Kiruv & Orthodox Judaism

Mental health in the Orthodox world is a catastrophe. It's gotten marginally better in the Orthodox community in the United States, but in Israel the shitshow still reigns supreme. It starts with the absolute stigmatization of any mental health...

Are you in the process of getting brainwashed by an Institute for Jewish Wisdom? Is all that mumbo jumbo getting you down as you try to don a black hat a week after being a regular college kid in California? This handy dandy...

              Shimon and Shmuesster are proud to present the newest title in the "Rebbi Stories" collection. Each title lovingly written and embellished, we strive to present you with the most accurate and inspirational accounts of the lives of the gedolim past and present, in order that their...

Rule #1 of cults, according to the international society of cults, is don't call yourself a cult. But what if others call you that? That could undermine the whole thing, the whole big plan for world domination. Here's a...

This was a post I wrote in my teens, while I was still very much religious. As you can see, I was still very bothered by the absolutely abysmal quality of literate in the Jewish community. BS”D By C. Yackobovitch

Around two years ago, one of my siblings was struck in a hit and run accident. They spent a day in the hospital before any of us family members even found out about it. When we did, there were...

For a long time, I was angry at religion for its own sake. And don't get me wrong, the thing is full of irrational beliefs and oppressive ideas. But I'm coming to appreciate over time how, like almost all things,...

We're currently in family therapy, all nine of us and two parents. Even with sessions being 90 minutes long, that gives each of us 8 minutes a week to talk about what is most important to us, assuming the therapist doesn't talk at all. (spoiler: she does)

It's a holocaust out there. Thus was the Aish narrative. A spiritual holocaust, much worse than any physical one. Because Hitler is taking bodies and Assimilation is taking souls. And if you take it face value, that's a fucking...

I was back in Aish Hatorah. I guess like positivity childhood memories that resurfaced after I'd dealt with parental trauma, my subconscious felt I was ready to find some good beneath the wreckage. The building was even bigger and more...