Blog - Building a Jewish Life

Do You Have an Adequate Support System?

Just as there are many baalei teshuva who read this blog, there are many conversion candidates reading Beyond Teshuva, a blog created for BTs. [Grammar note: notice that the plural of BTs is not BT’s. That’s your dose of my crazy for the day.] Last week, Beyond Teshuva had a great breakdown of the kinds […]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spend some time with the people who make you happy!

Does the Squeaky Wheel Get the Grease?

Thanks to the ever-helpful Lifehacker blog, I came across this Psychology Today article: Are You Teaching People to Treat You Badly? Essentially, a psychological theory says that if you don’t “punish” people who treat you badly, they become conditioned to treating you badly. They think it’s ok to treat you badly. As a dog trainer, this is […]

Feel Bad About Your Hebrew? Don’t!

Do you feel inferior because you can’t read Hebrew at the speed of light like your congregation? No need to feel that way. A) It’ll come. Really. Just keep slogging through it. Lest you think I’m being dismissive, I assure you I’m right there with you, struggling to read at a non-embarrassing speed. I spend […]

Tznius Women and Winter Weather

On another occasion it happened that a certain conversion candidate came before a rabbi and said to him, “Make me tznius in a New York City winter, on condition that you teach me all your fashion secrets while I stand on one foot.” Thereupon he repulsed her with the builder’s cubit which was in his […]

Management Update: Bar Exams

I’m happy to report that I’ve passed both the New York and New Jersey bar exams! Next on the list is the California bar exam in July 2012! However, I remain an unlicensed attorney while the bureaucrats go through the paperwork. So don’t send me your legal questions 😛 Unfortunately, the job hunt continues. […]

Why Batei Din Are Opposed to You Living Long Distances from Synagogue

This is an interesting issue that came up in a comment, and I thought it deserved its own post. Why can’t you finish a conversion so long as you live a significant walking distance from shul? To start, what distance ARE they looking for? Typically, you are alright if you are living “within the eruv,” […]

Lessons from Hillel: There Is Generally No One “Right” Way in Halacha

There is a lesson that many conversion candidates and newly religious Jews are not told until they’ve made a fool of themselves: There are different interpretations of halacha, and it’s possible for all these interpretations to be halachically valid and accepted. In other words, the modern orthodox, the “just plain orthodox,” the chassidim, and the […]

Reason #216 You Know You’re Crazy: The Excitement You Get When You See Jews in “Non-Jewish” Places

When you cast your lot with the Jewish people, you develop a new excitement about seeing Jewish people in places you consider “non-Jewish.” When you’re visiting a rural area with essentially no Jewish population, you are shocked to see a kippah, and you might just try to tackle the guy in your excitement. Personally, people […]

Word of the Day: Nusach

Nusach is the style of the prayer service practiced in different communities. The differences in structure and melodies (the melodies are also called nusach) are normally relatively minor, but they can be enough to trip you up. When dealing with an unfamiliar nusach, just keep following the siddur. There are many nusachim, but there are […]