Author name: Kochava Yocheved

When talking about conversion, it’s easy to focus on the bad stuff, the challenging stuff, the frustrating stuff, the embarrassing stuff. I mean, that’s really kind of the point of this blog: helping you through those points to make them less painful. Inspiration and warm fuzzies isn’t my strength. I haven’t been criticized as a […]

Since we were just speaking of Sephardim, you should know about this really cool band! I feel like I should put air quotes around “band” because this doesn’t strike me as your average make-money-sell-merch-get-groupies band stereotype I have in my head. It feels kinda…educational. But in the enjoyable way. The really enjoyable way! No really,

Just in case you hadn’t heard about this before, Spain recently passed a law that grants (ok, expedites, it’s not automatic) citizenship to descendants of Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492. How on earth could you do that, you ask? A list of common surnames! I mean, duh, right? Sure. That law

It’s Amazon Prime Day! Christmas for modern commercialism! How wonderful, right? Of course it would fall on a Jewish fast day. What two different energies to a day could there be? But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of Prime Day.  There is no problem with buying things on Prime Day when it’s also

Things may have seemed quiet here on the blog, but there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes. After some health challenges and the birth of my daughter and adjusting to parenthood (you know, NBD), I’ve been working to move the blog to its own domain full of exciting new, expanded content! The new

This video seems quite appropriate for the last few weeks: “light a candle for peace.” Enjoy the delicious 80s-ness of it. I don’t know how I discovered the song Light One Candle by Peter, Paul, and Mary, but I like it. And I listen to it every Chanukah. Maybe you’ll like it too! And since

In the Talmud, the rabbis require that a potential convert be asked a pretty specific question: The rabbis taught: When someone nowadays presents himself for conversion, we say to him: “Why do you wish to convert? Are you not aware that nowadays Israelites are careworn, stressed, despised, harassed and persecuted?”If he responds, “I know, and

The TL;DR Version Do you have to wear white on Yom Kippur? No. Will you be weird (or the only one) if you don’t wear white to synagogue on Yom Kippur? Nope.  The RTFM Version Wearing white (presumably only to synagogue because what else are you doing while fasting?) on Yom Kippur is a very

Several years ago, I wrote about my bentchophobia and how it strikes many of us when we enter the frum world. I can’t say I’ve improved much over the years. I still frequently avoid eating bread, solely because I’m still a slow Hebrew reader and bentcher. Sure, I have bentching memorized by now, but it

A friend asked an excellent question that has probably occurred to many of you: “Why is the local reform shul charging $200 for holiday tickets, but the Chabad is only charging $25 and that includes a meal??”  This contrast doesn’t always exist, but it exists in much of America, especially smaller Jewish communities where there is