Beyond Belief: Tales of Religious Exodus
Suri: Former Orthodox Jewish
Suri Robinson grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Baltimore, where she learned to suppress her needs, protect her family’s image, and strive for religious perfection. After seminary, she married at 20, moved to Lakewood, raised five children, became a therapist, and helped build a Bais Yaakov school focused on children’s emotional wellbeing. From inside the community’s institutions, however, she witnessed rigid expectations, concealed abuse, political pressure, discrimination, and what she describes as “toxic selflessness”—a culture in which saying no was treated as selfish or religiously unacceptable. Following her mother’s death and years of relentless responsibility, Suri experienced severe burnout, depression, complex PTSD, and suicidal despair. Residential treatment gave her the distance to recognize patterns of religious abuse, coercion, shame, and control. She gradually left her marriage, institutional role, and religious observance, while facing claims that she had “snapped” or become mentally unstable. Today, through After the Burn, she speaks about religious trauma, nervous-system healing, mental health stigma, authentic connection, and rebuilding a meaningful life after losing the world she once knew. Follow Suri: https://www.instagram.com/aftertheburnco/ Chapters 00:00 – Meet Suri 00:38 – Growing Up Orthodox in Baltimore 02:42 – The Burden of Being the “Perfect” Child 04:08 – Secret Dreams of a Different Life 05:48 – Fasting, Prayer, and Religious Performance 06:58 – Escaping into Books and Imaginary Worlds 08:38 – The Shame of a Small Rebellion 10:36 – Seminary, Spiritual Certainty, and Body Shame 13:28 – How Seminary Creates Belonging and Commitment 16:56 – Entering the Orthodox Marriage System 19:45 – Marriage, Lakewood, and Patriarchal Expectations 25:28 – Kollel Life, Motherhood, and Relentless Productivity 29:10 – Toxic Selflessness and the Inability to Say No 32:33 – Becoming a Therapist Inside the Religious System 34:59 – Building an Emotionally Supportive Bais Yaakov School 39:27 – Harassment, School Politics, and the Collapse of Boundaries 44:56 – Challenging Stereotypes About People Who Leave 46:39 – Grief, Burnout, and the Beginning of Collapse 48:47 – Depression, Suicidal Dread, and Nervous-System Breakdown 51:24 – Entering Residential Mental Health Treatment 54:20 – What Religious Abuse Looks Like 57:37 – Being Labelled Crazy After Stepping Away 01:04:04 – Rabbinical Bullying, Threats, and Control 01:07:10 – Rebuilding Belief, Identity, and Daily Life 01:13:46 – How Group Therapy Broke the Cycle of Shame 01:18:28 – After the Burn: Suri’s Work and Message 01:23:13 – Systemic Harm, Moral Injury, and Final Reflections
