_(english).jpg "Taking the Spiritual Dive")
_(english).jpg "Genetic Screening for Breast Cancer Genes")
_(english).jpg "When Bad Things Happen")
_(english).jpg "Judaism and the 12-Step Program")
+.jpg "Knowledge and Wisdom")
+.jpg "Moshe, Miriam and Prophecy")
+.jpg "Don't Give Up")
Click here if you are unable to view this video.
Published:
November 24, 2012
Take Off the Training Wheels
Gaining Jewish literacy requires pushing beyond your comfort zone.
|
Give Tzedakah!
Help Aish.com create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom. 
|
Visitor Comments: 9
stub
About the Author
Mrs. Lori Palatnik
Lori Palatnik is a writer and Jewish educator who has appeared on television and radio, and is the author of "Friday Night and Beyond: The Shabbat Experience Step-By-Step," "Remember My Soul - What to do in Memory of a Loved One," and co-author of "Gossip: 10 Pathways to Eliminate It From Your Life and Transform Your Soul." She is a much sought-after international speaker, having lectured in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Central America, South America, South Africa and Israel, including featured talks at Yale, Brown and Penn. She lives in the Washington D.C. area, with her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Palatnik. Lori is the Founder of The Jewish Women's Renaissance Project, an international initiative that brings over 1,000 women to Israel each year from ten different countries on highly subsidized programs to inspire them with the beauty and wisdom of their heritage. She is the busy mother of five children, ages 24 to 14; and her son, Zev, just finished serving as a sharpshooter in the IDF. Her weekly video blog, "Lori Almost Live" is a popular feature on aish.com, viewed by over 50,000 people each month.
Follow Lori on Twitter, @LoriAlmostLive
_(english).jpg "The Dead Zone")
(7) Gavin-Chaim, November 28, 2012 12:23 AM
Thank you
Dear Lori,thank you for the challenge.There is also infinite value for the learning you do at any stage but I agree with you Lori,the dating is over,it is time to be serious
(6) Anon, November 27, 2012 8:06 PM
All well and good, but playing catch-up can take a lifetime -- or even longer
Yes, we all have to take off the training wheels sometime. But the rocky path to fluency in reading and understanding the siddur, the Chumash and the Gemara shouldn't be minimized. I've been a ba'al teshuva for 24 years. And despite my best efforts, best attitude, not to mention davening three times a day seven days a week, I still stumble over Hebrew words, as well as combinations of consonants and vowels Just the other day, for example, I realized that for years I had been misreading and mispronouncing a letter-vowel combination. And allthough I'd very much like to be able to daven with greater fluency, I often doubt I'll ever get there, despite my best efforts. For someone like myself, who is well read and who has a solid education in the liberal arts, stumbling and fumbling my way through the siddur is a humbling experience -- and I haven't even tackled Rashi script! I know our tradition says that where a ba'al teshuva walks, even a tzaddik cannot stand. But there isn't a day that goes by that I wish I had gone to Hebrew day school -- even a secular one -- so as to have received a solid grounding in Hebrew reading and vocabulary. In fact, I often envy those ba'alei teshuva who grew up secular, but who still attended a Jewish day school, if only for their firm foundation in the Hebrew language!
(5) Anonymous, November 27, 2012 3:11 PM
It' s Expensive
I will soon be retiring. I am not a beginner to Jewish life, lore amd earning but I now have time and inclination to go deeper. I checked out a few offerings at my local Hebrew College. They are way too expensive for your average retiree. i gave up the notion sadly.
Anonymous, November 27, 2012 4:43 PM
there are free ways too
Contact www.Partnersintorah.org at 1-800-study-4-2 or www.torahmates.org at 1-877-Torah123 and they will set you up with a FREE study partner.
(4) Harry Pearle, November 27, 2012 2:50 PM
Take Torah Learning Steps with the Aid of a Staples "EASY" Button
Thanks, Lori for the encourage. You will remember that I gave you an EASY button, in Rochester, on Dec.11. The button says: ' that was easy". I encourage people to get their own EASY buttons from Staples (in the US, Canada or UK). Cost is $6 US (and there is now free shipping for the holiday shopping period). Great for kids in school. Easy does it!