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I think this is an important start to my Jewish timeline - my dad converted when he and my mom got married. The primary reason was because my dad recognized how important it was for my mom to have a Jewish family and home.
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Foundational to my Jewish journey is growing up in Davis, California as a part of a Reform community - which, again, began before I was born. My mother grew up Conservative on the East Coast in a large Jewish community. In fact, the community was large enough in Bethesda, Maryland that schools would close on the High Holidays because they didn't have enough substitute teachers. My parents moved to Davis about a month before I was born. There was (and continues to be) one synagogue in the county.
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Woohoo! I assume my parent's had a naming ceremony, but to be honest, I've never asked them.
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I went to Sunday school each Sunday from the time I was in kindergarten-ish? until the year of my bat mitzvah. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't. I'm not sure if this is true, but in my mind it was on Sundays because Saturday morning soccer was really popular in Davis.
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Our family was part of a havurah during this time. Some of the members would later become part of the "Sunday School Girls"
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Our Hebrew school was Tuesday afternoons. I remember that I liked it the first year, and hated the second year because, "all we do is learn prayers!" The teacher was an ancient Israeli woman named Tzippi.
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I had a group of friends that we called the "Sunday School Girls" - an apt name because it was made up of girls from my Sunday school class. Our primary activity was to have epic sleepovers, but our families also got together to celebrate Jewish holidays. One member of the group actually recently moved to Israel.
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Including this because it was another big family milestone, and the second time I read Torah ever. Also, the difference in how old I look in these photos is crazy - there's some growth for ya!!!
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I was in Mr. Williams's APUSH class my junior year of high school. He had a sense of humor and a dynamic classroom, and I found myself excited and challenged by his class. He was clearly passionate about history and us as learners. Mr. Williams spent most of the first class going around the class and creating a nickname/pneumonic device for each student. I remember it felt like it took a long time, but now I can see that each nickname gave him a special relationship with the student.
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I found Birthright to be a really moving experience. It was my first trip to Israel and I was surprised by how connected I felt to the country.
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Moving to DC was the first time I discovered my own Jewish identity, and was forced to find and grow my own Jewish community.
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One of my first steps towards becoming a Jewish educator. After becoming more Jewishly involved in DC, my friends and I decided to host this retreat exploring ritual. We planned and executed the whole weekend with funding from Moishe House, including trying out different rituals and discussing what it meant to be Jewish in our lives. I also became an MHWOW host around this time, meaning I get funding to host Jewish events.
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BCI is a summer program for people in their 20s and 30s that encourages exploration of Judaism and art in an immersive, 28-day experience. The Brandeis-Bardin campus is reportedly the largest piece of Jewishly owned land outside of Israel. Being at BCI was incredibly moving for me spiritually, and I loved the community and the atmosphere. I think it's a really special way to experiment with building intentional Jewish community.
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At the time, it was only for a year... Now I'll be here for at least three years.
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On my way to moving to Jerusalem to go to Pardes, I hitched a ride on the Moishe House 4HQ trip. The goal of the program is to create meaningful Jewish programming around Israel, with a 5-day trip being central to understand and facilitating this programming. It was really impactful to the way I think about the relationship between Israel and world Jewry today.
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My first year at Pardes, as a part of the Experiential Educator's Program, has increased my learning and opened up so much for me in terms of Jewish knowledge and passion for Jewish life.
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My passion for Jewish education developed over my year at Pardes, and led me to accept a spot in the PCJE Day School Educator's program.
