Aviva’s Story: Rabbi Nivin Enabled Me to Love my Life

Aviva’s Story: Rabbi Nivin Enabled Me to Love my Life

Over the past three years, Rabbi Aryeh Nivin’s Personal Development Program has helped me IMMENSELY to become a more happy, calm, fulfilled and inspired human being and JewishMOM.

In two weeks, a new Personal Development Chabura will be starting up. And great news, JewishMOMs…the 1st three sessions are a no-commitment free trial! And on top of that, as a special offer for JewishMOM.com readers: all JewishMOM.com readers who participate in this free 3-week trial will automatically enter the raffle to win a free 12-week session (a prize worth $150. You can learn more about Rabbi Nivin and his Personal Development Program at his website

Excerpted from: The Journey Begins by Shoshana Schwartz, reprinted from Family First

Aviva’s Story

After my third child was born, the doctors said I couldn’t have any more children. Nevertheless, I spent many years trying.

Baruch Hashem, I did, and after more boys I finally had a girl. I was holding my baby, staring into her eyes… and I was struck with how sad I felt.

My confusion wasn’t due to postpartum blues. For years, I’d been working toward this goal. It wasn’t only physical efforts I’d invested; I’d worked on being a better wife and mother, on having more kavanah, on making myself worthy of having more children. And now that I’d finally achieved this goal, I felt sad?

I loved being a stay-at-home mom! Yet it still felt like something was missing,that there was a part of me I wasn’t utilizing.

I turned to Hashem. “I just want to connect to You, to bring what I’m supposed to into this world. But I have no clue what that is!”

A friend introduced me to Reb Aryeh Nivin’s Chaburas. My first reaction was negative. I’d been working on myself for years —I didn’t need help with that! But I tried out one class, and almost immediately, Rabbi Nivin asked, “Do you want to find your unique purpose?” I got chills.

It took me a year to figure out what I thought my unique purpose— my yeud — is. As Rabbi Nivin suggested, in order to discover my life’s purpose, I made list after list of things I enjoyed, things unique to me. But I kept crossing off things that were “too spiritual.”

Because I came from an intellectual family, I viewed nonintellectual pursuits as unworthy. I crossed off dancing, crossed
off reading for entertainment. Stuck on what I “should” enjoy, I couldn’t see what I truly enjoyed.

To let go of societal and familial expectations, I had to unpeel the layers of my real motivations. When I dropped certain chesed activities, my friends were shocked; if I could be involved with these organizations, didn’t that mean I had to?

Actually, no. There are no “shoulds.” I have a unique soul, and I have to create kiddush Hashem in my own way. It’s not necessarily doing this particular chesed, or teaching this Torah class. Once I let go of the shoulds, I started to be real, and to live a life full of vitality.

Today I give teleconferences on various seforim, and yeud workshops. Instead of being locked inside my academic upbringing, in which “being spiritual” was almost an insult, I am living my yeud, helping people connect to G-d.

Aviva teaches, does private coaching, and runs workshops on yeud and the Six Constant Mitzvos.

Learn more about Rabbi Nivin’s Personal Development Chabura and register for his free 3-week trial offer at www.newchabura.com

3 comments

  1. Very inspiring. I have also been in Rabbi Nivin’s Personal Development chabura for years now and it is life changing. It’s so important for all of us to tap into what makes us shine! Great story Aviva :).

  2. Ali Gutfreund

    If I could, stand on the highest mountain in the world and announce the power, the glory, the clarity, the strength that will come from HaRav Nivin’s Chabura’s, I truly would. This is a must do for every Yid in the world. Thank you for sharing your wonderful story.

  3. your words resonate inside me – thank u for sharing and by that emphasizing that yes, its possible to find our yeud –

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