(Note: there are quotes written in bold, from the weekend, randomly written throughout this blog. I don’t know the sources for these quotes.)

“You are not who you think you are, but neither are you who you are afraid you might be.” 

My birthday is March 22nd. But this year, I added a new birthday, only 5 days later. March 27th. It is the day I was reborn. 

This story starts with one of my best friends, Orit, telling me a few years ago that she just got back from London on a “life-changing” seminar/weekend/retreat. She said “Sarah- you got to do this”. But I was a single mom and had no money and I just couldn’t. Then she went a second time to do this course in Manchester- again, I couldn’t go. I remember my words: “Orit, bring it to Israel, and I will be there”. Now if you know anything about my friend Orit, you know when she has a mission, she makes it happen. 

Then one day she called me and said: Sarah, it’s happening. MORE TO LIFE is happening in Tel Aviv- sign up right now! With no air fares and no extra expenses (and we got a discount), we arranged babysitting and committed to the 3 day “program”. It took some convincing to get my husband on board, but thank G-d, we went as a couple, mistakenly thinking we were going to spend 3 days together. (I also thought I would be spending time with a Rabbi of ours that was there, and Orit and another close friend who went as well!)

I had no idea what it was going to be like, and I think I just believed it would be a few days of introspection but what I didn’t know was that it was going to be introspection on steroids! 

“What you resist, persists.”

The More To Life Program was founded by Dr. K. Bradford Brown and Roy Whitten in the early 1980s in the United States. It evolved from earlier personal development work and offers courses focused on personal transformation and meaning. The program moved to Spain, UK, South Africa and so many other places. But I had the merit to be on the first ever Israel retreat. The program was run by a South African woman named Vijay who was raised Hindu and is not Jewish- but so Jewish! As the “weekend” went on, we found out she had lived with a Lubovitch family in Crown Heights for a month, she absolutely loves Shwekey, and she used terms from Tanya like ‘Nefesh Elohit.” This woman was the brightest light I may have ever met and the way she taught and spoke to us, and interacted with us, felt like an ongoing hug that just didn’t stop for  72 hours. 

Then there was a team of staff (including Orit and our Rabbi) who helped the entire process run smoothly and efficiently and the weekend would have never happened if not for them! 

We began with discussing the “contract” of the program which included (but were not limited to): phones stay........

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