with Matana
Aliza Bulow, a returning guest, shares the path that led to her conversion to Judaism with us, an in depth conversation about finding belonging in our community, and her love, respect and trust she shares with her husband, despite his late in life rejection of their religion. Aliza previously shared her journey through her son’s depression and eventual suicide in two previous episodes.
“Everyone has a story left untold, so never judge someone as if you know their entire life story because the […]
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For our 20th year anniversary gift, I asked Ari for the absolute impossible. He was able to do exactly what […]
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This Valentine’s Day, I have a very special tip to share with you to help increase connection and help elevate […]
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Children with OCD and anxiety need their parents to understand that they feel terrified. They need their parents to express confidence in their ability to face their fears. What they don’t need is for their parents to do everything for them when they’re afraid because over time, they will need to learn how to deal with their fears when their parents aren’t around. Dr. Lebowitz’s book, Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents, provides a roadmap for how parents can successfully guide their children to overcome their fears.
In part 2 of our talk with Alana Shlagbaum, who is not a therapist, doctor or any kind of health expert but a preschool teacher from New Jersey, Matana shares her own personal story with Alana, of how miscarriage and living with chronic bleeding prevented her from becoming pregnant.
Our guest today is not a therapist, doctor or any kind of health expert but a preschool teacher from New Jersey. She talks about our personal experiences with infertility, miscarriage, and living with chronic bleeding conditions. Alana struggled for years without having anyone who understood what she was going through, so she is here to offer that support she never had to others.
Discovering true belonging is a gift. As humans, we crave belonging on both personal and communal levels. The feeling of being connected is a fundamental desire and we can learn to accept others who are different than we are by seeing and validating their choices made, based on their need to belong.
Communities often attempt to silence sexual conduct and misconduct and the associated secrecy and shame it fosters. Intentional secrecy surrounding sexual knowledge, sexual abuse and sexual addiction profoundly harms children and families in any community and especially one that is sincere and devout, such as Judaism. The Chasidic community in particular has an extreme level of secrecy to the degree that the word ‘pregnant’ is not said aloud, because it’s considered too sexual. Mordecai Salzberg, LCSW, is a sexual addiction therapist who works primarily with Chasidic Jews, and speaks about the havoc that this secrecy is wrecking.
We are human and are always evolving, growing and learning. Many times, we don’t communicate what we are feeling. We often neglect those close to us and lack the skills of how to effectively communicate. Sometimes, our biases feed our agenda and we take other for granted, not recognizing what they do for us and misdirect our mindset due to misunderstanding.