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Calling all BTs...HELP ME PLEASE!
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Mimisinger




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 6:53 pm
I'm doing a project for school - I'm getting my masters in literacy. I've decided to research why women "return to the faith." Being a BT myself, I know that there are a variety of reasons and influences that I became a BT. So, why did you become a baalat teshuva? Please tell me your story.

****You can exhibit your story or journey through any genre. It can be an essay, story, poem, photograph, drawing, anything you wish. Please just post it on this thread. THANKS!
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Hannah!




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 7:23 pm
edit

Last edited by Hannah! on Sun, May 04 2008, 4:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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Hannah!




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 7:24 pm
edit

Last edited by Hannah! on Sun, May 04 2008, 4:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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chocolate moose




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 7:46 pm
Mm....not sure.
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Hannah!




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 8:23 pm
edit

Last edited by Hannah! on Sun, May 04 2008, 4:06 am; edited 1 time in total
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btMOMtoFFBs




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 8:40 pm
I became close with a frum family when I was in college. When they invited me to their home for Shabbos, I was amazed at how they interacted. Such warmth, respect and kindness. I loved the shabbos table activities, the singing, the long conversations during the meals. I went to them a few times and came to realize that was what I wanted in my home. Even if it meant tznius and Shabbos requirements, too.
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Mimisinger




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 9:06 pm
Thanks Btmom - such a beautiful reason.

Hannah - I agree with you totally, if I were doing this for my thesis or dissertation. However, this is a little assignment, not worth all that work and authenticity to be honest.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 10:10 pm
Hope it's okay to be anonymous. You can call me "Leah" if you need a name.

I became frum because the Jewish people received the Torah, and the Torah is true. And other "religions" are sheker.

Years ago, I was not Jewish, and I was studying early Xian Church history, and I was shocked to find that their theology was man-made. Until then, I had been planning on being a missionary. I spent a long time searching for the truth, once I realized that Xianity was a bunch of lies.

I have looked and looked at all the "religions" of the world, and only the Torah is true, and that's why I'm here.

And that's why when my friends complain about Pesach cleaning, I smile to be friendly, but inwardly, I'm thinking, "Unbelievable!! I have the zechus of cleaning for Pesach!! And making a seder!! And raising Yiddishe kinderlach!! And telling them about Yetzias Mitzrayim!!" I cannot begin to fathom the depths of Hashem's chesed to me. I never ever thought I would have the zechus of being where I am today. Ivdu es Hashem b'simcha, bo'u l'fanev birnana!!!!!
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montrealmommy




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 08 2008, 11:05 pm
my story's not that excitting, but here it is:

my parent's tell me I was always a 'spiritual' child. I loved being Shabbos mommy in school (I was sent to a traditional/tzioni/MO hashkafa school for both elem and HS) and the like. I excelled at all my Torah'dik and hebrew subjects and was very intrigued by it all. Then my shull decided to have a group Bas Mitzvah (to try to deter people from having big parties which had nothing to do with being a Bas Mitzvah) - so my parent's signed me up. I hated it, but wanted a real bas mitzvah, I wanted to learn what it meant and all that jazz. So my father had a contact in the kashrus agency (who today is the ehad of the Vaad HaIr) and this Rov's wife was kind enough to take me on as a student. I LOVE her!!! I also had a fantastic 5th grade 'Rebbe', a lubavitcher who shlepped all the way to my elem. school to teach 'tinokim she nishbu' about judaism and the like. He was so kind and gentle it was really something wonderful. so my interest was encouraged and I kept meeting nice, down to earth frum yidden. When I finished HS I went to Heb U where I became very involved with a group called Dor Le Dor. Being frum just clicked with me and when I finished University I told myslef to stop playing games and to lead the life I really wanted. so no more excuses or reasoning I 'completed' a precess I had begun nearly 9 years earlier!

The End!
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GAMZu




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 1:10 am
I lived in a frum world for 3 years before I actually LIVED frum life.
I went to a frum camp when I was 12 (almost 13). The first week was great, but when it came time for shabbos... We prepared, we lit candles, sang kabbalas Shabbos, and went to the dining room for kiddush. And then I couldn't hold out. Smile After 3 years of learning halachos of A"V melachos, knowing, studying, but not LIVING it, one hour into my first Shabbos experience I just burst out crying and couldn't stop.

