I was born into a non-religious family. They were not only non-practising but real atheists. My family did not believe in anything, we did not even keep Yom Kippur, and we did not celebrate my Bar-Mitzvah.

Around the age of 15-16, I started asking questions and hanging out with a bad crowd. I looked rather sinister with my skull shaved and a crest in the middle. I caused a lot of concern and even shame to my parents because that I did not want to serve in the army. If there was indeed one "religion" that my parents respected, it was that of the defence army of the State of Israel. I remained an atheist even concerning this "religion". I was simply not interested in joining the army.

My parents started brainwashing me but to no avail. I spent a lot of time travelling the country, and I spent time with a lot of different people. That would be worth a whole book in itself. I really do know every road and every path in the country.

I decided to go to India to find a meaning to life. Where did I not go? I wandered through a lot of places, and I personally encountered all the possible sects imaginable. People do not know the power of attraction to all these cults, but the one who has been there known full well.

The reason is very simple. In the permissive era in which we live, a regular young non-religious youth, from the age of seventeen to eighteen, has experienced all the material pleasures this world has to offer. Come on, let's say he's missing one or two, he will have experienced it by the age of 21 years old. He knows that there is nothing that attracts him, but he does not know why he lives. Many boys have put their lives in danger because they had no purpose in life. Only then did they understand that to benefit from something, one must enjoy it in a measured and limited way. In Israel, because of the great "attacks" against the Orthodox, many do not even think of coming closer to Judaism. They are looking for something else and they end up in India.

You have to know that there is a great thing in India: people live in a completely different state of mind. They do not run, and they do not care about anything, and they have an answer to any question. There are really extraordinary people there.

I met monks who exercise exceptional control over their lives, who can do penance, not eat, nor move a hand for years. I even met a monk who practised breathing exercises and decided that if a snake could control his breath and stop breathing for a long time, he too could do it. I was also very impressed by their devotion to their cause. I did not know such things. I'm part of a spoiled generation, who has never done anything for anything. I could only admire such determination.

But ultimately, I did not succumb to their belief either. "What is the purpose of all this? Even if there is something to be amazed at when a man does not move his arm for years or suspends his breath, what is the purpose of such things? I said to myself.
As much as I marvelled at their spiritual abilities, I despised them for wasting them for such futile things. I travelled again and again until I reached the Dalai Lama's house. Originally from Tibet, he managed to flee Tibet when it was invaded by the Chinese, who killed millions of Tibetans. He now lives in India. The Dalai Lama is one of the few leaders in the world who does not want to hear about violence, even for the sake of defence. Because of his particular belief, Tibetans have no country and are humiliated and dishonoured. And still, everyone loves him. This man was also awarded the Nobel Prize for his visceral commitment to peace. I was fascinated by the personality of the Dalai Lama. I came every day to hear his sermon at half-past four in the morning. He is an intelligent and cultured man. I saw no fault in him.

At the same time, my parents back home were concerned about me. My father wrote me a letter in which he told me that he had heard that I was going crazy. I politely replied that I was at a "crossroads" in my life. When I sent my letter, I suddenly realized that because of this subtle expression, he would understand that his son was a little off the mark. What made me answer like that?

That evening, I spoke with a relative of the Dalai Lama who promised to introduce me to his master after his sermon.

I was introduced to him. He is a distinguished man who welcomes everyone with a smile. He greeted me and offered me a seat. I spoke to him quickly. I told him that I had decided to join his religion and asked him if he was willing to accept me.

In English, he asked me where I came from.

I told him that I came from Israel.

He asked me if I was Jewish.

I told him yes.

He reacted in a strange way. His smiling face became pensive, even slightly threatening. He told me that he did not understand my approach and that I could not do that. He told me that all religions are trying to imitate Judaism. He told me that I was living in Israel with my eyes closed. That is the expression he used. He asked me to get on the plane, to go back to Israel and open my eyes. He added that no one can prefer the copy to the original.

And he sent me back with a wave of his hand.

That day, I could not think of anything else. I thought, "I'm an Israeli who does not know anything about his own religion." I had to travel around so much to finally hear from a spiritual non-Jewish leader that I was blind and that I had gone all the way around the world to find out what I was holding in my own hand?"

