Just a little diddy I made up about our new PM:     

                                

My Name is Julia, by Shoshanna Silcove

I am woman, hear me strong,

even though my nose is long,

it doesn't mean that I will lie to you.

My hair and politics are red,

and I climbed as Kevin bled,

as I promised, to the summit, with a grand view!

Shabbos in Zhmerynka, by Iosef Levy and Shmuli Silcove

In every place on Merkos Shlichus, one of the best things to do, is to make a get-together of all the local Jews. This we did, in Zhmerynka, Ukraine. It was last Friday, where we stood for hours in a tiny kitchen in the local Shule cooking food, with the meager kosher ingredients available in this part of the world. We were told to cook for, “Fertzig menschen” (“Forty people”), and thus we pealed 10lbs of potatoes (and did much more).

The Invisible Curtain, by Shoshanna Silcove

“I just can’t understand it!’ my father said as he shook his handsome round face back and forth in bewilderment. He was in his mid 50′s and his luxurious full head of hair had been transformed from jet lack to distinguished salt and pepper. “We sent you to Temple Emanuel Hebrew school every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for years. ” He pointed his finger in the air to punctuate, ‘and you grew up to become religious!’ Dad sneered and shook his head in incredulity. ‘We tried to raise you right. I just don’t understand how this happened,’ he muttered as if defeated.

A Hug From G-d, by anonymous

Dvir Aminolav was the first Israeli soldier killed in the 2008 Gaza War. His mother Dalya missed Dvir, terribly. One night before she went to bed, she said in a loud voice: "G-d, give me a sign, give me a hug
from Dvir so that I will know that his death had some meaning."


That week her daughter asked her to accompany her to a musical performance at The International Crafts Festival in Jerusalem. Dalya, feeling quite depressed, did not want to go to the concert, but she didn't want to disappoint her daughter either, and agreed to go halfheartedly. The concert was a bit delayed. A two-year-old boy began wandering through the stands. He walked up to Dalya's seat and touched her on the shoulder. A preschool teacher, Dalya turned around, saw the boy and smiled warmly.

Suppression of Jewish Women – a Matter of Perspective,by Shoshanna Silcove

Does traditional Judaism prevent women from being free human beings? Do the laws and customs suppress women, thus rendering them as inferior in status to men, thereby making them unable to enhance their Jewish identity, spirituality, and connection to Hashem? Is traditional halachic theology dogmatic and sexist?

The answer to all these questions is that it depends on one’s perspective. While traditional Judaism seemingly discriminates against women by excluding them from the Rabbinate, from making aliyahs, dancing with the sefer Torah, and from serving as judges in Batei Din, men are no more spiritually powerful than women by virtue of engaging in these public activities.

Remembering the Rubashkins in Happier Times, by Shoshanna Silcove

I like to remember our old friends Sholom Mordecai and Leah Rubashkin in happier times past. My husband Chaim and I both knew them as singles before we met each other. We were each independently welcomed as Shabbos guests in their home on President Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. On a date  I mentioned to Chaim that I was planning on eating the Friday night meal there. Without letting me know beforehand, he surprised me and showed up at the Shabbos table too. I felt awkward as I gazed across the table at the young man I knew would become my husband. I cornered Leah in the kitchen and told her that the Australian guy at her table was the man I was going to marry, only maybe he didn't know it yet! Leah discreetly jumped for joy and said she was so excited that two of her guests may get engaged. She told me that if we did then she was going to make our vort (engagement party). A few weeks later we did indeed get engaged and the Rubashkins made us a a beautiful vort, sparing no expense, extending the warmest hospitality as if we were their own mishpacha (family). I treasure the memories and the photos.

Had Grand Opening of the first Jewish Radio Station in Melbourne Today

         I just got back from the grand opening of LionFM 96.1 Radio at Spiritgrow on Balaclava Road. We had a packed house. We all did a ten second countdown launching the first Jewish radio station in Melbourne, Australia, and the excitement in the room was palpable. 


 My show, the Melbourne Jewish Women's Show, will be a showcase for dynamic Jewish women doing interesting things highlighting their contributions to the community. Hopefully, this will have the effect of dispelling some negative stereotypes of Jewish women, and presenting some of the color of the local Jewish culture to the community at large. Along with that I plan to spread a bit of the light of Torah, and to  entertain and inspire my listeners.


The Melbourne Jewish Women's Show airs for the first time tomorrow at noon for one hour and then every two weeks.  It will air every second and fourth Monday of the month thereafter, except for Shabbos and Yom Tov. Looking forward to your feedback.

