tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59141052011-04-21T23:55:26.924-04:00A blog in memory of my cousin jonathan who was a hasid and comitted suicide at the age of 23deborahnoreply@blogger.comBlogger131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1089660337405210852004-07-12T15:25:00.000-04:002004-07-12T15:25:37.406-04:00

I've decided to continue blogging at http://jonathan_alliel.blogspot.com/ Blogger has offered new features and i think i want to use them.

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1088035442288955332004-06-23T20:03:00.000-04:002004-06-23T23:13:51.796-04:00

Wow. Check out this blog about a Baal Teshuvah. Baaltshuvah This guy is going to change his last name because his last name doesn't sound Jewish and its not going to help him in the shidduch process. Jonathan also changed his last name. Not legally. But he started telling all the matchmakers his name was "Alias". Of course, his name is "Alliel", a perfectly good Jewish-Sephardic name. But it

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1087931712055975812004-06-22T15:09:00.000-04:002004-06-22T15:15:12.056-04:00

June 21, 2004. Yesterday. Yesterday was Jonathan's birthday. He would have been 26. Miki listened to his favorite music. I went shopping. Joni and I used to shop together. Its been 3 years since his death. I'm still grieving. I'm still getting calls from the "Kosher Gym" in Brooklyn. NO. He does not want to continue his membership. He killed himself. Its been 3 years. His mom recently

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1079505214771856082004-03-17T01:33:00.000-05:002004-03-17T01:36:52.060-05:00

I'd like to suggest a book. "Chosen by God a brother's journey" by Joshua Hammer. Jewishfamily.com || Culture

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1076347752053399282004-02-09T12:29:00.000-05:002004-02-09T12:36:20.390-05:00

Every day something reminds me of Jonathan. A movie, a hasid on the street, a song. I recently saw the movie "The Believer." The plot follows a yeshiva boy gone (quite) astray--in fact, so off-course that the boy grows into a neo-Nazi and then commits suicide inside of a synagogue. In the end, protagonist becomes as Jewish as he can, goes to shul on Yom Kippur, and blows himself up. I see

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1066096761181497272003-10-13T21:59:00.000-04:002003-10-13T21:59:21.403-04:00

I really like reading this blog - Only in Israel . Its a blog that bills itself as - "Presenting thoughts of an 18 y/o with waaaaay too much time on his hands." Here is a boy who is in the IDF discussing his thoughts about being in the army and in basic training. He says, "The last month made me feel like a real fighter, other than learning to throw granades, we practiced shooting in various

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065807038666200642003-10-10T13:30:00.000-04:002003-10-10T13:30:38.373-04:00

I just saw this: Hasidic News http://hasidicnews.com/FAQ/FAQ.htm#20 What is the Hasidic attitude towards "Baalei Teshuva" and converts? Hasidim, like the rest of the Orthodox community strongly discourage people from converting to Judaism. This is according to the Talmudic law. They do, however, encourage Jews who have wandered astray to "return". Chabad is famous for being intimately involved

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065736235436724322003-10-09T20:30:00.000-04:002003-10-09T23:20:50.940-04:00

Jonathan arrived in New York on July 26, 1999. He entered the USA with a French passport and visa waiver for three months. Jonathan's father is a French citizen who made aliya (moved to Israel) in the seventies. Jonathan was Israeli. He was also a French citizen. Obtaining a visa to enter the United States is difficult for an Israeli. That is why he used his French passport. Jonathan was

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065649555137216082003-10-08T17:45:00.001-04:002003-10-09T19:23:03.700-04:00

I just read a story on hasidic rebel about a young man (20 years old) whom he calls Yoinasen and it reminded me of a few stories about my Joni. I will relate one now. I would corroborate with the Hasidic Rebel in saying that there are some young men in the yeshivot and kollel that are not that interested in studying torah. As I mentioned in my story, Joni said that some of the yeshiva

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065649513396464702003-10-08T17:45:00.000-04:002003-10-08T17:45:13.143-04:00

Here's another interesting story: While Jonathan was staying with me I encountered a problem with one of my colleagues, actually my mentor. Another of our colleagues fabricated a story that we had cheated on something in the company and my mentor decided he could no longer work with me. I was mortified. He gave in to pressure, even though he knew it wasn't true. We did not cheat. (My mentor

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065649453322533362003-10-08T17:44:00.000-04:002003-10-08T17:44:13.080-04:00

So Yom Kippur has come and gone. I broke my fast by drinking too much coffee and I can't sleep. It was August 2000 and Jonathan was planning on killing himself. He gave up his apartment and wrote the suicide notes. And in the last minute, he changed his mind. The whole next year, as each holiday arrived, he would say, "I can't believe its Rosh Hashana and I'm still alive." And then, "I can't

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065621157898507842003-10-08T09:52:00.000-04:002003-10-12T23:10:56.426-04:00

Miki has been reading a site, in hebrew, tapuz for people who have family members who commit suicide. And they added a link from their portal to miki's site. So now i'm adding that link here. This is another one of those moments when i REALLY wish i could speak hebrew.

deborahnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5914105.post-1065621112548857892003-10-08T09:51:00.000-04:002005-03-06T14:58:02.536-05:00

Sunday, July 13, 2003 This is a blog about my cousin Jonathan. I got the courage to write this blog after reading The blog by the Hasidic Rebel.In his suicide note jonathan asked me again to make his story heard. So I'm torn between writing his story, the way he saw it, and my story. My story is different than his. My story is my relationship with jonathan. I told him to write his own story. Get

deborahnoreply@blogger.com