szb1

Fukuoka, Japan

When I first started exploring Yiddushkeit, I used to walk to and from Chabad on Campus with a bunch of friends on Shabbos in all sorts of crazy weather including dangerously cold below -0 weather. It was about 2 mile/45 minute walk outside of the main community. Some of my friends could have easily chosen to hop a bus but they didn’t.

I don’t like to let weather stop me from doing things including mitzvahs. You just dress accordingly, rain gear if necessary and be careful.

I grew up conservative, walking 20 minutes to and from shul on Shabbos, though my family was not Shomer Shabbos. This is even though the conservative movement said driving to shul was ok. Turns out we also lived outside the eruv. My mother who is not frum but really growing now walks to shul in all weather including rain and snow.

I don’t know about you but I would much rather attend lots of weddings than lots of funerals. Most of you are FFBs and from New York so there are probably like 10 weddings or other simchas a week and its understandable that you can’t go to every one. I’m from a smaller out of town community where its totally normal to “crash” weddings of people you barely know all the time. Chabad, MO, Litvish, doesn’t matter what kind of Jew you are. I don’t go to as many “aquaintance” weddings as I used to. I’m a bit of a shy person and it takes a lot of effort to go to a wedding and not feel nervous or anxious.

Imagine an aquaintance who is not frum and they’ve never seen a traditional orthodox wedding before.I didn’t grow up frum. My first wedding I’ve ever been to was also the first frum one I’ve gone to. I wasn’t frum yet. I really didn’t know these people so well but had met them around the community a few times, but I went to go say mazel tov to the family at a Shabbos kallah and they invited me right there on the spot which I thought was pretty cool. I still to this day have never been to non-Jewish wedding or a non-frum Jewish wedding. I went, and I thought it was the most amazing, magical thing I’ve ever seen. I love the bodeken the best.

Also every wedding I have been to were all similar but different and unique in their own way as each couple also is.

I think its interesting to see so many different Pesach minhagim.

Peanut butter on matzah was one of my things growing up before I knew about kitnyot.

Apparently there is a segulah on the afikomen for childless married couples. If this is a real segulah, it makes sense because the Pesach seder is very kid centered. I went to a seder at the home of a couple who have been married for about 11 years with no kids. The bribe or exchange for the afikomen is going around the table and each guest gives the couple a bracha to have children.

I just finished a temp/seasonal job working for Taglit-Birthright, where I not only convinced people to apply,but I also interviewed/screened applicants over the phone. You would all freak if you saw and heard what I did.

I know the literal meaning as “one who fears or more like trembles before hashem”

But what does that really mean other than from what appears to the outside looking in as just a bunch of chumrahs, conformity and wearing a black hat or shtreimel?

Also, why do you follow “chareidi hashkafa” over I guess “modern orthodox” or “dati leumi” or “Chabad” etc… all say that they are following halacha…

Just curious to hear different answers.

I am a baal teshuva who left the conservative movement. I still have a ways to go. Yiddushkeit is one of the most difficult yet amazing paths to take. I do the best I can to believe as you say. But its really hard when every other thing I see and hear is all negative. I’m trying so hard to push past all the negative things about the frum/charedi world that I’m constantly bombarded with. I’m probably nowhere near where a lot of people on this thread are but I try, I really do. Most of the people I’m close with and tend to gravitate to are Yeshivish or Chasidishe. I went to the anti-draft prayer rally last year even though I didn’t fully understand. I was so annoyed at all the ant-charedi posts on my newsfeed I deactivated my facebook account for a little over a week.

Most of the anti-frum media I see popping up on my newsfeed on Facebook is not being posted from secular yidden or goyim. It’s being posted by frum yidden. Many frum yidden buy into alot of the anti-frum/charedi bias. At least this is what I am seeing.

How about mohawks and dreadlocks? I’ve seen quite a lot of both of those in EY lately.