To be honest, although I try to stay in touch with concepts like “the shidduch crisis has no mathematical basis” or “it isn’t my fault that I’m struggling so much” or “sometimes we just have to wait for the right time” — I go through these phases when I seriously don’t believe any of the above. This rainy week was …
Yom Tov is the time for davening, divrei Torah, eating, schmoozing, catching up with friends and family, eating, reading (books over magazines, forever and always), also eating…These are a few ideas I learned or thought about over the past few weeks that I’d love to share (and all shidduchim-related in some way, but don’t worry, they’re just kind of nice, …
Two weeks ago, my Partner in Torah and I completed Sefer Bereishis with Rashi. I thought how appropriate it was to be making a siyum during the Yomim Noraim, as we approach Simchas Torah. Throughout our learning, I was always surprised by how many new insights I could find in the text, and by how many questions I had …
This time last year, I did not feel ready for Yom Kippur. I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t think I had done any semblance of a proper teshuva. And I just wanted to stay home from shul. I called up one of my role model/friends and asked her to give me whatever chizuk came to mind. These …
Every year before Rosh Hashanah, it helps me to remind myself that it’s about crowning Hashem King, not about shopping for my desires in the coming year. Crowning Him means that I understand He is King of the world, in a grand sense, but also King over me, in a personal sense, my outer and inner worlds and all the …
A few years ago, a very well-meaning aunt sent the following segulah to my mother: On Motzoei Shabbos, one should wash for melava malka, tell a story of the Baal Shem Tov (which was included) and bentch without talking about anything else. One should follow this sequence for six consecutive weeks and will (iy”H) meet their zivug in short order. …
I like to use WhatsApp for the convenience, but waiting for those double blue checks to appear can become addictive, especially when I really want to hear back from someone. A few weeks ago, I made one small change that’s made a huge difference — turning off read receipts (no blue checks for either me or the person I’m messaging). …
I’m going through an exercise from Rabbi Nivin’s Elul workshop that’s been interesting and helpful. It’s a year-in-review writing exercise that covers different areas of your life. Basically, you go through different topics and write about what worked and didn’t work this year. The idea is to scan backwards over the past year and just write whatever comes to mind, …
I went to E”Y for a week in August. Originally I had no plans to go away this summer but as it sometimes happens with trips to E”Y, one day I realized that I just needed to go, and I bought a ticket the next day. I went (as usual) without anything on schedule and just a few tentative …
This post was inspired by Chavi, who commented on a previous post. She raised a question — thank you very much for being honest and asking it — that resonated with me and I’m sure many people: How do you know that you’re doing your part in helping yourself get married? How do you know whether you’ve turned down people …
