Rabbi Nathaniel (“Nati”) Helfgot occupies a distinctive place in Modern Orthodox life as a rabbi, educator, scholar, and communal leader. Yet for many people, one of his most enduring contributions was not a scholarly book or a halakhic essay … it was his willingness to speak publicly about depression at a time when few Orthodox Jews were prepared to do so.

In its Fall 2001 issue, exactly 25 years ago, Jewish Action published Rabbi Helfgot’s article, “Dimensions of Torment: A Young Man’s Story of Surviving Depression.”

The essay recounted his personal battle with severe clinical depression, which began in the mid-1990s while he was a successful educator and communal figure. He described, in unusually candid language, the isolation, despair, stigma, and confusion that accompanied the illness, as well as the treatment and support that ultimately helped him recover.

Today such an article might not seem noteworthy. However, in 2001, it was revolutionary.

Within much of the Orthodox community, mental illness was rarely discussed publicly. Concerns about stigma, family reputation, and shidduchim often pushed such struggles into the shadows. Rabbis and educators were seldom willing to reveal personal vulnerabilities of this kind. Rabbi Helfgot’s article challenged that culture directly by putting a respected rabbi’s own experience on the record.

The significance of the article was not merely that it described depression. It did so in a first-person voice from someone deeply embedded in the Orthodox mainstream.

Readers encountered a successful rabbi, teacher, and Torah scholar explaining that depression was not a failure of faith, a character defect, or a lack of religious commitment. It was an illness that required treatment, support, and understanding.

For many Orthodox readers, especially those struggling privately with depression or caring for family members who were, this was the first time they had seen their experiences reflected in a major communal publication.

The article helped legitimize conversations that previously had taken place only behind closed doors.

A quarter century later, his article stands as an early and courageous example of what we would now call mental health advocacy—written before that term was widely used in Orthodox Jewish circles. For that reason alone, it remains an important document in the history of Modern Orthodoxy’s evolving conversation about emotional and psychological well-being.

I had the opportunity to interview Rabbi Helfgot about the original article, which allowed him to reflect on its publication. Below is the transcript of our conversation:  

When you wrote your Jewish Action article in 2001, what gave you the courage to share such a deeply personal struggle at a time when mental illness was rarely discussed publicly in the........

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