Growing up as a child, I had an idyllic life. The oldest of (then) three boys, we were a rambunctious bunch. My mother was nurturing, singing songs to us every night as we tried to fall asleep. My father was super smart. He was a fountain of knowledge on wide range of topics, including the […]

When I reached out to Makom several years ago, I was in a severe spiritual crisis. I grew up in a Hasidic household and also had my share of abuse which included emotional, sexual and religious abuse. I so badly felt a need to belong but never had that feeling. My father abandoned me and […]

While getting my degree in Education, I took a social studies course where we learned about the concept of historical perspective. We often bring a “presentist” approach to our understanding of the past, using our current values and beliefs to judge people. We forget that they lived in different eras, faced different dilemmas, and had […]

I grew up in an anti-zionist Hasidic community in NYC. I studied in an anti-Zionist cheder (boys school) and yeshiva until I got married at the age of 20. Fast forward to today, I still live and raise my family in a predominantly anti-Zionist Hasidic community. Like in all other Jewish communities, our community has many […]

Reading the news can be depressing, but for every negative story about the Chasidic community, there is an uplifting one to be found. I feel fortunate that mine is among the positive. Born in Netanya, my family was close to the previous Klausenberger Rebbe, as well as connected to the Bostoner Rebbe. Later on, my […]

I was a rebellious teen. You know the kind—the one the teachers worry about and whose parents get called down to discuss their issues. The kid who is on everyone’s watchlist for most-likely-to-go-down. Now if you are imagining some goth girl smoking pot, a skull tattooed on her forearm, you have got it wrong. I […]