Beyond Teshuva

There’s a new blog up called Beyond Teshuva — it is a group blog written by several people who adopted Orthodoxy later in life, reflecting upon the unique challenges that we “late adopters” have.

One of the things I liked about Ushpizin, I wrote, was the following:

The writer does an excellent job of conveying that Baalei Teshuvah, those who have adopted Orthodoxy, remain human beings. They are profoundly influenced by the religious life that they have adopted, but they are still the same people. As the (secular) director himself said, you learn to look behind the beard & payos and see the human being.

Beyond Teshuvah does the same. Without cynicism or negativity (as noted on the Yiddish-speaking Hyde Park site), the writers reflect their own diverse backgrounds and experiences as they address the issues.

The editor, Mark Frankel, has some previous experience with blogs, and it looks like he’s putting together something compelling and worthwhile. One thing that he and I shared was the concern that there’s only so much to talk about in BT integration — I do hope that they go Beyond Teshuvah and talk about other things as well!