As technology advances I sometimes wonder if we are becoming more primitive in our interpersonal interactions. This is not a new idea of course. Many others have raised this issue through research and inspiring videos that warn us to ‘look up’. The message is simple: instead of increasing engagement, technology is increasingly enabling disengagement. Turning Our…
Walls that sway: keeping our boundaries flexible
In biology class at school I learned that living organisms such as plants and bacteria have a flexible wall in order to survive. Whether a single cell or our own skin surface, our walls must adapt to outside pressure. It’s the only way to keep the barrier from breaking, ensuring the safety and viability of…
Why baalei teshuva need to hustle
What crazy people turn their whole lives upside down and around and become religious? Oh yeah, us baalei teshuva. We have an inner strength to do this, to stop and push for something so different to what we once knew and grew up with. It takes real guts. The core of a baal teshuva is…
Giving birth to baalei teshuva
Love us, just don’t leave us. I have a lot of older single baalei teshuva friends. Most went to seminary. Most loved it. Most moved out and moved on. And what was left? Often times, a feeling of isolation. Many say “They brought me in but left me out”. Some seminaries are better at others…
405 daily
The road between Bus Four O Five, How will you do it? You won’t survive. A daily slog from here to there Bridging worlds. You scream ‘Beware”! But I ride this road Driven to and fro I feel so blessed It makes me glow Every day is different Every day I’m in awe Mountains, valleys…
Homeless in Jerusalem
Now that I’m working long hours in Tel Aviv everyone keeps asking me why I’m living in Jerusalem and making the long commute. Don’t get me wrong, I like tel aviv. It’s just not Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our home, our center – physically and spiritually. Jerusalem is a heavy place where people are pushed in…
The largest mosh pit with the greatest holiness
I woke up today feeling like I used to feel coming home at 7am from a club after a big night out. It was a big night out. Bright lights, music blaring, trying to push through the crowd, stern security, wild dancing. Lag B’Omer in Meron. My first time. During the day I realised that…
Truth be told
I’ve always had a very strong sense of truth, “emes”. It’s one of my core values and something that drives me every day. I for sure would not be religious now if my mind wasn’t always analysing and evaluating what is really true. In a society with so much information and so many opinions, the…
Make Pesach Cleaning Easy! Here’s a 3-part practical info sheet
These Pesach instruction sheets have saved me every year from unnecessary stress and looking at so many sources and halacha books, only to get more stressed. So the aim is…less stress!! My Rav always says you shouldn’t enter Pesach so tired that you can’t even enjoy the seder. So this year, I’m sharing with you…
Dogs are more decent: the agunah problem
I was going to publish a post about dogs. Seriously. And then another friend became an agunah. Again. And the beth din is sitting on their hands. Again. So I can’t write about dogs. I have to write about humans that act beneath dogs. People who stop being people. People who are so in the…
Beautifying Hashem: details and unity
This issue is one that digs straight at my core values of emes and unity. Not unity in the “let’s go dance in a circle around a camp fire” sort of way – as much fun as that can be – true unity of connection in eternity, of Oneness. So what’s the issue? Beautification of…
Making peace with Hashem
Sometimes life throws us curve balls, fire, narrow bridges, deep darkness, and an array of other ‘stimulants’. As our human nature dictates we often react with fear, sadness, anger and defiance. At some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, we must make peace. With ourselves, but also with our circumstances, for we can’t control them….
Don’t be religious – you’re a Jew! (must see video)
I don’t normally post about specific Jewish classes, but this is pure gold. It’s what we all need to hear, from secular to ultra-super-orthodox. Let’s stop segregating and just be Jews. Ultimately, that’s all you are. “Are you religious?” “No, I’m a Jew and I keep Shabbos” Thanks to Rabbi Manis Friedman for bringing these…
Hechsher Hashem: get certified for life
The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are always intense. Every year crazy things happen to me, testing my resolve. This year has been no different. While in the process of getting a work visa I asked mum back in Australia to send me my original birth certificate. Apparently it is lost. We…
It’s ok to lean on your crutches!
When I hear people say to me that my belief in Hashem is a crutch, an inability to manage my own life myself with my own brain, I think of crutches. Yes, Hashem is my crutch, a.k.a crutches. And it really is ok to lean on your crutches. Are you a better, bigger person for…
Stay baal teshuva: Live Torah with consciousness
Dealing with ourselves, our inner voice, is one of the hardest things we can do in life. While we can easily fool the external world, our inner world is far richer, deeper and more connected than anything external can ever be. As baalei teshuva, we start off our journeys often doing just that. We are…
the baal teshuva journey 