Stories

Noah Marlowe
Noah Marlowe
Noah Marlowe received his BA in Psychology and is pursuing an MS in Jewish Education, certificate in Mental Health Counseling, MSW, and semikha at Yeshiva University. In addition to his academic work, Noah has participated in the 92 Street Y's Jewish Innovation Fellowship, AIPAC Leffell Rabbinic Fellowship, and Fuchs-Mizrachi Beit Midrash Fellowship. This summer Noah will be a Beren Fellow at the Tikvah Fund researching and crafting a theologically-compelling and psychologically-informed curriculum for sexual education. His writing has appeared in Tradition Online and The Lehrhaus.
Noah Marlowe
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As I walk into minyan, I put down my still-steaming coffee, roll up my sleeve, and start wrapping my tefillin.*Whack* — before tightening my tefillin, I feel the force of a newly-married friend’s tallis (prayer shawl often reserved for married men) strike me in the head. Still half asleep, I look up and see a Read More …

anonymous
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For several years after my daughter was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, she regularly told me she wanted to die. Or, more accurately put, she wanted to kill herself. At first, the fear of dying in pain kept her in check, and then she fixated on those failed suicides whose lives as quadriplegics or hooked Read More …

anonymous
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If you want to understand my pain Look at your children and imagine them being overwhelmed by an illness that has no cure. Imagine being powerless to stop it.  Imagine watching them transform before your eyes from a carefree and confident child to one overcome with sickness and despair.  Imagine having your dreams of watching Read More …

Shelli Sussman
Shelli Sussman
Shelli lives with her husband and three children in Teaneck, NJ. She has been in the field of Jewish education for many years and hopes that through this article she can help remove the stigma surrounding mental health and make more resources available for support.
Shelli Sussman
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One of the most meaningful wedding gifts that my husband and I received was a mezuzah case that contained some of the shards of broken glass from our chuppah ceremony. The breaking of the glass under the chuppah symbolizes two things. One, the destruction of the Temple and how no celebration can be complete without Read More …

Shelli Sussman
Shelli Sussman
Shelli lives with her husband and three children in Teaneck, NJ. She has been in the field of Jewish education for many years and hopes that through this article she can help remove the stigma surrounding mental health and make more resources available for support.
Shelli Sussman
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I don’t want to feel like a fish with no water. I want to feel the water’s pulse as I wade. I will make sure to hydrate throughout the day to keep myself going. I don’t want to feel like an overinflated balloon that will pop at any moment. I want to be filled with Read More …

Henny
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I sit here like everyone else, eating our Friday night Shabbos meal which Ima (my mother) prepared for us. I smile when my charismatic brother Shimon says something funny, I listen to Abba’s (my father’s) dvar tora (sermon), and I laugh when my 1-year-old niece Ahuva claps to herself after saying amen to the bracha Read More …

anonymous
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Author’s Note: I write this piece from an awareness of how necessary it is to admit my struggle with mental health, how urgent it is that I reach out for help, and how much hope I can have if only I wouldn’t keep myself so alone, hiding behind the image of perfection. He walks the streets Read More …