Published in Pnima Magazine
Community | Shira Segal
Shoshana Bar Asher (31), married+ 5 and living in the Neria community. Self-employed and touch therapist in a private clinic.
Photography: Zehava Sandman
What led you to move to the community?
"After we got married, we lived at the yeshiva in Sha'alvim for a few years, and when we were looking to settle down and buy a house we found Neria. We were looking for a community near Modi'in, with a supportive community and quality educational institutions".
What do you do for work?
"I have a clinic for touch therapy for women. I treat back and head pain, hormonal imbalance, pregnancy preparation and pregnancy and birth accompaniment. I combine several methods to give a complete response to the woman in front of me, through massage, shiatsu, reflexology and craniosacral. In addition to this I am a certified doula, birth companion and childbirth preparation instructor. Following the demand, this year I opened a workshop for learning couples massage, where I teach the woman and her husband to treat each other, to ease headaches and back pain and improve the general feeling".
Business VS large family
"I am very satisfied with the field I work in and with the ability to be self-employed. I feel that it gives me flexibility to put family first in priorities along with livelihood and a sense of mission. I am full of satisfaction from the touch treatments I give and from the privilege of accompanying births".
Community life
"We have been blessed with a communal and supportive community. I enjoy participating in women's evenings, in a new mothers club that organizes meetings for new mothers once every two weeks, and in a midrasha for women of all ages with interesting lessons that have many participants. In the summer there is a community vacation, which is an opportunity to meet and get to know more families, and once a week in the summer there is an activity for children organized by the community coordinator.
In addition, there are committees that support different needs of the community residents, such as after birth or during illness. This year, unfortunately, my son was hospitalized for a week. The community organized meals for us, and this support helped a lot. Also in the families of the enlisted there was crazy support, and there is also a large investment in our youth".
Only in Neria there is...
"Committees for every need or desire, there is always someone to turn to in order to receive help and support".
Employment in the area
"In the field of education there is always a need, because there really are many sought-after educational institutions here. There are also businesses that employ in our area. Many women travel to Kiryat Sefer or to Modi'in and the area, a distance of 15–20 minutes drive. And for self-employed women – the Talmonim bloc is growing and developing, and this allows small businesses to open and give the communities services that once you had to travel far to receive"
Nearby city: Modi'in Illit – a quarter of an hour, and Modi'in about 20 minutes.
Educational institutions: Council and language kindergartens, Talmud Torah and a school for girls and ulpana.
Families in the community: 430 families.
Special project: The midrasha for women.