Tanya Hoshovsky, at The Blogs

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Oct 10, 2022, 9:53 PM

My dear daughter… have things really changed?

When a critique of late 1500s Jewish women's experience can largely be applied to today's 21st century Orthodox Jewish women's experience, we have a problem

Sep 14, 2022, 9:09 PM

The misogynistic concern

It was late in the evening. I’d considered my outfit in the bus: no jeans, no lowcut top, no short sleeves. Acceptable even if not ideal, I decided. It would be safe for the Geulah side. “SHIKSHA,” came the scream...

May 22, 2022, 11:14 PM

Homeland and Home

"I think you're still a little homesick." On January 12, 2022, I arrived in Israel as a new olah. Returning to the Jewish homeland, we could say. Starting life afresh in the Promised Land – studies, work, living. And crying, wanting...

Apr 28, 2022, 1:20 PM

A Passport on Yom HaShoah

Water gurgled, birds chirped as the siren wailed on and on. Pain, memory and continuity all at the same time. An hour after I stood in silence along with the rest of Israel for that haunting minute, I applied for...

Mar 20, 2022, 6:58 AM

Persecuted or persecuting?

Purim has always been my least favourite festival as an introvert. It is somewhat just a 24 – 48 hour period of commanded social engagement. But that is relative, and I know many people enjoy it for that very...

Feb 6, 2022, 5:14 PM

Fighting to be a Jew at Hebrew University

UPDATE 12/02/2022: Tanya is now with kashrut-observant roommates. While still extremely concerned given that she is not the only student in such a situation, she would like to acknowledge that the housing department ultimately took action and moved her...

Dec 17, 2021, 6:59 PM

Depression: attitude or illness?

"Well of course if it's chemical, then it's a different story," they backtrack quickly, with that wave of a hand. "I'm not talking about that." I daresay we've all heard it. Speakers who lament the depressive state of this generation,...

Sep 5, 2021, 7:22 PM

A different take on ‘The King is in the Field’

Carpets of red. Vistas of orange and white. Scatterings of bright pink and fields of purple. It was a perfectly apt experience for the day the world was created. This past Thursday, the 25th of Elul, I thought about...

Aug 9, 2021, 12:17 PM

Defying history with my African mother

(Shutterstock)

She spent 20 years cleaning our house. She came in every morning after two hours on the bus, and left in the late afternoon for another two-hour ride in order to clean her own house and be a mother...

Jul 12, 2021, 9:28 PM

Stop name-dropping, just learn how to cite

Over Shabbat, I started reading two books. Both could be considered quite hashkafik (philosophical) and in fact, seem to share roughly a similar modern Orthodox outlook, but they were miles apart. You see, there’s style and there’s style. For these...

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About Me

Raised in South Africa, Tanya graduated cum laude with a BA in French and Philosophy in 2020. An aspiring academic, she is currently studying for her MA in Jewish Studies at Hebrew University.