Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and Finding Self-Acceptance | with Dr Sara Glass

Sara is the author of a personal memoir Kissing Girls on Shabbat recounting her courageous journey of self-acceptance as a queer woman navigating life within and beyond the constraints of a Hasidic Jewish community. This poignant exploration of identity, resilience, and love resonates deeply with readers and shines a light on the universal struggle to embrace one’s true self. Sara is a therapist, writer, and speaker who helps members of the queer community and individuals who have survived trauma to live bold, honest, and proud lives. She also serves as a Clinical Supervisor for Jewish Lesbian Youth, a non-profit organization that supports and empowers LGBTQ youth.Website: https://www.drsaraglass.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/drsaraglass/X: https://x.com/DrSaraGlass

Michael was born in the US into a Coptic Orthodox family, but he’d drifted in and out of Agnosticism since he was a teenager. Michael converted to Islam because he hated Jews so much. For nearly 20 years, he sympathized and advocated for the Palestinians until he felt like he had to choose between his humanity and continuing to support a cause he increasingly saw as morally bankrupt and depraved. That is when he started creating content that focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After spending nearly 20 years supporting a cause that would have gladly murdered every Israeli, Michael believes he owes it to the Jewish community to tell his story and share his knowledge, to fight the propaganda machine and hopefully pull people out of the "free Palestine" death cult. Leaning heavily into books and recollections of history for information, Michael tries to raise awareness about the problems with the Palestinian leadership, to uplift and showcase Jewish voices and opinions, and to defend Zionism to a world that has a very poor understanding of what Zionism is.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koptickaparah0548/ 

Sheikh Mirza Ismail is a Yezidi religious leader who was forced to flee Iraq because of religious persecution. Spending over two years as a refugee in Syria and Turkey, Sheikh Mirza made his way to Canada where he received a degree in Social Service Work from Medix College in 2010. As a Sheikh, Mirza Ismail holds a portion of leadership among the Yezidi people and is the Founder and President of the Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International: www.yezidihumanrights.org Mirza was born in Shingal, the Yezidi region of Iraq that was over-run by ISIS in August of 2014. He has travelled all over the world speaking with government officials, media, and organizations about the plight of the Yezidi people and other minorities suffering at the hands of ISIS. Since September 2014, Sheikh Mirza has been visiting Iraq frequently; meeting and interviewing the IDPs (Internationally Displaced People), especially the Yezidi women and girls who lived under the law of the ISIS and escaped the humanitarian crisis that saw the Yezidi genocide and enslavement.Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International (YHROI): [email protected] 1-416-843-7973

In this very special episode, we celebrate my birthday by catching up with my wonderful friends, guests, and community.  I’m honored, privileged and delighted to have these brave, strong, wonderful people in my life, who fill it with meaning and purpose, and who valiantly stand with me in the bold pursuit of human connection, mutual support, and critical thinking in a world often divided by ideology and prejudice.A big thank you to my entire community of listeners and guests for making these past 4 years matter!Listen to Mün’s beautiful and powerful gift to me - her song, “Opening doors” -  here: https://youtu.be/OjT0qE-8D7k?si=5iPxiy6eyoa-bGAZ 

Selina Robinson is a Canadian politician and author of Truth be Told. After a webinar in early 2024, in which Robinson referred to the territory on which Israel was founded as “a crappy piece of land,” she became the centre of a political firestorm, in which activists and a group of Muslim clergy demanded her resignation. She was subjected to online harassment, including a credible death threat, and her constituency office was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. Selina was consequently fired from BC’s cabinet and was told she could not continue with her responsibilities due to the “depth of work” she had to do to repair the harm caused by her comments.X: https://x.com/SelinaMRobinsonBluSky: https://bsky.app/profile/selinarobinson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinson.selina