And of course, after an experience like that, "Maalin B'kidusha V'ain Moridin." Smile There was no way I could ever live the way I did before.
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ChossidMom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 5:08 am
What a great and inspirational thread!!!
Thank you all for posting.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:00 am
DH and I were at his best friend's wedding (best friend was frum) when we were still secular and just dating but thinking seriously about marriage. It was our first time at a frum wedding and we loved it. We thought to ourselves, "Wow we didn't realize this was Judaism!! We want this!!" Shortly thereafter we got engaged, began the process of learning and becoming frum and then got married, been frum and learning ever since. Also, since we got engaged we sat down and talked about what kind of home we wanted to build, how we wanted our family to grow and we realized that we wanted a Torah home for ourselves and our future children.

It also helped that we both happened to live in somewhat frum neighborhoods while in college/graduate school and had friends that were frum so we were definitely exposed even though we were both raised reform/secular.

Hope this helps!! I have no prob corresponding over PM if you want more info.
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freidasima




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:08 am
These stories are really special and it is great how many people are willing to share such wonderful inspirational suff.

I think there are now a number of books on how people became BT, there is a book and a lot of articles by a Debra Kaufman who wrote about this back in the 1980s, I remember giving her book to my friend who was in the process of becoming frum.
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ChossidMom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:08 am
Beautiful, amother!

I'm sorry I keep commenting. I just love hearing these stories!
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Mimisinger




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:18 am
Yes great stories!!! Freida, I think the book you're referring to is Rachel's Daughters?

I really appreciate this and it's so wonderful to hear everyone's stories.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:21 am
Do you want any stories from someone who went off the derech for many years and then came back?
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Mimisinger




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:30 am
Definitely!!! I want stories also from people who were raised on one derech and changed - I have a few friends who were raised MO and now are more "modern yeshivish"
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amother


 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 7:56 am
I went OTD at the ago of 16. I have a very probing personality, and at that age I had a lot of questions that were not being satisfactorly answered. Instead, I was labeled a troublemaker and an apikores and things were very hard for me. So I left home, got a job to support myself, and went to public school. I was so busy trying to survive, I never had a chance to examine my life and my choices, I started to move along the current my life was pulling me. I did not keep anything related to frumkeit, Yom Kippur was another day of the year to me.

Fast forward a few years, I met a non-Jewish man, we dated a number of years, he brought me to his hometown for the December holidays. I met his family, I adored and was adored by all. I knew he was planning to propose and I was excited to say yes. On the eve of the holiday, he took me to his church for mass. At the door, we were given a pamphlet of the prayers and hymns for the services. I asked him why the prayers were not in a book, why the cheap photocopies. He answered that it's because the prayers change every year. For some reason that really bothered me. How could the prayers for the most important night of the year change all the time? It niggled at my mind, it kept me up at night.

Sure enough, on New Year's eve at the stroke of midnight, he proposed in front of all his family and friends. All I could think is how can I marry a man whose prayers change every year? I couldn't give him an answer.

We flew back home and spent a few weeks with him waiting for an answer and me not being able to answer him. He knew that I had been estranged from my parents for many years - my father sat shiva for me, I snuck in a phone call to my mother once a month to let her know I was still alive and okay. He was the one who pushed me to reconcile with them. He told me that it was obvious my unresolved issues with them was keeping me from moving forward with him. He advised me to move out for a while and live near my parents so I could spend time with them and decide if being Jewish really did mean anything to me.

It was a very sad and emotional time, but I did leave and I did move back to be near my parents. I called him almost every night and we worked through my feelings together. In the end I realized that there was too much pulling me back to Judaism, it would not be fair to him to try and make a life together.

I was still on the fence about Orthodoxy. I had a bitter taste in my mouth from my school experiences and could not even consider going that way. To make a long story short, I met my future husband quite by accident, me in my pants and t-shirt, him in his black hat and white shirt. How we ended up engaged and married is a whole story on its own. Once I knew I wanted to be with him, it was easy to go back to practicing in the way I grew up. Sometimes I feel like a phony, sometimes I am only going through the motions, but the home we have built is solid and true. I am truly happy.

As a funny little post script, DH and my husband were born in the same year, on the same day, in the same hour. I have no idea what that means, but whenever I think about it, there is always Twilight Zone music playing in the back of my mind.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 8:00 am
Edit to above postscript, should read DH and my ex have the same birthday.
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ChossidMom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 09 2008, 8:01 am
Wow. What a story. Pleeeeeeeeease tell us how you wound up marrying your husband Very Happy !
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