What Pizza can lead to!

When a Jewish Teenager is with the right Jewish Resource A Testimonial for the upcoming Just 4 You -Hebrew School


During my teenage years I was as disconnected from Yiddishkeit as I ever have been.  I had a very un-stimulating experience with my reconstructionist education as a child and found that they had no answers for the deep philosophical questions that I yearned for answers to.  The secular world bombarded me with instant gratification and easy choices and it was a no brainer to a 14 year old…the secular world was easier and let’s face it, much more fun. 

My father had started learning with Rabbi Mike Stern in my early teens, and as he watched me starting to go down a path that was anything but rooted in the foundations of Jewish values and principals, he decided to call for back up.  Rabbi Stern and I would have monthly pizza dinners to just schmooze, and debate all of the things that I had found no resolution to in my life.  We discussed and debated deep philosophical concepts, as well as the simplest life choices and issues that any teenager goes through.  Rabbi Mike saw the real me trying to find my way in a very mixed up world and supported me through years of fighting to find a road that was authentic and proper for me.   He helped me lay the groundwork of what it means and why we live as Jews, and he and his family lived by example and were always an inspiration to me.

As an observant Jewish woman that recently hit 30, I look back to those pizza dinners in my teenage years and know that it was Hashem sending me a life raft.  He sent me a very special person that could  see my neshama and help me to work things out on my terms, and without that I truly don’t know where I would be.

I recommend for any parent or teenager to connect themselves to Rabbi Mike and the entire Stern family.  The truth, wisdom and connection that they have brought to the world are immeasurable…but even more than that is that they make it accessible and attainable.  They continue to be a source of guidance, inspiration and light to me and I could not be more grateful for their ongoing presence in my life.