Posts by Shira Lankin Sheps
Tova’s Story: Finding My Inner Strength
(1/6): Seeds For The Future “It all started when I was living in New Jersey. I was a teacher and a camp director. On the outside, I portrayed a respectable, successful, and confident woman- but within I didn’t feel those things about myself. I felt like I had to put on a show. My insecurities…
Read MoreYom Haatzmaut 2020
This moment is like thousands of moments we’ve had before. Life in Israel has historically never been easy. Life here regularly includes war, rockets, threats, bombs, and stabbings. It’s rocky with instability; in current events and our politics. COVID is a new one for us. But there is a reason why our country is growing.…
Read MoreNo, You’re Not Failing Quarantine
I am sick of feeling pressure to be productive in isolation. This scenario that we have been living in for over a month has been a mixed bag. There were some weeks where I was calm and feeling grounded by the fact that I had nowhere to be and no work to do. I had…
Read MoreRemembering Olly & Mimmi
I had just walked through Auschwitz- Birkenau and seen things that I could never have imagined in my worst nightmares. I was 19 years old and visiting Poland on a Heritage trip- to witness the destruction of Jewish life in Europe under the hands of the Nazis, and to learn about the rich history of…
Read More“In-Confidence” Anonymous Series Round-Up- “Conversations About Divorce”
November 2019 Unedited, Anonymous Essays About Divorce “People always come at you about your divorce nervously, tentatively. Especially as a woman, there somehow seems to often be an assumption that you are the ‘left’ party, that you probably didn’t want this. I’m not sure what gives people that impression, I’m not sure how to turn…
Read MoreThe Legacy of The Bat Mitzvah
This essay is brought to The Layers Project Magazine through a partnership with Matan. I have been thinking a lot about the next stage of parenting for me. I have an almost ten-year-old daughter and we all know what that means. Soon enough, she will be a bat mitzvah. Since my own bat mitzvah, I…
Read MoreWhen a Kid Believes in Miracles
Last night I was cleaning up the kitchen after a draining day. My husband is traveling for work and I was alone with the kids. We had spent the afternoon setting up the bomb shelter in case rockets and their sirens would come to Jerusalem overnight. It had been quiet in our neighborhood, but the…
Read MoreBreaking and Rebuilding
Written by Shira Lankin Sheps & Rachel Hercman One year ago, on October 27, 2018, The Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA was hit with a terror attack by a gunman who killed 11 people praying together. This attack is considered the largest attack on a Jewish community in American history. These people were…
Read MoreTorah Learning At Any Stage
This essay is brought to The Layers Project Magazine through a partnership with Matan- The Sadie Rennert Women’s Institute for Torah Studies in honor of their 30th-anniversary dinner this Chol Hamoaid Sukkot in Jerusalem. When we decided to move to Jerusalem, one of the selling points was the access to the multitude of Torah institutions…
Read MoreRachelle’s Story: When A Nation Unites
THIS PROFILE IS BROUGHT TO THE LAYERS PROJECT MAGAZINE THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP WITH MATAN, IN HONOR OF THEIR 30TH-YEAR ANNIVERSARY DINNER CHOL HAMOAID SUKKOT 2019, IN JERUSALEM. (1/6) Who We Are “For me, Torah came from my home during my upbringing. I have amazing parents and I feel privileged in many ways. They gave me the gift…
Read MoreChaya’s Story: Fighting Harder, Hope for the Future
This profile is brought to The Layers Project Magazine through a partnership with Matan, in honor of their 30th-year anniversary dinner Chol Hamoaid Sukkot 2019, in Jerusalem. (1/7) “I Should Have Known” “Matan was founded thirty years ago by a group of incredible women who learned Torah together, sitting with my mother around a dining…
Read MoreI Was Wrong, About Tisha Ba’av
I was wrong. Last year on Tisha Ba’av, I was a brand new olah, living here in Jerusalem for no more than two weeks. I stood out on my mirpeset, and I looked out on the city, twinkling with light and movement, while I heard the words of Eicha. I wrote a piece that night,…
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