Why I Built This Place

And why your inbox is about to get a little different

I've been writing on Substack for a while now. If you've been reading what was The Scholar's Table — now B'Chavruta (בְחַבְרוּתָא, "in partnership") — you've walked through some heavy terrain with me. Hebrew word studies, institutional critique, covenant theology that doesn't care about your denomination's comfort zone. That work isn't going anywhere. The name changed because the old one didn't fit the posture. Chavruta is the ancient Jewish practice of studying Torah in pairs — two people wrestling with the text as equals, no hierarchy, no pulpit. That's what this always was. Now the name says it.

But I outgrew the format.

Not Substack itself — the platform still does what it does well. You'll still get emails from me there. Substack Notes will still hit your feed. If you're subscribed, nothing breaks.

What changed is that I stopped being only one kind of writer.

B'Chavruta was always the starting point, not the whole story

When I launched the newsletter, I had one lane: theology. Specifically, the kind of theology that makes people uncomfortable — Hebraic-first, source-language driven, institutionally honest. That lane isn't closing. B'Chavruta is now a dedicated section of this site, and it remains the flagship. Every essay, every Unpacking piece, every word study — it all lives here now, permanently, on a site I own.

But here's what I couldn't do on Substack alone: write about everything else.

I'm not just a theology writer. I'm a father. A businessman. A man who's been through a divorce, through health crises, through the kind of professional failures that don't make it into LinkedIn bios. I've built software from scratch, led marketing for companies ranging from modest sign shops to the largest sign company in the world, and watched my own ventures almost die before they didn't.

And every single one of those experiences taught me something I couldn't have learned from a book.

This site is where all of it comes together.

What you'll find here

Faith — This is the theological work. B'Chavruta lives here. Hebrew roots, covenant theology, institutional critique, exegesis that takes the text seriously enough to challenge what you've been taught. If you've been reading the Unpacking series, this is home.

Family Life — I don't write about family to perform vulnerability. I write about it because the hardest lessons I've ever learned didn't happen in a boardroom or a sanctuary. They happened at a kitchen table, in a custody conversation, in the long silence after you realize you failed someone you love. I'll share what I've learned — not as an expert, but as a man still in the process.

Religion — This is distinct from faith on purpose. Faith is your covenant walk with HaShem. Religion is what institutions do with that walk — for better or worse. I've spent years examining how religious systems shape people, and this section will continue that work with a broader lens than B'Chavruta alone.

Business — I started in a sign shop. I didn't go to an Ivy League school. Everything I know about marketing, strategy, leadership, and survival I learned by doing it wrong first and then figuring out why. Small business owners, entrepreneurs, anyone building something without a safety net — this section is for you. No theory without dirt under its fingernails.

Why own the platform?

I believe in owning your voice.

Substack is a good tool. So is any platform — until it isn't. Algorithms change. Terms of service shift. What's favored today gets deprioritized tomorrow. I've watched enough creators build their entire house on rented land to know I don't want to be dependent on any platform's decisions about who gets seen.

SergioDesoto.com is mine. The content lives here. It's searchable, it's shareable, it's permanent. If Substack disappears tomorrow, not a single essay is lost.

Your Substack subscription still works — you'll receive emails there that point you here for the full piece. Think of Substack as the front porch. This site is the house.

What hasn't changed

My voice. My standards. My commitment to saying what the text says, what the data shows, and what the experience teaches — whether or not it's comfortable.

I don't write to build an audience. I write because I can't not write. The essays come from wrestling — with Scripture, with institutions, with my own failures, with the distance between what I was taught and what turned out to be true.

If that resonates with you, welcome. Pull up a chair. There's room at the table.

If it doesn't, I respect that. But I won't soften the work to keep you here.

What's next

B'Chavruta continues — Unpacking #12 drops shortly, and it's the most sourced, most structurally confrontational piece in the series yet.

Beyond that, expect writing across all four lanes. Some weeks it'll be theology. Some weeks it'll be a business lesson that cost me more than I want to admit. Some weeks it'll be both in the same essay, because that's how life actually works — the sacred and the practical aren't separate categories. They never were.

Subscribe. Share what moves you. Push back when you disagree — I'd rather have an honest challenger than a quiet audience.

Let's build something worth reading.

Shalom,Sergio

Copyright © Sergio DeSoto. All rights reserved. I want people to share this—just mention me as the author and keep the content intact (including this copyright notice). No part of this publication may be reproduced, modified, sold, or used commercially without prior written permission, except for brief quotations used in reviews, commentary, or scholarly reference with clear attribution. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

‍