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I was born, and soon was given my Jewish name, Elisheva. My parents were both Jewish, my mother being Sephardic and my father Ashkenazi.
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I began my Jewish education at a supplementary Reform Jewish temple in New Jersey, Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel.
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When I was 10, we moved to Seattle, where I became a member of Temple B'nai Torah. In this move and transition, the Jewish community was an important place of continuity for me.
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Over that time, I was supervised by and worked closely with our temple's cantor, David Serkin-Poole, who I'd also worked with for my bat mitzvah. He was incredibly important to me as an educator, as he taught me how to teach and work with students. He also balanced and focused on the content, adjusting expectations and supporting each student so they could grow in their own ZPD, and he connected and shared his own wisdom and experiences with us. I'm still guided by what he said in so many ways.
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I had my bat mitzvah just before turning thirteen at Temple B'nai Torah. It was a really special moment and celebration for me, and led to me becoming a b'nai mitzvah tutor in high school.
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I worked as a B'nai Mitzvah tutor at TBT through all of high school, and into summers home from college
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Being a member of BBYO was a hugely important aspect of my Jewish life in high school. I held every leadership position at a chapter level, and I was elected as a member of my regional board for two years. I planned and led services, attended summer programming, and was very dedicated. At the same time, pressures to conform in that group affected my perception of what it meant to be in Jewish life. It led to a break during my college years.
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My parents began the process of separation and divorce when I was about 21. This deeply changed my connection to my local community, as my mother did not want to go to temple, and what were previously family celebrations of Jewish holidays no longer happened. At the same time, this event and its effect on my family led me to seek my own Jewish community and Jewish wisdom.
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I hadn't been interested in going on Birthright in college given mental health struggles at the time, but I knew it was important to me to do as I entered my twenties. I went on a trip with other students out of college, led by a Modern Orthodox group and attended by mostly secular Jews. The process made me understand how I identified with Reform Judaism and how I wanted to invest more into my Jewish life.
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Over the course of a few years, I began having more and more interreligious dialalogue with friends, particularly Christians. A close friend of mine and teacher by practice had decided to go to divinity school to become a youth pastor. I became her hevruta and talked with her about the delineations between Judaism and Christianity.
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I began working on anti-racism education work as a volunteer organizer at Jewish Community Action. This included attending trainings on Judaism and organizing; planning and training canvassers to have open and difficult conversations about race, and adapting curriculum for small circle education groups on criminalization and immigration in the US.
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After Birthright, I began regularly attending services at the temple where I had previously only gone for High Holidays. Slowly, I became a part of the community. I joined the Friday night ensemble, took adult education classes, and went to the temple retreat. I became especially close with the new rabbi, a graduate of Hebrew College.
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I decided to follow through on my desire to become a sexual assault advocate after several years. This included 40 hours worth of training, ongoing supervision, and volunteering for multiple 12-hour shifts in a month. I put this on this timeline because I found it to be an incredibly transformative spiritual experience of being with those experiencing pain and trauma. It was a way I connected to God.
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I decided to apply to rabbinical school, after considering it for several years. Many factors led to this decision, including a confluence of timing, where I could finish my current grad program in educational leadership, take a graduate assistant position in student life at a community college, and focus on preparing and applying during that school year. I began more intensive Hebrew study, joined a Mishna group, and began learning independently as well.
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My mother, who had already been declining in health, had been on dialysis for about two years. Over the course of the High Holidays in 5779, it became clear she could no longer live independently, including hospital trips and calls during High Holiday services. This was impactful for me, especially as someone considering a path of pastoral care, and as someone who now was responsible for another's health.
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I moved to Boston to begin at Hebrew College as a rabbinical student in June 2019. This began a new phase of intensive Judaic studies, and a commitment to working on Hebrew. My spiritual life and practice intensified, and I was incredibly excited for this.
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My grandmothers, both Jewish, died within two weeks of each other in March 2019. Attending both of their funerals, sitting shiva, and continuing to pray for them was incredibly important and meaningful for me, as a way into the power and comfort of Jewish life cycle rituals.
