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My First Partner in Torah

2/15/2008

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Picture
_When I first met Sally, my first Partner in Torah, in 1995, we were both mothers of young children. We traded off weeks and traveled to each other’s home where we learned together and I did my best to excite her about Jewish thought and practice. Sometimes we’d still be deep in conversation when the school bus pulled up in front of my house and we’d hurriedly say our goodbyes as the children spilled into the house. “Who was that?” they’d want to know.  “That’s Sally, and I learn with her.” “Do you get paid?” “No, I do it as a volunteer.” “Why?!” they all wanted to know. Thinking about how I might convey the concept of “tinok she’nishbah” to young children I settled them down on the couch to explain. “You are all so lucky to grow up in a Torah home,” I started, “there is so much to know about Hashem and about how to keep his Torah that it takes years to learn it all. Imagine if, chas v’shalom, one of your siblings was kidnapped at a young age and you met them again after you grew up and you were both adults. Only you knew so much Torah because you got to go to Yeshiva and you grew up in our home and they didn’t know anything. Wouldn’t you put your arm around them and lovingly say, ‘come, I’ll teach you everything you missed while we were growing up?’” Wide eyed they looked at me. “Do you mean Sally was kidnapped?!” they asked, astonished. Realizing my parable was a little too literal for them, I tried again. But the truth is, she was. She was kidnapped by pogroms that sent her family to America, by a harsh reality on these shores that was not conducive to mitzvah observance, by public schools whose goal was to assimilated all within it’s walls, by uneducated grandparents and disconnected parents. Her neshama, and the neshamas of thousands like her, was kidnapped and held hostage, for generations, with the only ransom being Torah knowledge and the only one who can pay it being a Jew who cares enough to take the time.

It took several generations for Sally’s family to loose their yiddishkeit, and it will probably take a few generations for them to get it back, but learning together with a caring partner is sure a good way to start.
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  • Home
    • Upcoming and Current Classes
    • Meet Aliza
  • Meet Aliza
    • Video Introduction: Becoming What I Want to Be
    • Aliza Bulow-Jewish Press Article 2016
    • Yated Article: The Adopted Princess- The Story of Aliza Bulow, A Jew by Choice
    • Family First Article: From Puritan to Pure Jew The Journey of Aliza Bulow
    • My Job: Honey Bee Kiruv (Horizon Magazine)
    • Videos >
      • Becoming What I Want to Be
      • Keshet Honoree Video
      • Gitty Bulow's video
      • Shema Video
  • Audio
    • Talks from Travels
    • The Jewish University: History
    • The Jewish University: Foundations
    • Relationships and Growth >
      • A Marriage Made in Heaven
      • Strengthening Relationships
      • Parenting
      • Self Esteem
      • Bridging the [Mussar] Gap
      • Roadmap to the Real You
    • Jewish Philosophy >
      • Derech Hashem Phone Series
      • Tomer Devorah
      • Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Faith
      • Philosophy Discussion Group
      • Secret Life of Davening
    • Sefer HaChinuch
    • Holidays >
      • Passover/Pesach
      • Shavuot
      • Three Weeks and Tisha B'Av
      • Elul and High Holy Days >
        • Elul and Rosh Hashana
        • Mexico Elul 2011
        • Falling In Love With G-d
        • Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur
        • Tomer Devorah
      • Chanukah
      • Purim
    • Elisheva and Yehoshua Hoffman
    • For Mikarvot >
      • Derech Hashem Phone Series
      • WIK and Campus Conference 2013 >
        • Why Women Can't Be Rabbis
      • WIK Conference 2010 and 2011
      • Bayla's Sheloshim Shiur
      • Shalom Bayit in Hebrew
  • Writings
    • Aliza's Stories >
      • Harry's Magic
      • Am I for Real? A Shema Story
      • Kindness in Kansas
      • Welling Up
      • When Chocolate Isn't Enough
      • Elisheva and Yehoshua Hoffman
      • My First Partner in Torah
      • Yated Article: The Adopted Princess- The Story of Aliza Bulow, A Jew by Choice
      • Honey Bee Kiruv
    • Holidays and Lifecycle >
      • Why Round Challah
      • Connecting Through Fasting
      • Reincarnation in the Book of Ruth
      • Orthodox Jewish Weddings
      • Developmental Stages of the Baal Teshuva >
        • Las fases de la recién Observador
    • Spirituality >
      • Four Spiritual Coping Strategies
      • The DaVinci Mode: Seeking the Sacred Feminine
      • Growing Together: A Book for Parents of the Newly Observant
      • The Mitzvah of Smiling
    • Doni Bulow Memorial Page
  • Public Speaking
    • Speaking Topics
    • Sample Talks
    • Venues at Which I Have Spoken
    • Short bios and pics
    • Contact
  • Resources
    • Hire Aliza
    • Growing Together: A Book for Parents of the Newly Observant
    • Yinglish: A Lexicon of Judeo-English
    • Books I've Mentioned >
      • The Falconi Effect
    • Poems I like >
      • Sails and Souls
      • Which?
      • Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation
    • Links to Other Torah Sites
  • Contact