observance Archives

Growing up, I was often viewed as “religious” among my peers. You might think this is compliment, but it rarely was, because that label was often accompanied by another one: “judgmental.”… Because I was more strict than others in some areas of observance, it was often assumed that I looked down on those who were less strict. To counter that image, I learned to be as subtle as possible when it came to my Jewish practice. (After all, if I hide the fact that I’m going… >> Read More

observance

I Don’t Feel Bad That I Bribe My Kids into Jewish Observance

Rivki Silver

I’m usually too busy with the day-to-day of parenting to stop and reflect much on how the mother-I-am compares to the mother-I-thought-I-would-be. Like a lot of people (I hope, back me up here,… folks), when I was single, I was very confident about what was good parenting and what was not. Once, back in my single days, I was babysitting for a family and playing a game with the 4-year-old, who lied to my face about some small thing. I don’t even remember what it was. But I… >> Read More

Tisha B'Av

How Tisha B’Av Shows My Kids It’s OK to Experience Loss

Ilana Kurshan

A few weeks ago a street lamp collapsed in the empty Jerusalem parking lot my children and I cross through every morning on our way to their preschool. The giant light pole—at least 30 feet… tall—lay strewn across the parking lot, its wooden pole intact but its glass light shattered. I tried to navigate the stroller around the shards and the exposed electrical wires. Although we were not there when the lamp toppled, my kids were very shaken to see how the mighty had fallen, and even now, weeks after… >> Read More

Marriage

My Husband Left Orthodoxy, but I Didn’t Leave Him

Rikki Mandel

“It’s not going to work.” In a quest to find himself, my husband of many years had left the path of Torah. I am an ultra-Orthodox woman, and when I married my husband, he was also… ultra-Orthodox. My dream was to raise my family in the ways of Torah and mitzvot. So when my husband stopped practicing our religious customs, I was at a loss. “How am I going to continue to raise my children in the ways of Torah while still staying married to my husband whom I love?” I… >> Read More

observance

That Time I Became Too Religious For My Father

Allison Josephs

When I first started exploring Jewish learning and observance in my late teens, all of my family and friends thought I had lost my mind. But there was one person who was especially opposed to my… newfound interest--my father. Oh, he wanted me to be Jewish all right (from the youngest age, my sisters and I understood intermarrying would leave my pork-eating parents sitting shiva for us); I just was not allowed to be too Jewish. So when I began observing Shabbos every week during my senior year of high school, replete with unscrewing the light… >> Read More

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