ב"ה
Mandy Hakimi |
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 Mandy Hakimi grew up in the Pacific Northwest, but now calls Chicago home. She is a fundraiser, performer, and mother. She works for The Friendship Circle of Illinois, and is also the founder and director of The Family Fund––the nation's first maternity leave fund, benefitting Chicagoland's Jewish community.
I tried to let go of my expectations. I would allow this visit to be whatever it was meant to be.
I don’t feel a connection with just any American I meet, but I do feel one with another Jew, regardless of where they come from.
Wouldn’t social distancing be ideal for me? Sure! If it weren’t for my husband and small children who also inhabit my two-bedroom condo. Throw in a baby who doesn’t yet sleep through the night, and you have the perfect recipe for a snippy wife and mother.
My pain was heavily compounded by feeling like no one else knew what I was going through or could possibly understand it, so I suffered in solitude.
I followed along in my prayer book as the service progressed, on high alert for the arrival of the inspiration that was surely imminent. Maybe on the next page? Woven between the notes of the next melody? But alas, I left feeling … the same.
Modern women feel pulled in too many directions.
With a little education—and a lot of help, support and advice from friends and others in my life—I decided to take the kosher plunge.
I stumbled upon Chabad seemingly by accident shortly before I finished university.
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