Stav Meishar, 28 years old, was born and raised in Israel. She is based in New York City where she founded the award-winning organization for creative Jewish education, Dreamcoat Experience. When she’s not shaping the futures of young Jewish minds, she is a stage artist specializing in Circus Arts. Stav’s biggest project at the moment…
In 2016, we saw a disturbing spike in suicides in the American Haredi community — and a flurry of speculation about the causes. Addressing this issue must be done with the greatest sensitivity. 75 suicides in a year is a statistic, but the reality is 75 individual tragedies. As a therapist with 20 years experience…
The Jewish community is very good at reacting to tragedies when they happen, says Columbia University professor and brain-health journalist Stephen Fried. “But we have to figure out how to make mental health awareness a part of Jewish life every day.” When Sherry Anthony, director of Riverside Memorial Chapel, grew concerned about the number of…
The estrangement of Jewish youth from the Jewish community is an issue of concern for all of us. While we differ in how that sense of belonging should be expressed, we all want our children to self-identify as members of that unique society of mutual responsibility and reliance that is the Jewish people. For some…
A version of this piece originally appeared in Plus61J. How does a twelve-year-old survive when he has been the victim of child sexual abuse and compounding abuses perpetrated by leaders of the community entrusted with his care? How does he grow up to become a Jewish community leader and one of Australia’s best known advocates…
I often wondered how Jewish youth from nurturing families in close knit communities become substance abusers. Do we not provide our children economic stability, values and educational opportunity? Are we not role models of accomplishment and positive social involvement? Our children have every reason to feel good about themselves. And yet, more and more young…
After months of planning, and years of anticipation, the wedding was beautiful. Family and friends. Dancing. A real simcha. She and her family never dreamed a mental health challenge would appear after the wedding. She would be a bride! So why was she feeling depressed afterward? For some newlyweds, it may just be “post-wedding blues.”…
Monday night’s event at Yeshiva University wasn’t the first time that Ben Shapiro has called transgender people “mentally ill.” He said as much on a panel discussion last July on CNN’s Headline News, when he and transgender reporter Zoey Tur got into a heated argument that culminated in raised voices and a police complaint. “Why…
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