Learning to Value What I Create

By Mindy Rubenstein

Baking has never really been a part of my life. I’ve always loved food — making it, sharing it, gathering around it — but only when I could throw things together without measuring or following instructions too closely. I’ve always preferred the kind of cooking that leaves room for intuition, where the recipe is more of a suggestion than a rule.

Avoiding the Numbers

I’ve handled my finances the same way. As an artist and writer, I intentionally avoided numbers. Growing up with a father who is a CPA, numbers and finances were always a primary focus in our home — and I wanted nothing to do with them. I built a whole life around not looking too closely at the numbers. But now, I’m learning that I can still be creative and spiritual while also being responsible.

SoulBites: A Tangible Beginning

This week, I met with a business coach who is helping me step into this journey in a whole new way. We talked about cost analysis, precision, and planning — things that once felt intimidating. She encouraged me to start with something tangible: SoulBites — my gluten-free, vegan cookies.

I’ve never considered myself a baker. These cookies don’t have flour, eggs, sugar, or baking soda — so they’re quite forgiving — but if I’m going to sell them, I need to know what to charge. I created a spreadsheet to track the ingredients, quantities and prices. And I wrote down the exact recipe. Though I’ve made them many times and they seem to disappear as soon as I bake them, I didn’t know the precise ratios. So I experimented until I got them right. I even weighed each little 22-gram cookie before putting it on the parchment paper.

Now I know that bananas cost around 1.55 shekels each and oats are 2.30 a cup.

Precision as a Spiritual Practice

The process of getting the recipe just right — translating receipts from Hebrew to English, learning grams and liters instead of cups and tablespoons, measuring each tablespoon of pressed dates, weighing the ingredients, and documenting every step — is a whole new practice for me. If you know me, you know I never follow recipes. Even my challah, which I learned from a rebbetzin 15 years ago, became something I made so often I stopped measuring altogether. But something about this precision feels oddly liberating.

This care is spilling over into my life — I’m keeping receipts (and translating them from Hebrew to English), tracking my budget, and earning my own money through teaching.

I’ve stopped calculating from shekels to dollars and started thinking fully in shekels. I’m surrendering to this life — not with fear, but with confidence.

The coach is also teaching me something I didn’t even realize I needed to learn — to value my own time and expertise. I’ve been giving away my time for free for so long, assuming that because I enjoy what I do, it isn’t worth anything. But my time does have value, and I’m learning to honor that.

Building Confidence, Step by Step

I rented a small 12-meter office/studio space right in the center of town here in Zichron. I’m learning how to be responsible while still being loving with myself. Each little step builds my confidence and quiets the imposter syndrome and critical voices that once held me hostage. I’m recognizing them now — and choosing not to let them run the show.

Aliyah, entrepreneurship, creativity, and this whole journey — it’s not always easy. But I’m learning that precision and care don’t take away the magic — they make space for it to thrive.