Left Canada For Yeshiva in Jerusalem
In 2007, I finished my freshman year at Trent University in Peterborough Ontario. There were many kind people that mentored me there, including the late, great Paul Delaney, who said I was the only religious Jew to ever attend that school. His kindness notwithstanding, a succession of antisemitic incidents there convinced me to Transfer to York U.
Not only was the antisemitism much worse at York, but they lost my application over the summer, leaving me without any relevant courses.
I told the administration not to expect me in the fall, and flew to Israel instead. Turned out to be the best move I've made in my life. I rode out the global depression in Yeshiva, learning how to live before I learned how to make a living.
The legendary rabbinic staff at Aish presented a Judaism I was heretofore completely ignorant of - coherent, integral, vibrant, and urgently relevant. With their guidance, and shoulder-to-shoulder with my newfound friends, I plumbed the depth of a historic, legal, spiritual, and ethical tradition stretching back 4000 years.
Studying my heritage in depth as an adult changed the way I saw myself in the world. It gave me the confidence to be myself, to represent my ancestors, and to strive forward.
(Pictured: late night studies in the Aish beis medrash)
Not only was the antisemitism much worse at York, but they lost my application over the summer, leaving me without any relevant courses.
I told the administration not to expect me in the fall, and flew to Israel instead. Turned out to be the best move I've made in my life. I rode out the global depression in Yeshiva, learning how to live before I learned how to make a living.
The legendary rabbinic staff at Aish presented a Judaism I was heretofore completely ignorant of - coherent, integral, vibrant, and urgently relevant. With their guidance, and shoulder-to-shoulder with my newfound friends, I plumbed the depth of a historic, legal, spiritual, and ethical tradition stretching back 4000 years.
Studying my heritage in depth as an adult changed the way I saw myself in the world. It gave me the confidence to be myself, to represent my ancestors, and to strive forward.
(Pictured: late night studies in the Aish beis medrash)
