Men are sometimes surprised to learn this about pleasuring
Trigger warning: this post will be more explicit than usual. (It's excerpted from one of the schmoozeletter emails) Often, when working...
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Elisheva Liss
- Sep 6
- 6 min
What if you can't just "forgive and forget?"
Dear Elisheva, Every year around this time I struggle with the idea of asking and granting what feels like lip-service forgiveness. As...
397 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 28
- 8 min
Avinu Malkeinu: A Prayer-Inspired Essay on Parenthood
Parented by G-d, and Parenting G-d’s Children One of the most challenging, if unoriginal, theological struggles for me personally has...
680 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jun 15
- 2 min
The Nation that Wanted to Die
“We wish we had died! We wish we had died!” Cry out the people who personally experienced miraculous salvation. “If only we had died in...
171 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Apr 4
- 6 min
10 Tips for Preempting/ Avoiding Family Drama over the Holidays/Yom Tov
The yomim tovim / Jewish holidays are often “busy season” for Orthodox therapists. In our communities, where there’s a profound emphasis...
693 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Apr 3
- 7 min
Why are they doing this to me?"
*This was originally a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times* Dear Elisheva, My problem comes up mostly around Shabbos and Yom Tov family...
856 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Mar 8
- 5 min
"Why Won't My In-laws Support Us?"
*This was originally a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times* Dear Elisheva, My wife and I have been married for almost three years, and...
1,055 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Mar 6
- 3 min
A Lesson about Intimacy Featuring: Queen Esther, Achashverosh, Consent, and "Dead-Fishing"
Trigger Warning: This post deals with explicit and psychologically raw topics. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 74b)questions how Queen Esther could...
1,516 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Feb 16
- 4 min
Education without soul
Originally published: Feb 2017 Leah [pseudonym] is a 21 year old assistant preschool teacher in a beis yaakov school and part time...
154 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Feb 7
- 3 min
He was both happy and horrified
*Due to a misunderstanding about a deadline for a guest post on another site, I ended up with a "spare" mini-article this week, and opted...
911 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Dec 13, 2022
- 9 min
"Am I a Bais Yaakov Lesbian?"
Chani was 20 years old when she presented for therapy. The official referral was “anxiety about dating,” but when she began to share, it...
3,542 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 20, 2022
- 5 min
"My prayers weren't answered"
Recently, I tweeted the following: "Please don’t tell people that if they pray hard enough, they’ll get what they want. And please,...
730 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 7, 2022
- 3 min
10 Ideas of What Not to Comment on when Spending Time with Extended Family (or Other Humans):
When families get together in clans, for holidays, celebrations, or other occasions, sometimes interactions that are well-meaning can...
1,792 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Sep 29, 2022
- 7 min
Freaked Out About Yom Kippur
*This post was originally published as a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times.* Dear Elisheva, My problem is on a low simmer most of...
850 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 30, 2022
- 3 min
A Total Eclipse of my Son
*This essay was written five years ago* Will the two-dimensional cardboard and plastic “glasses” we borrowed from our friends really be...
512 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 29, 2022
- 3 min
Anxiety and Elul
Tami, a motivated college student, sought help to deal with her test taking anxiety. She describes her symptoms: “I just get so nervous...
267 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 28, 2022
- 7 min
"My daughter blames me for her marriage problems"
*This post was originally published as a State of Mind column in the Five Towns Jewish Times* Dear Elisheva, My family is in a...
1,119 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 12, 2022
- 2 min
Tu B'Av's Dark Back Story
Can you smell love in the air? (That might just be your neighbor’s bbq grill. Go ahead and ask them to toss a few extra dogs on for you.)...
508 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 11, 2022
- 4 min
"What if I never have a happy marriage?"
*This is an excerpt from one of my schmoozeletter emails.* One of the more painful categories of work we do is talking with people who ...
1,179 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jul 20, 2022
- 7 min
Was My Kid Brainwashed in Seminary?
*This originally appeared as a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times Dear Elisheva, Our oldest daughter just returned home from her year...
515 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- May 19, 2022
- 6 min
Relationship Uncertainty
*This originally appeared in the Five Towns Jewish Times State of Mind column* Dear Elisheva, I would imagine my problem is not unique,...
1,227 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Apr 12, 2022
- 4 min
Maggid: Sippur Yitziat Mitzrayim as National Narrative Therapy
*This post originally appeared as an article in Bari Mitzmann's Hakol B'Seder Haggadah Companion “Once upon a time…” That old familiar...
407 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Feb 27, 2022
- 5 min
A Different Kind of Sexual Trauma
Trigger warning: this post discusses sexual trauma Zeesy, a 19-year-old newlywed, was referred for intense erotophobia- a fear of ...
3,320 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jan 18, 2022
- 3 min
Sacrificing Souls on the Altar of Modesty
In my work as a therapist serving an almost completely religiously affiliated population, one issue that arises very, very often, is the...
585 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jan 13, 2022
- 6 min
Problem with my Kid's Rebbe
This post originally appeared as a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times: Dear Elisheva, We think we may have an issue with our son and...
