The Jewish People’s Undying Connection to the Land of Israel
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Walking and talking with Adina Shoshana, famously known as the Now Jewish Nanny, who shares the emotional story of her conversion to Judaism and her first visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
After converting in complete privacy to protect her spiritual journey, Adina finally sets foot in Israel for the first time as a Jew. Watch as she opens up about why she kept her conversion secret from her followers, her first prayers at the Kotel, what made her fall in love with Judaism through her nanny kids, and her hopes for building a Jewish family.
Jamie: What are you doing here? Do you want to bring these up? Do you want to grab one together? Can you come with me?
Adina: Yeah.
Jamie: Okay. This is the best place over here. Let’s go.
Jamie: Very cold. So you bring heavy clothing?
Adina: Not really. People told me that it was gonna be the slaughter material.
Jamie: Yeah. No, no, that's a lie.
Adina: So before I even was Jewish, I had opportunities to come to Israel for October 7th and a lot of charity work. And it's not that I didn't want to go, I just— I was converting in secret in private, and I wanted to, um, I didn't want to step foot on Israel until I was Jewish, until I was full in Jewish.
Jamie: Your soul was very Jewish.
Adina: That's another thing that was so painful in my conversion—like, yeah—that I, that I literally was just like waiting for everything, waiting to move to the next chapter of my life, waiting to be Jewish, waiting to die, even as a Jew waiting to come to Israel and go to the Kotel. But like, finally, thank you Hashem, I converted.
Adina: I got to come. I'm here in the best possible way.
Jamie: We had a very special experience together.
Adina: Special? It was your first visit to the Western Wall, to the Kotel, and I've never felt the Kotel. And I have never, ever, ever experienced the Kotel with someone who was their first visit.
Jamie: Really wow me. And for all of us, the crew behind the camera here, it was so moving.
Adina: We were crying. I waited, I waited for so long and it was like even landing in Israel. I didn't even go right to the Kotel. I didn't want to rush. I just was like, I waited so long for my moment to be Jewish. I waited so long to get to go to Israel under the right circumstances. Not rushing, not here for, you know, any sort of business or nothing, just for me.
Adina: And I'm so thankful you guys gave me.
Jamie: When we got close to the Kotel, to the Western Wall—so I just let you do your thing.
Adina: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Jamie: So what were your prayers like that day?
Adina: I just prayed, I said thank you. I just number one, I always just say like, thank you for making me Jewish.
Adina: Thank you, God, for making me a Jew and letting me join this amazing nation. I prayed for the peace and protection of Israel. I prayed for my future mishpacha, for my future family. I said, I want to get married soon. I want to have kids.
Jamie: Amen, Amen, Amen.
Adina: I just feel like, oh, like, what did I do to be so lucky to be here?
Adina: So just continue: thank you, thank you, thank you. And continue to bless me. And make sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing with the opportunities that Hashem gives me.
Adina: Thank you.
Jamie: You know, sometimes I'm so overwhelmed with appreciation that I almost find it hard to ask. And we never should. It's not a Jewish idea. You can always ask for anything big and small…
Jamie: And it's such a powerful exercise to be thankful.
Adina: It just— and I find it empowering. It gives me peace of mind sometimes when I walk into a particular coffee shop here and I order matcha and they tell me they're out of it. I'm like, what?
Jamie: Yeah, like—like that's my reaction. Like, how could you be out of it? But it happens sometimes. At the port, all the matcha gets stopped. It's a very Israel thing, you know.
Adina: It's actually a thing.
Jamie: Yeah. What? That's what I'm saying. It just said different things happen. You know what's happening with these, like, things don't always make their way in your Amazon package. These are messing with my matcha.
Adina: Yeah. Or they could be messing with your Amazon. They would take, like, three months to get something here. Like, by the time it gets— you said I don't need this anymore.
Adina: You know, I can't even tell you that being here in Jerusalem, it made me realize how unsafe I constantly feel in that unbelievable New York. Isn't that unbelievable? And I was like, oh, I just love.
Adina: I feel like Jews aren't meant to be here. And now I'm making Aliyah yet. Whatever. But I feel like Jews are meant to be here, and I love looking around and seeing like everyone here is Jewish. Everyone here would help me if I needed something.
Adina: Also, with your English, I say “yalla.” Every—“yalla” every day.
Jamie: That's good. Those are two good words to know.
Adina: Everything's just so old, but pretty. It's amazing. It's old, it's beautiful. It feels very biblical. And it's this juxtaposition of old and new, of modern and timeless. And I think it's very much like our role as Jewish people to keep our biblical values and heritage and the laws, but do so in a way that makes a lot of sense.
Jamie: No one ever call me that, by the way. That's the first.
Adina: That's the first. I've been called many things, but not Rebbetzin.
Adina: Obviously, like when I was converting every single day in my life. And it was the most painful thing ever was just like, are you converting? Are you converting? Why don't you convert? Not hate—like they genuinely just for so like people who follow me so sweet, like so concerned, but like they didn't realize like in the moment obviously, which I've spoken about so many times like converting.
Adina: I just like I didn't want to be reminded every single day that I was not Jewish. And I like, why the why “Don't You convert” was just like, wow. Like if it was that easy, right?
