Tabby Refael
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Newsweek
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White Rose Magazine
Moment Magazine
Reboot
AISH
JJ Cover Stories
JJ Humor Columns
JJ October 7 Massacre
JJ Mizrahi Advocacy Columns
JJ Iran & the Middle East Columns
JJ Antisemitism
JJ Identity and Religion Columns
JJ Women
JJ Personality Profiles
JJ COVID-19 Columns
JJ General Musings
JJ Film & Book Reviews
JJ Miscellaneous Columns
JJ Teacher Tributes
JJ Dear Tabby
Distinctions Sephardic/Mizrahi Journal
Back
About Tabby
Speaking Engagements
Profiles of Tabby
Back
Death to Smarties
Back
On Doodool Tala Syndrome
Five Practices Our Persian Mothers Got Right
Thanks to Persian Music, I Have Issues
The Literal Glory of Persian
Why Do Persian Parents Call Their Kids 'Mom' and 'Dad'?
How to Navigate a Taarof
The Farce of Farsi
How To Make Perfect Persian Rice
Contact
Awards
Articles
Newsweek
Los Angeles Magazine
Los Angeles Review of Books
White Rose Magazine
Moment Magazine
Reboot
AISH
JJ Cover Stories
JJ Humor Columns
JJ October 7 Massacre
JJ Mizrahi Advocacy Columns
JJ Iran & the Middle East Columns
JJ Antisemitism
JJ Identity and Religion Columns
JJ Women
JJ Personality Profiles
JJ COVID-19 Columns
JJ General Musings
JJ Film & Book Reviews
JJ Miscellaneous Columns
JJ Teacher Tributes
JJ Dear Tabby
Distinctions Sephardic/Mizrahi Journal
Podcasts
About Tabby
About Tabby
Speaking Engagements
Profiles of Tabby
Memoir
Death to Smarties
Podcasts
Profiles of Tabby
Tabby Refael
"A prominent chronicler of Persian L.A."--Los Angeles Times
News
Blog
On Doodool Tala Syndrome
Five Practices Our Persian Mothers Got Right
Thanks to Persian Music, I Have Issues
The Literal Glory of Persian
Why Do Persian Parents Call Their Kids 'Mom' and 'Dad'?
How to Navigate a Taarof
The Farce of Farsi
How To Make Perfect Persian Rice
HUMOR COLUMNS
If The Pilgrims Had Been Jewish
(and tolerant of sea sickness)
Raisi v. Satan: The Case for Relocation (A Satire-Part I)
Haniyeh Meets Satan (and Reunites with Raisi)
—Another Satire-Part II)
Hezbollah Learns That Having Pagers Is a Blast
(Still Another Satire-Part III)
The Satan Series (Part IV): Sinwar and Nasrallah Can’t Believe They’re in Hell
(Yet Another Satire Part IV)
Let’s Play ‘Name That Tyrant!’ (A Quiz)
How To Plant Seeds of Hate This Spring (A Satire)
Ten Must-Read Books in 2023
-A Satire (who knew George Santos’s grandmother served in the Irgun?)
If Only the Ancient Jews Knew About Jamie Foxx
(and why Matthew was so sensitive about his name)
“Go To Hell”: What Yemeni Jews in Israel Want the Houthis to Know
(also, their Jachnun is better)
The Commencement Address No One Asked Me to Deliver
(and probably never will)
Tapas and Tents (A Satire)
An Interview with Myself
(my favorite subject)
Let’s Play ‘Name That Tyrant!’ (A Quiz)
The Miraculous Lapel Pin (and Other Tales of Wonder from the Israel-Hamas War)
How to Plan a Successful Anti-Israel Rally
(satire)
For All the Girls Who Could Only Afford One Barbie (But Enjoyed the Heck Out of It)
Eight Smart AI Devices that Promise to Help You Spend More Time at Work and Less Time with Loved Ones
California Prayin’
(and what’s that smell around the palm tree?)
