How did you become a storyteller?

[Judy]

Hello, Rabbi Teller.  How did you become interested in telling and writing inspirational stories?

[Rabbi Hanoch Teller]

I have always believed that if something lands in your lap, you may not ignore it, but must deal with it. When I was a teenager learning in Israel, I spent my bein hazemanim trying to be mekariv Sephardi youngsters in a "development town" up North. I suddenly came upon a triple-digit group of American youth that knew nothing of their Judaism. Something diabolic was happening that had to be brought to public attention. As I was aware of it, there was no one else to write this story which was published simultaneously in two magazines. I was not aware that I had writing talent, but apparently I was tapping into something that I was endowed with bs"D unwittingly. With the publication of these articles, people asked me, "Why don't you write some more?" And I did. As I began to write more articles, I noticed that my strength in writing was best in a story format.
Subsequent to this, people said, "You write stories, why don't you tell us a story." And the rest is proverbial history.