Page 82 - issue
P. 82
BOYS CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES Journey to Nachlaot (continued from page 71)
FREE A 347.871.1621 struggling with her doubts. Shaindel was 20 years old at the
time, and was connected to Buddhism through literature and
SOOHNVIOEPRRPDI$NE5R0GS a yoga Hindu movement in Baltimore. “I felt Judaism was so
exclusive,” she says, “and had trouble with people telling me
n 1614 AVENUE M, BROOKLYN NY
“to do things or not to do things based on what the Torah
They sing everything; there’s
this beautiful harmony, an
orchestra of tefila. I was blown
away. I had never experienced
anything like that before. It was
”so moving, and I just knew that
that was what I needed.
says. I had a lot of confusion in my younger years of what’s
okay and what’s not okay. To me, Israel was associated with
the Jewish religion and I was not holding there. I thought I
would have to become religious or something by moving
there.”
However, her “wild experiences” of hashgacha moments
followed her to Baltimore. She recalls one such episode: “I
had gone to sleep after doing paper work, with my head spin-
ning, wondering how I could leave? How would I make
money? I opened my eyes in the morning to notice the can
of hairspray on my bedside table with the large letters, ‘BS”D’
(acronym for ‘with the help of G-d’) on it. It was bizarre; I had
certainly never noticed that before.”
Ultimately, Shaindel felt enough “G-d winks” pointing her
in the direction of aliyah to make her brave move. Even so,
Shaindel muses, “The whole move came from a spiritual
longing; I just didn’t want to be brainwashed. I felt I had seen
a lot of brainwashing and people doing things not from the
place of connection to G-d but from a place of this-is–what-
we–have-to-do-don’t-think-about-it. I was in this period of
enlightening my consciousness to connect, and I did not
want to lose that. I wanted to remain open enough to be able
to go on my journey without feeling forced by being told to
do certain things”
Upon arriving in Israel, Shaindel rented a studio apart-
ment in Nachlaot, where she had connections and friends.
On day two, Shaindel put on her prettiest clothing and made
the rounds of the salons in town, looking for work. “I experi-
enced some serious horror stories with secular people taking
advantage of me, a young innocent new olah,” she recalls,
although she recognizes that similar situations can happen
anywhere in the world and were not a reflection of most
Israelis. Shaindel eventually found work in a salon and stayed
74 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
FREE A 347.871.1621 struggling with her doubts. Shaindel was 20 years old at the
time, and was connected to Buddhism through literature and
SOOHNVIOEPRRPDI$NE5R0GS a yoga Hindu movement in Baltimore. “I felt Judaism was so
exclusive,” she says, “and had trouble with people telling me
n 1614 AVENUE M, BROOKLYN NY
“to do things or not to do things based on what the Torah
They sing everything; there’s
this beautiful harmony, an
orchestra of tefila. I was blown
away. I had never experienced
anything like that before. It was
”so moving, and I just knew that
that was what I needed.
says. I had a lot of confusion in my younger years of what’s
okay and what’s not okay. To me, Israel was associated with
the Jewish religion and I was not holding there. I thought I
would have to become religious or something by moving
there.”
However, her “wild experiences” of hashgacha moments
followed her to Baltimore. She recalls one such episode: “I
had gone to sleep after doing paper work, with my head spin-
ning, wondering how I could leave? How would I make
money? I opened my eyes in the morning to notice the can
of hairspray on my bedside table with the large letters, ‘BS”D’
(acronym for ‘with the help of G-d’) on it. It was bizarre; I had
certainly never noticed that before.”
Ultimately, Shaindel felt enough “G-d winks” pointing her
in the direction of aliyah to make her brave move. Even so,
Shaindel muses, “The whole move came from a spiritual
longing; I just didn’t want to be brainwashed. I felt I had seen
a lot of brainwashing and people doing things not from the
place of connection to G-d but from a place of this-is–what-
we–have-to-do-don’t-think-about-it. I was in this period of
enlightening my consciousness to connect, and I did not
want to lose that. I wanted to remain open enough to be able
to go on my journey without feeling forced by being told to
do certain things”
Upon arriving in Israel, Shaindel rented a studio apart-
ment in Nachlaot, where she had connections and friends.
On day two, Shaindel put on her prettiest clothing and made
the rounds of the salons in town, looking for work. “I experi-
enced some serious horror stories with secular people taking
advantage of me, a young innocent new olah,” she recalls,
although she recognizes that similar situations can happen
anywhere in the world and were not a reflection of most
Israelis. Shaindel eventually found work in a salon and stayed
74 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