316 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Dec 18, 2021
- 7 min
Religiously Stuck Husband
This originally appeared as a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times. Dear Elisheva, I can’t decide whether my problem is marital or...
1,766 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 6, 2021
- 4 min
The Problem with Diversity
This post is an excerpt from the schmoozeletter of October, 2020. You can subscribe to these here: elishevaliss.com/newsletter Do you...
184 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 1, 2021
- 4 min
Don’t even TOUCH it… How making fake rules can lead to disaster: A Chinuch Message
“I think it was the earrings that were the final straw for me.” The young woman is explaining to me how she went from being a...
1,021 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Sep 20, 2021
- 3 min
Wanna be rich?
Do you have weird feelings about money? A lot of people do. Contrary to popular belief, money is not inherently unspiritual. (Being...
270 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Sep 15, 2021
- 7 min
My Teen Discovered Pornography- What Should I Do??
This originally appeared as a column in the Five Towns Jewish Times: Dear Elisheva, I honestly never thought I would be writing a letter...
2,560 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Sep 4, 2021
- 4 min
B'sha'ah Tova Faux Pas
Adina’s eyes darted around my office, then closed and watered with unsuccessfully repressed shame. She was trying to explain the freshly...
1,006 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Aug 19, 2021
- 6 min
Religiously Scared
This is a Dear Therapist column, which originally appeared in the Five Towns Jewish Times: Dear Elisheva, This time of year is always...
766 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jul 23, 2021
- 3 min
This One Thing Can Change Everything
There's something I've learned in the course of both my work and my spiritual studies has made a profound difference in the way I view...
808 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jun 4, 2021
- 4 min
Fighting about Whether to Have a Baby
How do you decide when to start a family? How many kids to have? When to stop having kids? Even if we knew exactly how many kids we hoped...
1,263 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jun 2, 2021
- 9 min
Unpopular Truths about Israel
For anyone who is interested in the facts about the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, here is a very summarized version, including some...
213 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- May 21, 2021
- 3 min
Anti-semitism on the Rise
This post is adapted from my weekly schmoozeletter. When I was a kid, many of our religious teachers were first and second generation...
75 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Mar 25, 2021
- 6 min
How a Chacham Becomes a Rasha: Some Thoughts about Questions
A few years ago, I was speaking with a high school student who was struggling with her faith. She told me that she’d learned some...
564 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Dec 31, 2020
- 4 min
The Covid Vaccine and Fearing the Unknown
When I was a kid, there was this corny joke that made the rounds in our Jewish schools and camps. It went something like this: Joker: I...
364 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Dec 11, 2020
- 5 min
"My Husband's 'Zera L'vatala' Will Be My Fault"
“I was taught that my husband’s purity and holiness are basically my responsibility. As long as we can ‘be together,’ that saves him from...
1,135 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Dec 5, 2020
- 3 min
Why Do Some People "Do Better" in Therapy Than Others? 7 Factors Satisfied Therapy Clients Share
Have you ever noticed that some people will swear that therapy totally changed their lives for the better, and others will say they’ve...
681 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Dec 2, 2020
- 2 min
"How Often Are You Supposed to 'Be Intimate'?"
Have you ever wondered how often people have sex? (I purposely used the nebulously awkward euphemism “be intimate” in the title because...
5,804 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 29, 2020
- 3 min
Is it Possible to Create Attraction Where There is None?
For so many couples, this is their million-dollar question. Hope for their relationship, for their future, hinges on the answer....
1,657 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 8, 2020
- 3 min
What's the point of life?
What’s the point of life? People actually google this; we are so desperately seeking meaning and truth. (Sometimes. Sometimes we seek ice...
320 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Oct 7, 2020
- 2 min
The Clouds of Glory as a Message of Moderation
The more I know, the less I know. Do you relate to this? I sometimes look back at words I wrote with such conviction when I was younger,...
235 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Sep 14, 2020
- 2 min
Unsent Letter to my Client before Rosh HaShana
Dearest Client, Well, it’s been quite a year. At this time, we have a custom to take interpersonal stock and make amends. Thank you for...
1,017 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Sep 9, 2020
- 5 min
Pre-holidays and Back to School Stress Getting to You?
It’s September, and children everywhere are yanking out their uniforms, knapsacks, paperwork, and supplies, packing up lunches and...
52 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jul 29, 2020
- 2 min
I Checked My Privilege. Here's What I Found:
I found that I am, indeed, quite privileged. I was raised by two loving, wise, imperfect, but dedicated parents. I was taught the value...
449 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jul 17, 2020
- 2 min
I Am a Jew, and Here are My Plans for World Domination:
An essay by: Elisheva Liss Much to my people’s chagrin, we have finally been outed as the nefarious villains that we are. I feel the...
78 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- Jun 4, 2020
- 5 min
What If You Cheated on Your Spouse?
An Infidelity Dilemma The following story was shared with me by an acquaintance who: Is not a therapy client of mine Specifically asked...
3,339 views0 comments
Elisheva Liss
- May 21, 2020
- 4 min
I Don't Want to Be a Statistic
What’s the deal with humans as numbers? In my years at college and grad school, I was a pretty good student, but I did fail one course:...
228 views0 comments
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