I returned to Israel and entered Yeshiva. I found that the Dalai Lama was right. Judaism is intensively present throughout life. It has rules, limits and many reasons to live. At least 613; the 613 Mitzvot.

About two years after doing Teshuvah, I was offered a Shidduch. I accepted it. I then met a girl my age, who had also done Teshuva, having also "sought" life in India, in Goa, and I do not know where else. We discovered that we both had had the same doubts, the same disappointment with life, the same search for meaning and the same return to our source. After a few meetings, I informed the Shadchanit that I was ready to close the affair. We got engaged.

Immediately after the engagement, I turned to the Shadchanit because I wanted to pay her. She refused, replying, "I do not deserve it."

"How is that?" I asked, "after all, it's the Jewish custom to pay the matchmaker, and who is the matchmaker?"

"I do not know," she said, "your fiancée came to me with your name on a piece of paper, and she asked me to get involved. She did not know anything about you, though. She told me that someone she trusted gave her your name."

Once the engagement party was over, I accompanied my new fiancée and asked her cautiously: "What is this story of our shidduch? Tell me who exactly is the Shadchan, so that I can pay him.''

She answered: "For that, you will have to travel to India".

Even before I had time to answer anything, she continued, "I have not told you yet that towards the end of my search in India, I arrived at the Dalai Lama's house. He impressed me tremendously and I wanted to follow his path, and when he met me, he told me that as a Jew, I should not trade gold for money and that I had to get back in touch with my own roots. He spoke quietly with one of his secretaries, who left for a few minutes before reappearing with a small business card. Lama copied a person's name on a piece of paper and he told me, "this is your soulmate".

"I came back to Eretz Yisrael and I went to a boarding school for young girls doing Teshuva. My course was easy and fast, it was as if I was discovering the light, initially upon the advice of the Dalai Lama, but then it was a much more intense light that attracted me.

It was after a year that I decided to go looking for you. I addressed many Shadchanim with your name, but they did not find you in the Yeshivot for Baalei Teshuvah. Finally, it was through a friend that I found you. From the first meeting, I realized that the Dalai Lama was a "professional Shadchan". He understood exactly what I was looking for and he wrote your name on this paper.''

That is our story. It seems very special to me. We have been married for 10 years now, and we have four children. I learn Torah all day and my wife is an outstanding housewife. Even my parents, like her family, who are rich and cultured, can only marvel at the way we live and our success. They too know the story of the Dalai Lama and have even proudly told their friends that the Dalai Lama himself was the matchmaker for their son...

To tell the truth, despite the distance that now separates us from the Far East, we both have a particular affection for the Dalai Lama. We have heard many other stories in which he has sent people back to Israel and brought them closer to their faith. Really, he's an exceptional man.

A few years ago, he came to Israel. I really wanted to meet him, to show him our gratitude, but my wife said, "I think he'd rather that we not do that." I looked at her and I knew she was right. Perhaps it was an idea blown by the bad inclination as if to mix the sacred and the profane.

After the Dalai Lama left, I went to see my rabbi and asked him what was allowed or forbidden. He told me that as a man, I must feel grateful to him, and consider him righteous among the nations, but not more than that. Besides, he himself would not want more, otherwise, he would have left my wife and myself to elect him as our spiritual guide; but he has sent us back to the heart of our roots.

"Remember him as a man," said my Rav, "but forget him as the Dalai Lama, which is not good for you."

I returned home immersed in my thoughts. "My Rav is right, I thought, it was not only because of my gratitude that I wanted to see him, but he was also the one I wanted to approach again, and perhaps even what he represents in my heart".

The Yetzer Hara has its own ways. He is stronger than the will of the Dalai Lama, who had removed us from him. But I am stronger than my own will. Idolatry is not something that disappears so quickly from the heart.

I arrived home, I opened my photo album in front of my wife, I took the photos of the Dalai Lama and I tore them, serenely, without hatred and even with respect. No one better than him knows that this was not out of a lack of recognition, but rather the greatest proof of my gratitude to him. It is even in this that I followed his recommendations in the most complete way possible.