“Just one Shabbos,” she told herself, “and this is Shabbos number one”

Growing up in Atlanta, the stories of the community members around me were as much a part of my life as the fact that Coke and CNN were located downtown, just 15 minutes from my home. When friends came to visit, you took them to the Coke factory, showed them the free fountains at the end of the soda museum, and you introduced them to the baalei teshuvah to hear their stories.

I knew Mira came from a background of minimal Judaism and that she’d turned her life around and become fully committed to Torah. But until I made my own feeble attempts to implement change, I never realized that changes like the ones Mira made required commitment and clear steps to morph from inspiration into lasting transformation.

Mira grew up in a barely traditional family. They celebrated Passover and ate gefilte fish, but they also ate nonkosher and didn’t talk much about G-d. She always felt connected to Judaism, but didn’t give it much thought until she got divorced and was advised by a friend to make sure she had a get.