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 […]

I grew up in western Michigan, which was largely populated by Dutch immigrants who all seemed to have perfectly shiny, straight, white blonde hair. It was the total opposite of my frizzy, brown “Jewish” looking hair.  Our town had very few Jews living in it, so my family was always in the minority. This was […]

One of the biggest disadvantages I had growing up in an extreme, unhealthy Orthodox Jewish community is that I learned from an early age to view the world as black and white. They’re wrong. We’re right. We follow Torah correctly. They don’t. We’re living the life that God intended when He created the world. They’re […]

On the 13th of Kislev (the Jewish month when Chanukah takes place), I was 9 months pregnant with my third child. I woke up in the middle of the night confused, sweating, and very stressed. I tried to get my husband up to tell him about my dream, but he was more interested in sleeping […]

There’ve been times in my life when I’ve had plenty, not really thinking about how my good fortune have may affected those around me. I never gave other people’s money much consideration. I just assumed that there are some who enjoy luxury while others value simpler lives. It never occurred to me that I might […]