Words are not always what they seem

Our immigrant family got lost in translation. Here's how we found our way back.

It started with a broken mug.

Not just any mug – a mug I bought on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Israel in 2008, in a little souvenir shop in Nazareth. The mug today looks far older than its 15 years. It is chipped. It is cracked. For a decade, my family has been on strict instructions not to put it in the dishwasher, for fear it wouldn’t survive the wash…