PS-swfs.org has wonderful Rabbis you may find intelligent & provocative, especially Rabbi Hirsch His interviews are wonderful as are his sermons. Give him a listen sometime, I think you may like him.
I’m so glad no one in your family was involved on 10/7. I have family in Tel Aviv so I worry constantly. I’m retired now so money isn’t as easy to come by as it was before so going there to volunteer isn’t an option. I feel I must do something so I give to the IDF or the Israeli ambulance corps.
I wish you the best with your health & of course I will pray for you. 🇮🇱🇮🇱
While our immediate household was home here, dozens of family members & many friends live in Israel. We have one family member who survived the massacre itself (her partner did not). You can watch her interview with CNN on my most recent post. I’ll link it here.
Our lives are completely consumed by the daily happenings, not just out of fear for all Jews, but for the ones we love who live there.
My husband is a heart patient—he had two valves repaired in a very extensive open heart surgery in 2022, and the day Iran launched its unprecedented direct missile attack, I sat beside him, fearing for his heart while fearing for everyone overseas. He would not admit the severity of his chest pain until the next day.
I will pray for your loved ones too. This is a terrible time. We must continue to find and uplift each other. The community on Substack has been amazing.
Hey ... thanks for the subscribe, I just read your first three posts and all the best on your conversion journey. I'm glad your family is okay. Maybe the hip injury was a spiritual intervention :-)
I'm also married to a Jewish man and have thought about converting because I feel drawn to the religion (my husband is half-Jewish on his father's side, so we've talked about converting together). Kabbalah teachings in particular resonate with both of us. The Hebrew soul idea is interesting ... I felt that way too, though, technically, I do have traces of Jewish ancestry, from my Southern Italian grandfather. Definitely Ashkenazi (showed up in 23andMe), but possibly also Sephardic, as my great-grandmother's surname is one that is known to have been commonly used by "Crypto-Jews", Sephardic Jews who fled Spain during the Inquisition and converted to Christianity (at least superficially, some practiced Judaism in secret). Apparently a lot of Crypto-Jews ended up in Southern Italy, a reason why Southern Italians are so genetically similar to Sephardic Jews. Jewish history is endlessly fascinating.
I hit the follow button so looking forward to reading more. Hope your hip feels better soon! If you're feeling biblical, mixing frankincense, rosemary, and peppermint essential oils into some coconut oil and applying topically can be very effective for various kinds of joint/muscle pain. Really helped my mother's arthritis, and I healed a mild sprained ankle in under a week using that as a balm once.
My 23andMe also shows Jewish ancestry on both my maternal and paternal side, albeit it is a small percentage. Most recent ancestry is also southern Italy (along with Poland), but my DNA is so much more mixed than anyone I know.
Thanks for reading! I’m enjoying checking out your posts as well!
PS-swfs.org has wonderful Rabbis you may find intelligent & provocative, especially Rabbi Hirsch His interviews are wonderful as are his sermons. Give him a listen sometime, I think you may like him.
Thank you, I will.
All his work is online & also he’s on YouTube. His interviews are called In These Times by Rabbi Hirsch & in Podcasts as well
I’m so glad no one in your family was involved on 10/7. I have family in Tel Aviv so I worry constantly. I’m retired now so money isn’t as easy to come by as it was before so going there to volunteer isn’t an option. I feel I must do something so I give to the IDF or the Israeli ambulance corps.
I wish you the best with your health & of course I will pray for you. 🇮🇱🇮🇱
Thank you, Jeff.
While our immediate household was home here, dozens of family members & many friends live in Israel. We have one family member who survived the massacre itself (her partner did not). You can watch her interview with CNN on my most recent post. I’ll link it here.
Our lives are completely consumed by the daily happenings, not just out of fear for all Jews, but for the ones we love who live there.
My husband is a heart patient—he had two valves repaired in a very extensive open heart surgery in 2022, and the day Iran launched its unprecedented direct missile attack, I sat beside him, fearing for his heart while fearing for everyone overseas. He would not admit the severity of his chest pain until the next day.
I will pray for your loved ones too. This is a terrible time. We must continue to find and uplift each other. The community on Substack has been amazing.
Thank you for reading.
https://jengilmanporat.substack.com/p/i-recently-dipped-my-toe-in-the-x
Hoping for his full recovery! I will listen too.
Hey ... thanks for the subscribe, I just read your first three posts and all the best on your conversion journey. I'm glad your family is okay. Maybe the hip injury was a spiritual intervention :-)
I'm also married to a Jewish man and have thought about converting because I feel drawn to the religion (my husband is half-Jewish on his father's side, so we've talked about converting together). Kabbalah teachings in particular resonate with both of us. The Hebrew soul idea is interesting ... I felt that way too, though, technically, I do have traces of Jewish ancestry, from my Southern Italian grandfather. Definitely Ashkenazi (showed up in 23andMe), but possibly also Sephardic, as my great-grandmother's surname is one that is known to have been commonly used by "Crypto-Jews", Sephardic Jews who fled Spain during the Inquisition and converted to Christianity (at least superficially, some practiced Judaism in secret). Apparently a lot of Crypto-Jews ended up in Southern Italy, a reason why Southern Italians are so genetically similar to Sephardic Jews. Jewish history is endlessly fascinating.
I hit the follow button so looking forward to reading more. Hope your hip feels better soon! If you're feeling biblical, mixing frankincense, rosemary, and peppermint essential oils into some coconut oil and applying topically can be very effective for various kinds of joint/muscle pain. Really helped my mother's arthritis, and I healed a mild sprained ankle in under a week using that as a balm once.
Thank you for the balm tip!
My 23andMe also shows Jewish ancestry on both my maternal and paternal side, albeit it is a small percentage. Most recent ancestry is also southern Italy (along with Poland), but my DNA is so much more mixed than anyone I know.
Thanks for reading! I’m enjoying checking out your posts as well!