Stories

Growing up in Miami, FL, with a strong Jewish identity, well meaning parents and a paltry Jewish education left me at a loss at how the Jewish people could survive for over 3,000 year when the 2 most important days … Continued

My future wife and I arrived from India at Athens Airport in the middle of the night, after 5 months of backpacking in Asia. Since the first bus did not leave the airport till morning, we randomly sat down in … Continued

In 1976 Barbara Ellen Rosen was working in Washington DC  for the United States Government.  Dedicated to her job as an external auditor of insurance companies, the 25-year-old from Providence, Rhode Island, displayed little enthusiasm, when two of her non-Jewish … Continued

Coming from a South African background used to the comforts of home, at the age of 28, I was not particularly enamored of a dormitory-style of living.  Fortunately, Ohr Somayach had provided me with a nice upstairs bedroom with a … Continued

It was February 1974. I was four and a half months into my six month Kibbutz Ulpan program at Ein Dor, a shomer hatzair kibbutz, near Tiberias in northern Israel. I worked extra days on the kibbutz prior to our … Continued

In 1973, at age 20, I went to Israel on a junior year abroad program. I thought I was religious enough not to be seeking spiritual awakenings but when I met Rabbi Schuster at the Kosel, I found out that … Continued

A Tribute to Rabbi Meir Shuster Shabbos – Hamakor shel Bracha Living in the coastal town of Haifa, employed as a Dental Assistant on the Carmel was an ideal setting for a newly absorbed immigrant.  Everything was going well with … Continued

I arrived at Aish HaTorah in 1974, less than six months after they had opened their doors. After several months there, I spent my spare time with Reb Meir at the Kotel, bringing young men to meet Reb Noach. I … Continued

As an immigrant to Irael in 1973, I had several opportunities to visit the Kotel as a secular kibbutznik. Although Rabbi Schuster and I are from the same U.S. city,  I had never heard of him and must be the … Continued

I was a “non-Jew” looking to find G-d back in 1976. I was hanging with some Jewish friends back then when an opportunity came to go to Israel on an archeological excavation. It was 1977 and my first day in Israel … Continued