continue on with work toward collective liberation."

- Naiema, Actor, Activist, Mother

Looking for a preview?

Here's the kind of writing you can expect within the Goldene Pave zine:

“I’m going on this journey to Poland to connect with the land.

To connect somatically, feet on the ground, all my senses activated, to open up, to remember, to re embody, to re build those pieces of my self and my history that have been lost. To Re Member my own body and self, putting it back together, experiencing what it feels like to be there.

To be curious about why I’ve always felt at home among birch trees, to eat the familiar, deeply satisfying soup of my ancestors - the root vegetables that they grew - in the soil of the land where they grew them just 2 generations ago.

Not to reimagine some long lost dream of homeland as in 'it’s mine and I’m taking it for myself'… but to embrace the sense of belonging, the sense of rejection, the pain, and the beauty as oneness.

I’m going on this journey to Poland to connect with other Jews.

To connect with others holding similar values about Judaism beyond zionism, similar values about collective liberation: 'liberation for all at the expense of no one' (shout out to Louiza “Weeze” Doran, here).

To be in Jewish practice - Jewish ritual that is both familiar, as well as those Ashkenazi practices that have been mostly forgotten by present day mainstream Judaism (due to good ol’ fashioned antisemitism in the form of the Holocaust, and due to zionism and the flattening of Jewish practice all over the world into the modern state of Israel).

To sing in a group and use the ritual, spiritual technology of our ancestors, the collective presence of all of us, to connect with the divine, each other, and each of ourselves…. Without having to wonder if the words of the niggun (wordless melody) prioritizes some people over others.

I’m going on this journey to Poland to connect with my ancestors.

To honor them, hold them, acknowledge them. To be with them on that land and listen for any messages they might have for me. I know they welcome me. They have been doing so over the last four years since my father and I first spoke of them.

Our connection is not always bright or positive. I feel the deep pain, the trauma, the anger, the pain in their spirits, because it resonates and reverberates in my own body. But it is real, and it is powerful, and it is valuable.

We are guardians of each other, in the past, the present, the future. And the nature ancestors who have witnessed joy, pain, sorrow, hatred, and deep love and reverence: I go to honor them too. To learn about the plants and animals on the land, their healing properties, the ways in which they live and engage in life, to seek their messages too.”

FAQs

What is a "zine?"

A zine (pronounced "zeen") is a small, independently published booklet or pamphlet that can contain any creative material, including text, images, or artwork, and covers a wide range of personal or topical subjects, like art, music, politics, or personal experiences.

Are there any refunds?

This is a digital item and fundraises money for those experiencing genocide. Due to the instant-access nature of this digital offering, There are absolutely, positively NO REFUNDS under any circumstances. We will not be able to process any refunds for any reason.

Who is the intended audience?

This zine is intended for anyone interested in understanding more about collective liberation, Judaism outside of zionism, the process of dehumanization, metabolization of grief, ritual technology, and/or spirituality.

Who do I contact with additional questions?

If you have additional questions, comments, or concerns, please email our support team at admin@strengthinwords.com.

Goldene Pave: A Zine

For many Ashkenazi Jews, Poland has been framed as "the dark place."

My time in Poland allowed me to more fully:

What is the "goldene pave?"