Growing up, I always struggle with my menstrual cycle (meaning, I was one of the last girls in my class to start bleeding, around age 14, and my cycles remained inconsistent with regular missed periods until I was started on the birth control pill at age 17, to regulate my hormones and create a regular cycle.)

The word Rebbetzin traditionally refers to the wife of a rabbi. And in many communities — especially progressive ones — the role has largely faded. Today, many rabbis are women themselves, and their partners often have entirely separate careers. The idea of a Rebbetzin as a community presence, teacher, or spiritual guide has, in many spaces, quietly disappeared.

My name is Allison Goldman Blustin, and I came to this work organically — through lived experience, heartbreak and healing, sacred learning, and a deep yearning to connect body and spirit through Jewish wisdom.