For Father’s Day, I’m Interviewing My Iranian Father
(thanks, Dad)
Machines, Machines Everywhere
(an ode to human cashiers)
Husband Divorces Wife After Disturbing Passover Revelation
(he did what with the comb?!)
An Open Letter to Mel Brooks
(and why he owes me $11.95)
How to Drive in LA When It Rains (the worse, the better)
The Anxious and the Pious
(the comedic intersection of being anxious AND religious)
Yes, Dear. Your Mother’s an Illiterate
(no, really)
The Teddy Bears of Redemption
(reflections on my first year of school in America)
Twenty-Five Head-Scratching Questions About Jews, Israel and the Middle East
(Canada did what?!)
A Day in Jewish Los Angeles
(you want me to pay $17.99 for what?!)
An Interview With My Iranian Mother
(enough said)
Low Times at Beverly High (going public with depression-related struggles in high school)
With a Little Xanax From My Friends
(the 2020 presidential elections)
Trick or Treat or Stale Pita Bread
(on Tabby’s first Halloween in this gloriously confusing country)
There Are No Atheists on the Fault Line
(satire)
How Jews Who Keep Strictly Kosher Pack for Vacations
(hint: it involves frying pans and colanders)
How to Survive the Effects of Daylight Savings on Shabbat
(and why so much falls on the shoulders of women)
“Mrs. Maisel” is Making Me Marvelous
(one less sweatpant at a time)
Why Do Persian Jews Beat Each Other With Scallions During the Passover Seder?
(yes, it’s okay to wish you were Persian)
Meet Georgie, Our Guinea Pig
(I never knew a guinea pig could be so emotionally demanding)
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
(and the joys of being a corn farmer)
How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Again
(and who took my mini watermelon?)
How I Spent My Summer Vacation III
(on growing nothing but a healthy mustache)
Beverly Hills, What a Thrill
(yes, nearly 25% of the city is comprised of Iranian Jews)
Meet the Jewish Writer Who Created “I Love Lucy”
(and also served as its head writer and producer)
Back to the Future: 2092 (the time I was 110 years old and spoke to middle school students)
How to Celebrate Mother’s Day If You Don’t Get Along with Your Mother
(self-explanatory)
What It’s Like to Have Forefathers
(can I really identify with a bunch of old, white men in wigs? Yes, yes I can.)
Why Did God Create Mosquitos?
(a Jewish perspective)
How Can I Be So In Love with a Non-Jewish Holiday (an ode to Nowruz/Persian New Year)
The Case for Boredom
(in praise of
just sitting there
)
It’s Time You Met My Mother
(mom, if you’re reading this, click on the underlined title, called a “hyperlink”)
It’s Time You Met My Father
(what
not
to offer police officers who’ve pulled you over for speeding)
Can a Mom-Approved Minivan Be a Ride for High Rollers
(lamentations on the minivan life)
My Favorite Mothers
(in praise of difficult Persian grandmothers)
Your Son Should Have Come with a Warning Label
(why cleaning up after a man is so unsexy)
Its Only Human Creatures Who Are Sweating the Pandemic
(on the debauchery Tabby witnessed on her balcony)
I Want a Friday Kind of Love
(warnings about a woman scorned)
1989: Putin, The Professor, and Prejudice
(marking 30 years since Tabby came to the U.S.)
The Crispy Wonder of the Persian Cucumber
(and how to pick out the “perfect” one)
When Things Really Heat Up, Go Persian with These Modest Recipes
(why bread, cheese, and herbs are politically volatile)
Homeland vs. Homeland
(how an Iranian Jew processes the nightmarish hate of Iran towards Israel)
Angry Persian Grandma
s (what Tabby learned from being publicly yelled at by elderly women during a speech)
Why Does Christmas Start in October?
(hint: it’s not exactly due to good will)
Three Chances to Break Your Resolutions
(Reflections on the Persian, Jewish and Gregorian-calendar)
The Day After: An Interview with the Owner of a Kosher Chinese Restaurant
(after he survived Christmas Eve 2020)