Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Hello!
#1
Hi, you can call me Sam

I'm not sure if this is a one time posting, or a website I'm adding to my 'habitual visitation' list. It depends on the results I get Smile.

Either way I love that a site like this exists, and it's only fair that, before I post my support-request thread, I introduce myself a bit. For the sake of brevity, I'll try to include only the most relevant details in my introduction.

My family is American. My father is 60, and my mother is 58.
They had 11 children together over the span of 21 years, and separated 32 years after marrying. They live in different states.

Both of my parents are practicing Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and it is worth pointing out that this plays a huge role in the life of our family.

Out of 11 children, 5 strictly adhere to the code of Jewish law to the same degree as my parents, 4 are wishy washy, 1 practices mainly traditional Judaism, and then there is me. I am the only one to reject it as a way of life. Not for other people, but for myself. I will never live that way, and that is very clear to me.

Another note-worthy point: It is taboo in my family to live the way I choose to live. I do not follow any laws. If I do follow some laws, it is by coincidence, or because I have decided that it is best for me to act that way (for growth, meaning, morality, or whatever).

No one has upset my father more than I have. I used to be the most promising son he had.
I was committed to the lifestyle, successful in my studies, mature for my age, a deep thinker, had integrity, and socially adept. In my father's eyes, there was nothing more he could want. He told me I was his favorite son, and the others in the family looked up (and down, as he was including siblings older than me) to me as a role model. This all changed when I was 16 and started thinking for myself.

We are now in the present.

I am 19 years old. I go to college (my father has no money, so I have taken out student loans), and work part-time. I live with my father, along with my younger brother. My mother has one of my sisters, and another one of my brothers. The rest of my family lives with their spouses or by themselves.

There is always tension in the house. My father is (so he thinks) covertly depressed, and extremely embarrassed that my mother asked for a divorce (over 2 years ago). He has a stressful job and comes home to my brother and I dinner.

I am upset that he doesn't have enough money to pay for my college, buy me clothes, or buy decent (by first-world standard) food for the house. He has put all of my siblings through private high schools, is sending money to my brother in Israel (for a religious study program) and my mother, and suddenly when it's my turn he runs out dry.

We usually get along, but there is always a subtle underlying tremor, that is me. I am a pariah. The one who rejected my father's way of life. This is the basic situation I find myself in.

I think there are sufficient details in this introduction to aid anyone trying to formulate a comprehensive response to any support I may request. Of course there are many details I have omitted, but nothing is sacred to me. If you want any more details (save for the ones that forsake my personal identity) I will give them.

Thank you for this website, and I look forward to responses when I post!
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)