Telem writes ♥️

Content warning ⚠️: This post contains sensitive themes that appear in the weekly portion of the Torah Okay, hear me out for a moment. Parshat Vayeishev seems to have all the elements of a dark romance novel: An   ingénue  gets married off to the evil son of a rich and famous family who dies shortly after. Then his brother marries her, uses her for his pleasure but refuses to impregnate her, and he too dies. The young woman returns to her childhood home and awaits the opportunity to marry the third son who was also promised to her. But instead, betrayal finds her! She decides to take matters into her own hands by dressing up as a prostitute and seducing her father-in-law. When it is clear that she is pregnant, she is in danger of being burned alive. Usually, dark romance stories aren't my cup of tea. I prefer lighter reading. So it may be interesting that when I became religious and was searching for a Hebrew name I chose Tamar. At first, when I read the story of Tamar I ...

Gosh, I'm so happy you found this blog! Welcome!  A little about me: Hi, I'm Tamar, or using my and my husband's initials תלם, pronounced Telem. A telem in Hebrew is a rut in the ground where seeds are sown. More on that shortly.  I'm an orthodox Jewish mom on a mission to spread Jewish joy. The interesting thing about being orthodox is that many people have heard about us but most people haven't met one of us. In that vacuum, some might assume that all those negative media depictions are accurate and that we spend our days sitting in a box of rules and wait for the day to break free. This is a stereotype and like all stereotypes there are reasons for why they exist. Still, only a wilfully ignorant person would go so far as to reduce a minority people to their worst, dysfunctional members.  I didn't grow up religious so I think it's fair to say I can understand the perspectives of Jewish and Nonjewish people. Where I grew up most people will never meet Jews....