Judaism

Giving it to G-d

By Sarah Pachter | September 22, 2022

“Is everything okay?” I timidly ask in the examination room. I’m anxiously waiting as the doctor performs the very first…

The Life Waiting For Me: A Letter

By Rivka Mazal Tauber | September 15, 2022

This essay was workshopped in The Layers Writing Workshops. Dear Hashem,  You know everything that I have been through.  You…

Looking Toward the Heavens

By Shira Lankin Sheps | August 7, 2022

Last night was surreal. I sat with some of my sisters, my mother, and my daughter in the darkness listening…

The Night I Was Redeemed

By Yael Saffra | April 14, 2022

It was the night of the Exodus.  There we were in our homes; waiting, terrified, and exhilarated.  As per Moses’s…

Reckoning With Reality; Standing Up For Our Future

By Rachel Sharansky Danziger | February 28, 2022

My sister and I were born in the wake of a historic triumph. My father, Natan Sharansky, was arrested by…

Mila’s Story: They Can Never Erase Them

By Shira Lankin Sheps | January 27, 2022

In Honor of International Holocaust Day: Mila’s Story: Mila grew up in southern Poland, in a town called Chrzanow. Her…

Choosing Love

By Cheryl Nayowitz | August 24, 2021

As much as I loved love and dished it out generously to others, I fed myself fear. This ingestion was…

My Last Trip To The Mikvah

By Michaela Abenson | April 27, 2021

I just went to the mikvah for the last time. I am 28 years old. I took my time getting…

Life in the Ghetto and Journey to Auschwitz- Excerpt from the Story of Leah Klein

By Shira Lankin Sheps | April 7, 2021

“The Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1944. The first thing they did was to take away the Jewish work permits.…

My Conversion Journey

By Kylie Ora Lobell | December 17, 2020

I’m standing in front of the Jewish ritual bath, the mikvah, wearing only a white cotton robe and clear plastic…

Shifting Perspectives

By Atara Sheinson | November 11, 2020

On March 3, 2020 I was sitting at a continuing education course with some colleagues.  I remember getting texts on…

How Far I’ve Come

By Jessica Koenigsberg | October 27, 2020

Twenty years ago today, I was in Israel in seminary for about twelve days when right before Rosh Hashana, my…