Baalei teshuvah speak candidly about what they left behind and the obstacles they overcame as they acclimated to frum life
But Torah is emes, and once people get a taste of it, most don’t want to give it up. The joy of having a connection to Hashem, learning Torah, and becoming part of a Jewish community keep them plowing forward, despite the difficulties.
Baalei teshuvah are often idealists by nature, and when they discover religion, they sometimes put unnecessary pressure on themselves to get it right all the time.
“We advise people, ‘It won’t be easy,’ ” says Rabbi Moshe Fingerer, the director of the BJX (Brooklyn Jewish Xperience) kiruv center. “When you’ve eaten treif food and done whatever you wanted on Saturdays your entire life, it’s a huge change. But we encourage baby steps. If you try to move forward too fast, it won’t stick. A slow metamorphosis works better.”
Rabbi Fingerer reassures his new recruits that everyone, even frum-from-birth Jews (FFBs) who have absorbed halachah since childhood, should consider themselves a work in progress. “Only the Beis Hamikdash possessed perfection,” he tells them. “The rest of us just do our best.”
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