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Meet Our Bloggers

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Rafi Josselson is an autistic junior at the Leffell School in Westchester County. Rafi has spoken at multiple places across the Northeast, including Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, Temple Israel Center, and the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. He also has written blogs for MATAN and for his own website (https://www.rafijosselson.com/). Rafi hopes to spread a message of Empathy, Inclusion, Awareness, and, Acceptance through his work. Outside of Autism advocacy, Rafi is the co-president of his shul’s USY Chapter, a counselor at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, a section editor for his school’s newspaper, and an avid reader of both books and the news.

Traveling to Israel

This spring I traveled to Israel with my grade. I want to share with you my experience and what I learned about myself. My first trip to Israel was in 2016 with my grandfather, cousin, and a [...]

#JDAIM 22

Following an incident in school, Rafi (age 15) posted his thoughts on Facebook. Rafi has granted permission to Matan to reprint this post. I’d like to talk about something I have noticed when it [...]

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Stephanie Kallish is from the suburbs of Chicago. She went to Highland Park High School and grew up at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. She is now a first-year at Brandeis University and is studying Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. She serves on the International Board of USY, and is involved in Jewish Mental Health Advocacy, Israel Education and general Jewish life. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys reading, biking, Jewish learning, and drinking coffee.

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Noah Brick is a 16 year old high school junior from White Plains, New York. He has Tourette Syndrome and a few other co-occurring conditions such as ADHD, dysgraphia and anxiety. He is a youth ambassador for the Tourette Association of America. In his free time, he enjoys acting, carpentry/building furniture, watching “F.R.I.E.N.D.S.“ and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Making True Friends

Making friends can be hard, especially when you are different either mentally or physically. I am lucky to have had the same two best friends since I was in kindergarten. Most peoples’ [...]

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Evie Kirshner is an 18 year old gap year student studying in Israel. She graduated from the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City and will be attending Emory University in the fall. Evie has ADHD and anxiety. She loves photography, watching movies, and reading.

I Have ADHD

I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder at 8 years old. Throughout my life, ADHD has impacted my life in different ways, but it was always most notable in the classroom. [...]

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