By Evelyn Turkieh Friendship is the key to happiness. Over time, the meaning of friendship has changed. People care more about popularity and avoid reality. A real friend is someone who you’re able to trust. Someone you can count on. Someone who will always be there for you, through the good and the bad. Real friends accept…
By Miriam Turkieh Instagram, Facebook. All social media distracts you from being you! When do you ever stop and think, “What do I want to do?” When you are in your teenage years, all your friends spend and spend and you don’t think you need all the things your friends buy. But, you are under pressure to…
By Susan Esses You can’t find real friends because you are too busy chasing everyone else. It makes you feel as if you have a lot of friends when, meanwhile, you really don’t. This story was published in the Bar Mitzvah Magazine
By Tehila Bitton One time, when Bella was starting a new school, she was too shy and insecure that no one would like her. Sarah didn’t talk to anyone and when they tried to talk to her she would just brush them off. Because of her fear, she ended up alone without any friends. Later,…
By Denise Bildirici Everyone knows you have a really good voice. The popular girl in the class announces there is a singing contest and she is going to win. Your best friend begs you to enter but you don’t listen. At the contest, the popular girl wins and rubs it in your face. The next…
By Mark Dweck There was a man named Sam and he didn’t want to try out for his school hockey team. He thought that if he didn’t make it everyone would make fun of him. So for the first year he didn’t try out. Then came the second year he was able to tryout but…
By Sarah Benun You’re with your friends at a restaurant. All of them order French fries and unhealthy food. You always ate healthy your whole life. You really want to order salad or soup but you order what all your friends have because you are afraid to be different. Order what you want and enjoy…
By Grace Dusi When you have fear, you don’t succeed in life, you fail. If you have a dream to be like Walt Disney and to make characters and a park but everyone that you showed your characters to said, “Good idea, but not such great drawing,” don’t give up, because then you’ll never succeed….
By Tali Zabari I used to be terrified of spiders. Every day in camp I would see spiders all around and I would scream and run. One day I decided it was enough. There was one big spider right next to me. I picked it up and threw it 2 feet away. My heart was…
By Mary Miriam Turkieh When you prepare for BJE for the whole summer and winter and you think you’re ready and you‘ll do well, you know the information inside out. But, when you come to the test of the BJE and you’re scared, you’re thinking I’m going to fail. Not going to get in to…
By Orly Alchkifati One time when I was little I was shy and scared to sing in front of people. Everyone wanted to hear my voice and how I sing. I was scared they wouldn’t like my voice and would laugh at me. When I sing I express myself and who I am but because…
By Nina Bildirici If you don’t take chances, then you’re missing the opportunity of getting a good mark. One time I was studying for a test with my mother really hard. She tested me and I got all the answers right. When it was the test, I forgot all the answers and I didn’t really…
By Regina Saada Getting out of your comfort zone is a fear most human beings face. I used to be afraid to attempt to shoot a shot in a basketball. I was afraid that I would miss and be humiliated. No matter how many times my coach would encourage me to shoot, I was too…
By Rachel Gammal Social media can ruin a friendship. A girl has an Instagram and took a picture with her friend. Her friend looked gorgeous and wanted to post it but the girl looked not as pretty in it. So, the friend posted the picture but she cropped the girl out. To the girl, she looked…
By Ikey Dweck Social media is like a death trap. People think that people like them on Instagram or Facebook. This isn’t true. These people like the pictures and things you put on the internet. If your whole class has an iphone or ipad, don’t just get one to fit in because they won’t be your friends…
By Danielle Tuachi When you see that someone popular has something that you want just because they have it will you get it? Put yourself in their shoes. When they most popular person in your class gets that popular item and you don’t even like it. you will go home and beg your parents for it. Then…
By Yaakov Grunsfeld Social media kids all over the world are using Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Kids are following and friending random people to look popular. It might look cool to pull a prank or act mischievously to fit it. When a kid feels he ranks low, he would want to do something silly and funny to…
By Moshe Benhamu When I got home one day, I went on Facebook. I saw that people began to follow people who surfed. I went online to get a picture of a kid surfing. I posted it in Facebook and I got more followers. Social media strips our individual qualities. If you like music and people don’t,…
By Yisrael Meir Ovadia If a person is pressured by social media, their friends aren’t true and real. For example, if someone has a Facebook account and they post a picture of his friend to look cool, and he just wants people to like him. Another example someone is cool gets an app on his tablet, then…
By Olga Tawil Friendship through social media has changed over the years. Social media can lower your self esteem. When you see profiles with more followers than you, you feel less important. You feel bad that you aren’t as popular or don’t have as many friends. But, that’s not true. Most friends on social media are fake…
By Eddie Tawil When Michael got a new skateboard, he took a picture of it and he got a lot of likes. Michael really hates to skateboard but he only bought it to be popular. Michael was only acting to like it. Also, his friend told him that it was so cool. His friend also told him…
By Steven Sutton Peer pressure. It’s one of those times where every day is Purim, Purim with a social media. You see all of these people doing things that you don’t like, but do it for popularity. You see them doing things in their costumes with friends. You look around and say, “I want to be cool.”…
By Morris Sutton Twitter, Facebook and instagram are all examples of fun social networks. But I think we should decide who is it really fun for? It is amazing what one post or word can actually do to one. It is really important to think before you post on a social network, because anyone can see it….
