Pasha grew up with a physically and emotionally abusive mother. Her father, with whom she was close later in life, had moved to Alaska and worked as a mechanic. In high school, she met a counselor who, having witnessed her mother’s violent tendencies in private, advised Pasha to quit school and lie about her age to get a job and an apartment – anything, she said, to get out of the house. We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search. See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.