I had always been way too mature and intelligent for my age. I was the kind of kid who would stump the teachers with the difficult questions, the one who effortlessly mastered all subjects and always had her nose in a book. For as long as I can remember I always felt out of place […]

Dear Makom, It is near impossible for me to describe the influence that you’ve had on my life. I will try, for better for worse, to detail where I was when I found you, and where I am now. To show how you revealed the path for me to heal from the depths of emotional […]

I have every right to hate Jewish men, Jewish faith, Jewish Rabbis and Jewish laws.   In fact, every single Jew has that right. Because we were born with something called Bechira (choice). Everyone has the freedom to make choices to live their life with good and evil and shades of both.  Yet, I have a […]

I have had tortuous abuse in my life, the silence being the factor which I’ve suffered from the most. The feeling of always having to quiet myself for fear of my secrets being out. It may sound like what a spy goes through after debrief and reintegration into civilian life, but it is the reality […]

I grew up in an authoritarian home in which self-expression in any form was restricted: socially, academically, psychologically, mentally and financially. Not surprisingly, I was taught to be as stringent as humanly possible when it came to being religious. And so I was as “frum” as physically and mentally possible as I made my way […]

The Orthodox Jewish community has been getting enormous negative press over the last several years, especially the segment known as the Haredi or the Hasidim. They have been vilified in every way imaginable way by the media, and negatively stereotyped. I cannot imagine the burden such a group has to bear due to the misunderstanding […]