Hello!
I'm excited to join this community.
A little about me:
single guy in my early 30's, I was raised Modern Orthodox Jewish from birth went to orthodox jewish day schools and high school, studied in a Jewish religious all-male seminary in Israel, and started college at Yeshiva University. I finally decided in my early 20's that i was going to stop living for other people and try to actually do what I wanted. I transferred to Rutgers, slowly found my way to atheism and secular humanism, and had my first bacon cheese burger at 25 and never looked back.
When you're taught all your life that God doesn't want you to eat a bacon cheeseburger, when you eat your first one, well, words fail me.
Anyway, I'm now in my early 30's, of which I am thoroughly enjoying. I'm 3 years into my actual career, i have a few friends who, thankfully, stopped drinking the cool aid and support each other through our journey of self-acceptance despite our religious upbringing.
Now that I've settled down in a location and a career, i've been searching for something that I couldn't put my finger on until recently; a community. The orthodox community is pretty tightly knit and my family and family friends within the community constantly shared meals, family celebrations, and mourned the losses of relatives together. Since renouncing my faith, i've struggled to find a community of like minded people that i can call "extended family". Perhaps I'm coming here hoping i'll find an online version of this.
In the mean time, I'm looking into different events hosted by secular humanist and atheist groups in my area (NY/ north Jersey) but look forward to contributing to the online community that I see flourishing here.
I'm excited to join this community.
A little about me:
single guy in my early 30's, I was raised Modern Orthodox Jewish from birth went to orthodox jewish day schools and high school, studied in a Jewish religious all-male seminary in Israel, and started college at Yeshiva University. I finally decided in my early 20's that i was going to stop living for other people and try to actually do what I wanted. I transferred to Rutgers, slowly found my way to atheism and secular humanism, and had my first bacon cheese burger at 25 and never looked back.
When you're taught all your life that God doesn't want you to eat a bacon cheeseburger, when you eat your first one, well, words fail me.
Anyway, I'm now in my early 30's, of which I am thoroughly enjoying. I'm 3 years into my actual career, i have a few friends who, thankfully, stopped drinking the cool aid and support each other through our journey of self-acceptance despite our religious upbringing.
Now that I've settled down in a location and a career, i've been searching for something that I couldn't put my finger on until recently; a community. The orthodox community is pretty tightly knit and my family and family friends within the community constantly shared meals, family celebrations, and mourned the losses of relatives together. Since renouncing my faith, i've struggled to find a community of like minded people that i can call "extended family". Perhaps I'm coming here hoping i'll find an online version of this.
In the mean time, I'm looking into different events hosted by secular humanist and atheist groups in my area (NY/ north Jersey) but look forward to contributing to the online community that I see flourishing here.