Adina: But after converting, I was shocked. I was thankful that so many people approved of me. They were welcoming. They were happy for me. I was so—I was in tears for like weeks.
Adina: Um, but then, yeah, then they started off with like, oh, are you dating? Are you making Aliyah? Oh.
Adina: So it's very important social media to like, keep your boundaries and keep your confidence. Like know what you do, why you do it. And yeah. Like just everything else is just noise sometimes.
Jamie: But you've been so successful, especially like, for example, with your conversion about keeping parts of your private life private until you're ready to share them.
Adina: Yes. I have always, um, only ever shared things that are private or painful after they've been resolved.
Adina: I'm not the type to go on to social media and to just cry and have everyone cry with me, but if I have something that I've learned or that helped me through a challenging time, I'm happy to share that.
Jamie: Um, so what's like your feeling on keeping certain things private versus being super duper authentic?
Adina: I think there's a way to be authentic and vulnerable with also being private.
Adina: But I also just—I did not want anyone cheering me on. I did not want anyone knocking me down. I didn't want anyone influencing me, any brand.
Adina: I didn't want to maybe—maybe decide. The Orthodox Jewish conversion is a very serious thing. I didn't want to maybe decide, oh, like this is not for me, but like, too bad, I have a brand deal waiting for me. For this bookstore or for or for this dress.
Adina: Or like I told this company that I would be doing this or speaking of this or that. Like I didn't want anything outside to influence that.
Adina: The concept of being authentic doesn't mean that you have to share everything. It just means you need to authentically be you and your emotions and your reactions in the words you choose to say and the things you choose to share or not share. That's real.
Adina: That's the thing I show up on my Instagram story specifically no makeup. Literally before the fact that I was like eating pickles out of a jar. They're a little bit salty. Okay, yeah, like everyone commented that I was—that was a mistake of mine. But like I did, I did. I did my fastest fine today.
Adina: But like, yeah, I so I had—I had pickles and Israeli pickles are the best by the way.
Adina: I'm obsessed with Israeli pickles, like I'm from Philly and I lived in New York. My husband's in New Yorker. Don't. I'm not interested in New York pickle.
Adina: Like my grandfather made his own pickles and pickled them, but he grew his own cucumbers and pickled them. But oh, yes, Israeli pickles. There is something about them. They make everything better and they're yum on their own.
Jamie: And then you have to say, when you're eating pickles like, I'm not pregnant.
Adina: That's okay, now I know. Yes, yes.
Jamie: What are some things, now that you are now Jewish, that you're most excited to experience?
Adina: I was so excited just to do High Holidays. I think, as I said, I'm raising a Jewish family because Jewish life, I just, I would like—
Adina: I can't wait to host Shabbos meals. And like I always, I always make jokes like I'm not a good cook. I'm not a good cook. But that chapter’s going to come where then I'm going to be like, new series: I'm learning to cook.
Jamie: Let me tell you, if you're your husband—I use my oven for storage in Manhattan. I never turn the thing on.
Adina: We would agree. Yes.
Jamie: My mom wanted to build a house without a kitchen. Okay. And then when she built it, she put it off to the side by the garage so she would never have to walk through it.
Adina: So I'm with you.
Jamie: What's most important is not what's on the table, but the moments that happen around us.
Adina: Oh, I love that. Especially when it comes to the taste of my cooking.
Jamie: And look here, you know exactly where we are. We're—I'm a mezuzah kisser, so I have to.
Jamie: This is the famous Dale Chihuly chandelier. So he is a glass sculptor and he studied in Italy at the Murano glass.
Adina: I know he went there. Yeah, I've been there.
Jamie: Yeah, yeah.
Adina: Okay. So that's it. I didn't study there. I went there as a tourist. Let me clarify.
Jamie: Okay, okay.
Jamie: So let's go to the room, please.
Adina: Okay. The whole reason I'm here. Yeah.
Jamie: …What is your wish and hope here at the special place of prayer and connection?
Adina: I really just hope that all anyone watching this video just loves Hashem and loves their Yiddish and loves their Judaism and above all, like asks themselves like what makes them Jewish and how to—
Adina: how to put it in your family and raise your family with Judaism in the home.
Adina: Uh, I found Judaism in the home with my nanny kids, and because those kids reflected the most beautiful parts about Judaism, and it wasn't the mere rules of a skirt length or, um, even kashrut rules. They were very observant. They did teach me that.
Adina: But what made me fall in love with Judaism was their love for Hashem. Just love and peace and always want to grow upwards.
Adina: Uh, their mitzvahs are not restrictions. They're just ways to protect their connection.
Jamie: So be Jewish, be more Jewish.
Adina: Yeah, and we're resilient. We just get right back up. Nothing's—nothing's keeping us down.
Jamie: Sure. Okay. Take a picture. Yeah. Ready for it? Okay, great.
Adina Shoshana Welcome to our fold/group/people/religion, we followed the same steps as you did, may HKB'H bless you with all kind of blessings He can and will give. Have a great Shabbos Bo this coming Shabbos. With sincere greetings,
Wow! I fed this to ChatGPT & it was amazing, bringing out a lot of points that weren't immediately obvious to me.