Who is Shawn Balva?

I was born in Englewood, New Jersey. At age five, My family and I moved to Las Vegas where I was raised. I grew up playing football but eventually went down a path of drugs and crime. It was through my negative life choices that I was sent to prison at 21 years old to serve an eight-year prison sentence.

But I didn’t allow the shackles of prison to shackle my soul. There, I became close to H-shem and to His Torah. I used my time only to exercise and study. I learned with the help of other inmates there how to study Gemara, read Hebrew, read Aramaic, and be able to study all forms of Torah books. 

Being a creative thinker, I put pen to paper in a very creative way. I inspired many people through my writings, being published in a few magazine articles, writing a book, and writing all sorts of Torah thoughts based on my confined situation. 

Now a free man, I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, continuing to live a Torah-observant lifestyle. I urge others, no matter their level in Judaism, to always have faith and trust in H-shem. With these traits, a person can make it through anything, even a place called “prison.”