Magan Magan is a Somali writer who was born in Yemen. He migrated to Australia with his family at the age of four. Years later, he left Islam - having wrestled with his sexuality while enduring a narcissistic mother. Islam had permitted both her abuse and the teachings dehumanised him for being a homosexual. Magan is the author of Stop All The Clocks, a poetry collection, which represents a point of healing and serves as a reclamation of his humanity against the apostasy and anti-gay laws in Islam. He is the co-managing editor of Verity La La, a creative arts journal and the host of the Inner Self Rising Podcast, a show for freethinkers focused on self-development and living authentically.Twitter: https://x.com/maganmagan9Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innerselfrising/Email: [email protected]

In a new limited series called Islam and the West, Yasmine is inviting the most brilliant minds of our time to discuss the most pressing issues of our time. These conversations help us understand the goals of Islamists in the West, who are infiltrating our governments, media and academic institutions. They also examine strategies to battle the overwhelming antisemitism and Islamism in the West.The first guest on the Islam and the West limited series is Raymond Ibrahim, an expert on Islamic history and doctrine, and a widely published expert on the Middle East and Islam. He is the author of multiple books including Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam (2022) and Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West (2018). He has appeared on C-SPAN, Al-Jazeera, CNN, NPR, and PBS and has been published by a variety of publications. Formerly an Arabic linguist at the Library of Congress, Ibrahim has guest lectured at many universities.Ibrahim’s dual-background—born and raised in the U.S. by Egyptian parents from the Middle East—has provided him with unique advantages, from equal fluency in English and Arabic, to an equal understanding of the Western and Middle Eastern mindsets.Twitter: https://x.com/RaymondIbrahim5Website: https://www.raymondibrahim.com/ Raymond’s books: - Defenders of the West: https://a.co/d/41mqcQk- Sword and Scimitar: https://a.co/d/hYFnKRI

Goldie Hoffman grew up as one of 10 kids in a Hasidic family in an insular community in Brooklyn, New York. She endured strict gender roles, dress codes, and food laws. Her education was also limited as she was a girl in a Hasidic community. From a very early age, she was already acutely aware of and hated her restrictive second-class status. She knew what sexism was before she knew the word.While obtaining a degree in History and Middle East Studies, Goldie learned that anything countering the current neo-'progressive' viewpoint was not accepted, denigrated as 'Orientalist' and therefore racist and uneducated. She has experienced life within different societies and cultures -- which can make her feel like everywhere's home and yet nowhere is all at the same time. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegoldieloxzone/Twitter/X: https://x.com/agoldieloxzone

Sara is an exMuslim woman from Iran who has been working relentlessly to counter Islamofascist propaganda and misinformation in today's world, and to raise awareness about Islamotrauma and Gender Apartheid in Islamic countries and communities.Sara led a special community event where she talked about the latest war between the Islamic Regime and Israel, the ceasefire with Israel, and the history behind it all briefly. She then answered the questions from the community to help shed light on the situation in Iran in this special episode of Yasmine Mohammed Podcast. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sara.ghorbani13/X: https://x.com/d_white_rabbit

Jasmin was born to an Arabian father and an Italian mother in Saudi Arabia and raised in fundamentalist Islam. Jasmin started wearing burqa in her tweens. She would get into verbal altercations with the “Mutawaa” (religious police) who monitored everyone and would harass, beat with canes, or take women to jail if they didn’t comply as they are silenced and not seen in any public place. Jasmin experienced segregation in all aspects of her life and did not even own her own ID card as women belong to their guardian male. From a child to adulthood, when Jasmin travelled to Italy to visit her mother’s family, she would see and experience the opposite side: modern, progressive, liberal western lifestyle. In her memoir, The Last Sandstorm, she shares this unusual and challenging upbringing that led to her dramatic escape to the United States in 1999, earning degrees in sociology, creative writing, public policy, and ethical leadership.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasmin.faulk/Website: https://www.jasminfaulk.com/ Jasmin’s book: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-last-sandstorm