Gentle Jew

Gentle Jew I’m Simcha, your no judgment Jewish mama friend!

03/06/2026

I do care about:

The right to freely cover your hair: aka no one is going to punish you if you do or DONT (I’m looking at you Iran regime) cover your hair

I do care that all people regardless of race gender religion or orientation are safe (happy pride)

I do care that Jews are represented and included in any space they want to be (whether that be the left or the right, etc etc!)

I do care that we continue to have tricky conversations with people with whom we disagree. If you disagree with what I’ve written here, that’s OK. We can still be in conversation. The decline in public discourse and interpersonal relationships with those with whom we disagree has further ostracized and polarized us both politically and socially into a place where we can barely recognize our own society.

I do care that people who are disabled like me have access to Free Healthcare (duh???)

I do care that moms have leave after giving birth (double duh!??)

What do you care about?

02/06/2026

This and not using a mistranslation of an ancient text to spread hate…

***r

31/05/2026

💅 on my way to mama Rachel

Had to remind myself and you, maybe

The Jewish women have always been fierce as lions

That the biblical women that so many today try to emanate (see trad wife culture)

We’re not submissive nor weak

They were fearless

They were protective of their people

They often had higher prophetic levels than their husbands

They went to war to protect their heritage, their people, their future

And they always

Always

Won.

26/05/2026

When I was hospitalized 7 days postpartum

My sister left her family vacation

So my husband could be with me, and she’d be with my newborn

So excuse me if I’m on the phone with her now

And enjoying all of the incredible friends and family who went above and beyond for me

And not wasting time on folks whose only reaction to the hardest year of my life was how I failed THEM in tiny ways

I am busy, enjoying the Baby. I lost those days in the hospital with.

And as harsh is the sounds, I actually have absolutely no ill will to anyone who didn’t or couldn’t show up for me. Everyone should only do what they have capacity for…… And I am so so grateful to those who understood how space called. Even when I didn’t pick up, sent food and understood that this was unbelievably hard and I didn’t know how to even receive care in that time…

It’s an absolute gift and a blessing to know. All of you. Incredible people even new people online who sent messages and cared, so so so much for me and Pray for me over and over.

Thanks for your prayers! I did, in fact, survive

21/05/2026

And becoming the person I needed then ❤️

I saw someone write “ the monsters I made to protect be as a child are hard to manage”

I loved it so much that I cried

And then I realized I’m on the stage of not managing them

Not managing all of the emotions that defenses, the sad, Child parts, the small afraid kid up in the attic, the hyper responsible 16 year old manaheing all her own doctors appointments

No, no managing, not even hiding

Letting those monsters come into the sun

And loving them, letting them know over and over, moment by moment that I’m grateful for how they tried to protect me, from the pain of a broken body, from the pain of divorce, from the pain of loss

Letting them know I don’t hate them, they kept me safe; and sometimes, they can rest a little little

Tonight begins a major 48-hour holiday called Shavuot.Which, in Jewish life, means 48 hours with no phones, no technolog...
21/05/2026

Tonight begins a major 48-hour holiday called Shavuot.

Which, in Jewish life, means 48 hours with no phones, no technology, no constant stimulation. A complete pause from the chaos of the world in order to receive something deeper, something truer: wisdom.

Shavuot marks the culmination of 49 days of Sefirat HaOmer: the journey toward what Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks called our greatest gift, the Torah.

In my sweet little family, it’s extra special because it also marks the birth of my sweet son, my gift.

In Hebrew, the word for “give” and “gift” come from the same root. Everything we truly give is a gift.

The spiritual energy of this season is balance.

We begin in the mazal, or zodiac, of the sheep: passive, carried out of Egypt through love before we were fully ready to hold it. The intoxicating honeymoon phase of a relationship.

Then we move through the mazal of the bull: labor, refinement, slowly building the vessels capable of holding something real and lasting.

And finally we enter the perfect circle samech, the month of Sivan, whose mazal is Teomim. Gemini. Twins.

Balance.
Gift and effort.
Receiving and becoming.

Shavuot is the marriage between God and the Jewish people through the giving of the Torah. Not the easy elation of new love, but the deep, weathered, well-earned love that finally has the capacity for covenant.

This is the energy of tiferet: harmony, beauty, integration. Holding opposite truths without collapsing either one.

I want to bless everyone with an incredible Shavuot.

Whether you are intentionally tapping into this energy, or whether it’s quietly unfolding in the background of your life anyway.

May you receive exactly what you need.

20/05/2026

Orthodox Judaism and feminism

aren’t contraindicated.

I was told my whole life that one form of feminism was the only kind.

And while I totally respect the version of feminism the American left I grew up around espouses,

the idea that it is the only form, and the only right way to be an empowered woman,

actually feels antiquated. Maybe even a little American-colonialist, if you ask me.

Judaism has an ancient wellspring of feminism.

Its own theory of empowerment, where women are centered not for their sexuality or their body size,

but for their spiritual wisdom and prophetic power.

In my life, that looks like women’s circles and moon circles happening all the time.

Women-centered spaces anchoring our community.

A monthly trip to an ancient body of water anchoring me in my family.

And that empowerment ripples outward,

into my family, my community, and my people.

So to find a partner, who values women, and my theory of womanhood was actually totally aligned with Orthodox Judaism

and that’s why… I’m an Orthodox Jew…duh?

Address

Jerusalem

Website

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