The hardest aspect was attempting to encapsulate someone so much larger than life in words

Book: Our Morah in Uniform — Morah Sara Murik: Leading with Love, Teaching with Joy

Author: Fradl Adams

Published by: ArtScroll/Mesorah

Author in two lines

A writer and life coach living in Jackson, NJ, Fradl Adams is a senior writer for the Lakewood Shopper. She’s the author of Amazing Women (Menucha, 2016), Penina Farina and the Humongous Snowstorm (Menucha, 2021), Our Morah in Uniform (ArtScroll/Mesorah, 2022), and the upcoming second book in the Penina Farina series (Menucha).

Book in three lines

Morah Murik was a beloved builder of Bais Yaakov education in Chicago, then founded another school, Bnos Brocha, when she moved to Lakewood in her seventies. More than a vibrant, warm-hearted principal, she was an endlessly-giving mother, then grandmother figure to thousands — her wisdom, advice, and kindness touching numerous lives.

The hardest part to write

On a technical level, the historical chapters. I’m not detail oriented by nature. Keeping everything accurate, especially when there was contradictory information to sift through, and so few people still around who were actually there, was challenging, although of course critically important.

But the hardest aspect was attempting to encapsulate someone so much larger than life in words. Throughout the book, I struggled to find was to express who Morah Murik was. I always felt I came up short. It’s simply impossible to capture a neshamah — any neshamah, but especially one as great as this — in words.

The writer I’d want as a mentor

It would definitely be a writer from within our world, probably a writer whose work I grew up on and is still writing today. I don’t want to name names, but I’d choose from those who produce articles and books regularly. They seem to be always writing quality material, and I want to learn how they manage produce consistently good work without getting burned out.