“I Was Born Again in Elul”: Daniel Weinrib’s Journey Back to Judaism

Content creator Daniel Weinrib became religious two years ago. In a conversation with women who are becoming more observant, which she shared on her TikTok account, she described how her journey began.

Discovering Shabbat for the First Time

“The first time I was ever a guest at a Shabbat meal, it was a Jewish Shabbat table in a Jewish home. It was my first time experiencing Shabbat songs and words of Torah,” she recalls. “They were talking about the weekly Torah portion and saying Birkat Hamazon, and I didn’t even know what those things were. I was learning everything from the beginning.

“I had no idea what the weekly Torah portion was. Now, every week, I’m already curious. I ask what the parsha is and how it relates to my life. The same was true of Birkat Hamazon. I was literally learning from zero.”

“I Bought My First Siddur in Pink”

“I bought my first siddur in pink, with my name on it,” she remembers. “To this day, I still have screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation with a friend where I was asking her questions and sending her pictures of the pages of the morning blessings. I was asking her what I was supposed to say and where I was supposed to start. I had no idea.

“I would read the prayers without really knowing what I was doing, and I still wasn’t washing my hands in the morning. I wanted to say Modeh Ani when I woke up, but I didn’t know the words and couldn’t remember to say it. So I set an alarm on my phone called ‘Modeh Ani’ and wrote the words of the prayer there.”

Discovering the Power of Gratitude

“Today I understand how important it is to begin the morning with prayer and gratitude,” she adds. “I feel very connected to gratitude. I have discovered just how much Judaism is one great expression of gratitude. We are constantly praising Hashem.

“Modeh Ani, the first words a Jew says in the morning, is incredible to me. A Jew is called a Yehudi, connected to the tribe of Yehudah. Leah named him Yehudah because she gave thanks for him, because in her eyes she had received more than she deserved. That speaks to me very deeply.”

“Elul Is a Month of Hope and Mercy”

Speaking about the month of mercy and forgiveness, she adds: “Elul is here, and it is a month that I love and feel deeply connected to. It is a month of hope and mercy. No matter what happened yesterday, you can repair it. You can begin again. You can be born anew.

“I feel even more connected to Elul because I was born during this month, on the 26th of Elul. I always say that I was born twice. I was born again in Elul two years ago.”

“I Am Returning to the Purest Place Within Me”

“There was an incredible spark during this journey that I am going through. I truly call it being born again because I am really living that process. I am returning to the purest place within me, to myself, to Hashem, to the place I came from.”

“It moves me deeply. It feels like coming full circle,” she concludes. “I know how much searching and longing there is during this month, for Selichot, lectures, and events connected to this time of year.”