Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona – having been born in Safed but leaving as a baby – Yosef Turtora knew he was Jewish but little more. Occasionally, his parents lit the menorah on Hanukkah, though they never considered Hebrew school and rarely attended synagogue.
His father was a pharmacist raised in the Bronx, New York. His mother, daughter of a British art therapist, studied fine arts and became a landscape architect.
Tutora’s good friends often turned out to be Jewish but shared his unfamiliarity with religion. Yosef – then known as Joe or Joseph – recalls an occasional invitation to a Reform-style Seder at their homes.
For two years of middle school, he attended a Waldorf school, whose curriculum included animal care and art classes and fostered creativity.
Tutora decided to study philosophy at Arizona State University, hoping “to get answers to some key questions, real answers about the world.
“I was surprised how many philosophers discuss spiritual topics such as the soul and the existence of God. I thought that was ridiculous [for] logical thinking people.” In a philosophy of religion class, “I expected strong arguments against religion and God, but was surprised at the direction it took.”
When he was 20 years old, midway through his degree, his mom called and mentioned that Rosh Hashanah was coming soon. Maybe he would drop by then? He duly filed this away in the back of his mind.
He regularly passed the campus Chabad house while walking to his nearby rental apartment.
“I only knew that it was a Jewish place,” he said. “I had never been inside.”
Several days later, when he had just finished classes, the sight of the house jogged his memory. He stopped a moment to ask Google if that day was Rosh Hashanah. The phone confirmed his assumption. “Yes, today is Rosh Hashanah,” it said.
Just then the house door swung open, and the Chabad rabbi escorted two students outside. It was then midafternoon.
“Are you guys having services still?” he asked the rabbi.
“Actually, we finished already,” he replied. “Did you hear the shofar today?”
“No,” Tutora admitted.
“So come in. I’ll blow the shofar for you and give you something to eat,” said the rabbi.
And blow he did, 30 full blasts, a complete set. It was “a very powerful experience, right into my face, right into my neshama, my soul. Something in that experience must have woken me up,” triggering his Jewish awareness, disclosed Tutora. It was perhaps the first time in his life that he had heard the shofar blown.
While eating the holiday meal Chabad had offered him, he observed the other students in the room, all well-dressed for the holiday.
He listened, not understanding much, but gradually realized that he was listening to a real dialogue. After the rabbi answered initial questions, to his surprise students probed even further. This interaction was an intriguing revelation.
“I was really fascinated.” Before he knew it, two hours had passed, and upon departure, the rabbi invited him again, to join them for Friday night or whenever he wanted.
As Tutora emerged, a non-Jewish friend approached whom Yosef had texted before, to say that he was delayed.
“You just came out of there? You spent two hours in that weird Jewish place!” exclaimed the friend incredulously.
This casual remark struck a truly jarring note, though Tutora admitted to himself that three hours back he would have reacted in similar fashion.
“I started looking at my life, at whom I was spending my time with, and changing a lot of habits,” he continued.
During his first Chabad Friday night meal with well above 100 students, he felt buoyant and at ease, “as if among family and friends,” and stayed a long time.
Soon he began to participate in activities offered on Shabbat day, too, praying in English.
Tutora explained that he had “a great curiosity and pull towards Shabbat,” which he explored further. He now recalled his parents reminiscing about Shabbat in Safed, how they avoided carrying, using electricity, and traveling. Tefillin and starting to observe Shabbat were components of delving into his Jewish identity.
“I began trying to put on tefillin every day and keep Shabbat without really telling anyone. Eventually the Chabad campus rabbi found out and gave me his full support. As time went on, I found myself learning and growing more and more, although not without many struggles and challenges,” he explained.
Tutora attended yeshiva programs designed for students on breaks both at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, New Jersey, and at Hadar HaTorah in Crown Heights, and also connected with the Jewish community in Phoenix.
After college, Tutora came to Israel for a short Birthright trip, curious to explore Safed, his birthplace. He stayed on after the trip to volunteer with Livnot U’Lehibanot (Hebrew for “to build and be built”) of Safed.
Upon reaching the historic Old Jewish Quarter, he was unusually impressed by his reception, “I was greeted by an English-speaking counselor, Shoshana, and we both had a very strong connection from our first encounter. In fact, I wound up canceling my return ticket to stay in Safed to learn and to continue dating Shoshana!”
Nine months later they married in Safed, he aged 24, she 20. Yosef studied in Yeshiva Temimei Darech and in its kollel.
The first years of their marriage were in Safed, “learning, raising our son, and working together at Sheva Chaya’s Glass Gallery,” he related.
Its owner is famed for her colorful vibrant art inspired by Kabbalah. Tutora worked as glassblower, a rare skill acquired earlier in the US, and Shoshana was gallery manager. The couple also did some Chabad-style community outreach for about a year.
In 2025 the Tutoras moved to a rental apartment in the central region to pursue other career goals.
Not wishing to leave Israel for studies, Yosef has just completed his first year at the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law. He has begun “yet another tough journey, to truly master Hebrew and succeed in law school here. Despite the academic ulpanim the university offers, analyzing cases and taking exams in Hebrew are certainly challenging.”
Shoshana works for a hi-tech company, “leveraging her natural ability in computers and coding, something she was always gifted in,” said Yosef. “We recently welcomed our second child, a daughter, and work hard balancing Torah, family, school, and work.”
In addition, Tutora shared, “my parents have been super-supportive throughout and have in turn reconnected deeply with their Judaism. My father moved back to Israel, and my mother’s making plans to move, as well.”
And now, too, upon hearing the morning shofar blasts of Elul, Yosef recalls that stirring moment of awakening seven years back.