By Alan Sassoon I think Facebook affects friendship because if someone follows you and he is your friend and you don’t follow him back he might think that you don’t like him anymore and stop being friends with you. When you post a picture, it might look like you are making fun of someone when in reality…
By Jeanne Rahmey On Facebook, friendship can be gone by a click of a button. All you have to do to end a relationship is type something mean that a person won’t say to another person to her face. All there is between one person and another is a screen which can make all the difference. Social…
By Baruch Shabot My first time playing football was very scary. I knew my team was going to lose because of me. I didn’t know how to catch the ball; I didn’t know any of the rules. So, I sat down for the rest of the game. But, then I was taught how to play…
By Morris Sutton Social media has many pros and cons just like most things in life. Social media has corrupted many minds. For example, it can boost our morale and self confidence but not in a real and true way. Yet, it manipulates our brains into thinking we’re all that. But, in reality, we are not. Social…
By Nina D. Social media can be harmful to friendship, to the way you see and feel about yourself and gain respect for yourself. The second you log onto social media, you can gain 500 followers. But, the second you log off, they disappear. They are not there to support and care about you. All you…
By Alex Zemmol One day, I was playing football. I made a bad pass and it caused us to lose the game. From then on, whenever I play football, even if I get a chance to make a pass in the beginning of the game, I try as much as I can, to do…
By Ralph Sarway If you fail a test, you lose confidence in your self. I know this, because it happened to me. Last year, in 5th grade I was not doing well in Mishna. But, I kept on trying and trying and at one point I lost confidence in my self. But, there was…
By Raymond Arking People always try to do amazing things, but sometimes it just backfires. I think people should start out small and then try bigger. For example, I tried to get a touchdown in football. But, the ball bounced off my hands and someone on the other team caught it. (It was an…
By Michael Gammal One day I walked up to my dad and asked him if I can read from the torah. He replied to me, “Yes.” The next day I got my part to read. I practiced it. On Saturday it was my turn to read. I went up to the torah and read it…
By Hiram I have a goal to be the best chazzan. It didn’t work out so well. In shul I was chazzan and the rabbi was fixing my mistakes. I had a bunch of mistakes and I got embarrassed. The next week I was chazzan again. I made fewer mistakes and I felt much better.
By Jacob Tawil “Slip!,” Pete fell again. He lost the ice hockey game for his team. After the game, the whole team wanted Pete off the team. Pete was so sad. So, he quit, because he did not want to be on a team when he was not welcomed. The next day, a kid from…
By Sam Cohen I wanted to be a good cook. But, when I served my food, I could tell people didn’t like it. I asked them what was bad about the food. They told what they didn’t like about it. I took their advice and the next time I cooked it was much better.
By Steven Sutton The buzzer sounds and the game is over. The team starts saying hateful things at you. They lost and it was your fault. How will you feel? Probably pretty badly. But, that isn’t a reason to give up. Practice makes perfect. Next time come out stronger and don’t be nervous in…
By Moshe Lati Who knows that moment when there are 3 seconds of the game and your team is counting on you to take the game’s winning shot? Well I do. I had the ball in my hands and I was so nervous. The one thing I was thinking was let’s say I made…
By Shoshana Dweck Everyone has a goal that they want to achieve. Ruth has always dreamed of being a ballerina. She asked her mother if she can take ballet classes. Her mother signed her up. The day after her first ballet class, Ruth had bruises all over body, and skin tears on her feet….
By Eddie Catton During my first time ice skating, I fell tons of times. I really wanted to start playing ice hockey. After my first time ice skating, I felt very frustrated. But, I thought to myself, every professional was once a beginner. All these famous players in the professional leagues all had a start….
By Maya Zabari Once, my friend had to memorize a monologue for a school play. She worked really hard, but when the time came she forgot the words. She stumbled over her lines and finally everyone laughed her off the stage. The next time there was in a play, she didn’t want to do it,…