Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Writers' Cafe

The Writers' Cafe: "write about anyone or more of several different things. I could write about this last shabbos with the Satmar chasidim. I could write about my little drive through the town of Woodstock NY. I could write about how somehow I just felt compelled to visit this little antique shop in Saugerties and was happily surprised to find a baseball card just like the ones I used to flip at Battle Hill"

http://thewriterscafe.org/

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I became Frum in Pasaic NJ, 07055

Before I became frum, I lived mostly in Queens, New York aka New York City, but not the part of NYC which was commonly referred to just as the city. I also lived in California (Southern California) areas such as West LA, Santa Monica, Brentwood, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks aka the valley.

Several months ago when I told my Passaic pals who asked that I grew up in Kew Gardens, and they replied "oh, very frum". I replied, no not Kew Garden Hills, just plain old Kew Gardens. Now after spending a Shabbos or two in KG, I realize hey this town is kind of becoming frum. After the all, the conservative shul Anshe Shalom, is now orthodox an is being run by Chabad.

Nu, so what's the connection with Anshe Shalom you might ask. Well, that is where even my mom (not yet frum) the matron of our secular jewish ways, would go to be part of Yiskor services on Yom Kippor. There was always some talk of a ticket, and how we get in, however those small details never really stopped us. My father had passed away (was niftir)-(he should rest in peace), in 1985. The whole issue of tickets on high holidays reminds of a very funny joke, which I will not repeat here, not here, not now.

As a matter of fact when I asking my Rabbi about getting a seat for the High Holy Days (about two years ago) he simply stated, you come to shul, you take a seat, and you pray. He was okay about leaving the details to someone else, for another time.

Stephen C. Sanders
July, 29, 2008
http://passaicdating.blogspot.com

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Monday, July 28, 2008

Passaic Dating

Passaic Dating: "Jews affiliated with the Reform Movement also saw a significant decrease in number after 4 generations, going from 100 Jews to 13 (intermarriage rate: 53%, Average children per family: 1.72). Unaffiliated Jews with an intermarriage rate of 72% and 1.62 children per family, were left with only 5 Jews after 4 generations.'"

Passaic Dating

Passaic Dating: "100 Orthodox Jews, with an intermarriage rate of 3% and an average 6.4 children per family increased their numbers to 2,588 Jews after 4 generations. 100 Modern Orthodox Jews, with an intermarriage rate of 3% and an average of 3.23 children per family also increased their numbers to 346 Jews.
Non-Orthodox and unaffiliated branches of Judaism did not fare so well in the continuity equation. 100 Conservative Jews decreased in number after 4 generations to 24 Jews"

Courtesy of: Will Your Grandchildren be Jewsih

Passaic Dating

The Writers Cafe.org

From Aharon Moshe's Notebook

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Shidduchim, the Dating Scene at Penn, and the Baalat Teshuva | Beyond BT - For Baalei Teshuva and Other Growth Oriented Jews

Shidduchim, the Dating Scene at Penn, and the Baalat Teshuva Beyond BT - For Baalei Teshuva and Other Growth Oriented Jews:

"The stigma of being BT. Not such a big deal in my community, or in the Modern Orthodox world in general, but at the same time, I think there might be something underlying. Part of me wants to marry an FFB, so I can be part of a frum family where I don’t have to be in charge of running the household. When I want a break from Shabbat, we can go visit the in-laws. I can’t help but wonder if other people feel the same way. Maybe FFBs want another in-law family like their own, with Torah values and yirat Hashem.

This only states problems, and not solutions to go with it. I don’t have those, only thoughts. My main thought is the misconception that you need to be in a place with a large number of guys/girls in order to find your bashert. [And the same would go for needing many friends of friends]. You only need to find one person in order to get married, and that person has to be the right person."

Courtesy of:
http://www.beyondbt.com/

Posted by Webmaster of:
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Shidduchim, the Dating Scene at Penn, and the Baalat Teshuva | Beyond BT - For Baalei Teshuva and Other Growth Oriented Jews

Shidduchim, the Dating Scene at Penn, and the Baalat Teshuva Beyond BT - For Baalei Teshuva and Other Growth Oriented Jews:

A comment from beyond bt

BTs, in particular, endure such withering criticism from so many directions; parents and coworkers who think they’ve gone off the deep end, FFBs who sometimes agree with the above assessment while by turns saying that they haven’t conformed or come along fast enough, Mentors, Rabbis and Rebitsins who scrutinize their every move like another new set of Jewish parents. Worst of all many BTs internalize all of this and even when the external suppliers of critique and comment are temporarily silenced they become their own worst critics.

Anon comment #70

Nicely worded Anon... Although I am not yet shedding any tears regarding the BT's status.

Courtesy of:
http://www.beyondbt.com/

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