Amazing videos from my son and his chevrusa on Merkos Shlichas in Ukraine

click here and see Shmuli Silcove from Melbourne, Australia and Yosef Levy from Buenos Aires Argentina doing outreach in Ukraine this past week--includes tour of the resting place of the Baal Shem Tov

Ten Reasons Why Lubavitch is Not a Cult, by Shoshanna Silcove

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                  While some have accused Lubavitch of being a cult, it does not meet the criteria.

• 1. People are free to leave or stop participating. No one is forced to stay in the Lubavitcher movement.
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• 2. Difference of opinion is allowed and even encouraged. Lubavitch welcomes and encompasses a vastly broad range of individuals from all types of backgrounds.

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• 3.Lubavitch does not teach some weird, half-baked philosophy, on the contrary, it is a theology that is rooted in ancient Jewish tradition.
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• 4. While cults isolate and separate themselves from society, Lubavitch does the opposite and engages with the society around it. Chabad Houses are often trailblazers in their communities, often making significant contributions.
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• 5. Lubavitch does not make sharp distinctions between themselves and other Jews. In fact, the Lubavitcher theology teaches that all Jews are equally beloved by G-d. Lubavitch values each and every Jew regardless of their Jewish affiliation or lack of it.

My New Radio Show Starts Monday July 12

We finally have a Jewish radio station here in Melbourne, Australia.

LION FM 96.1

My Radio Show Starts Monday, July 12, Noon

The Melbourne Jewish Women's Show, with your host Shoshanna Silcove



Please listen and post your feedback here on The Repenting Jewess

Mezuzah in Zhmerynka 2 - Roving Rabbis

I am having Chassidisha nachas. This is my son Shmuli helping a woman in Ukraine do the mitzvah of mezuzah.

Soul Sisters Jewish Style, by Shoshanna Silcove

Sociologically speaking in general terms, the life cycles of women who are born into traditional Orthodox society vary greatly from those women who became newly observant as adults. Women who are frum from birth were hardly touched by the feminist trends and changing mores of our modern world, as they are socialized in a clearly defined traditional female role reminiscent of an earlier era.

The newly observant women can be coming from almost any socioeconomic background and, she could have had any of a myriad number of life experiences. Most likely, if she is of university age or older by the time she entered the fold, she had had a semblance of independence that most frum from birth women could only imagine. Not that this is necessarily good or bad, as I am not making any value judgments—only observations.

I have known newly observant women who were quite accomplished in careers, in the arts or sciences, and who were well travelled. Many of them moved in educated and sophisticated circles and were exposed to the world of culture that most frum from birth women have no connection with. There are also many ordinary women who become newly observant, humbler types who cannot boast of anything more than a mediocre existence before becoming frum. Yet, whatever end of the social or educational scale a newly observant women was on before, for the most part it is safe to say that she was heavily influenced, in one way or another, by the modern post-feminist world she came from.

My Rant on Igros Voodoo, by Shoshanna Silcove

The Igros-voodoo practice would never have been tolerated while the Rebbe was still in this physical world. The Rebbe's secretariat (closest aides) were completely committed to ensuring that the Rebbe’s words were never misinterpreted. They knew that with each communication (written or verbal) of the Rebbe, that they had to check every nuance and detail, every single word, and every single punctuation, to be certain it would mean exactly what the Rebbe wanted it to mean. The Rebbe was known to get extremely angry when anyone tried to ‘put words into his mouth’. To do so, even inadvertently, would be considered the ultimate chutzpah. If this was so while the Rebbe was here in this physical world, how much more so now when the Rebbe is not here to defend himself against those who portend to speak for him?

Those people who walk around claiming to have clear and specific instructions from the Rebbe post-Gimel Tamuz (the Jewish date the Rebbe passed away in 1994) are sorely misguided. They do not understand how the Rebbe functioned. For forty years the Rebbe stood for hours in all kinds of harsh conditions, day in and day out at the Ohel (the gravesite of the previous Rebbe in Queens , NY, now of the Rebbe too)answering a neverending stream of petitioners. Yet he treated each and every letter as if they were the only one. And when the Rebbe answered a person, he connected with that person’s neshoma at that point in time. He looked into each individual’s soul and saw its roots. He brought down blessings and even performed miracles specifically for each separate soul. The Rebbe never once suggested or even hinted that the Igros were interchangeable. This was so even when, as it explains in the introduction of the Igros (book of letters) entitled, ‘The Letter and the Spirit”, the Rebbe becamse utterly overburdened and pressed for time that he had to develop a supernatural method of reading a letter and answering a letter simultaneously. This was so even though the Rebbe was obsessed with the difficulties of his time management situation, he never once directed us to to go to his Igros instead of going directly to him. In fact, remarkably, as his huge work load increased the Rebbe made himself even more accessible to each and every one of us! How much easier it would have made the Rebbe’s life if he had told us to go find out answers in his Igros and just leave him alone. Why didn’t he?