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During these formative years, my father served as the president of our small, traditional, conservative temple in Howard Beach. This meant that I spent Sunday mornings in the synagogue, coloring on yellowed paper and hearing stories from temple members.
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I attended NJY Camps for 9 years as a camper and then went on to work as a counselor, unit head and assistant director. My experiences at summer camp exposed me to a cohort of incredible Jewish friends, music and ritual that was inclusive of girls as well as boys, and an opportunity to be a leader from a very young age. (Pictured, me at camp 2nd from the left during my first summer as a unit head, Shabbat services)
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When I asked our rabbi if I could read from the Torah, he told me "no" and that girls didn't read Torah. My father convinced a congregant and board member, who was much older and a Holocaust survivor to teach me how. I skipped one day a week of Hebrew School to do my 1:1 Torah prep.
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The date of this might be off, but midyear before my Bat Mitzvah was the first of what would become many days that I got kicked out of Hebrew Scool. At 12, my favorite thing to do became questioning the existence of God. The rabbi's non-response to my questions always incited me to become a troublemaker. My father was not impressed.
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My family went on a Bat Mitzvah trip to Israel the summer before my Bat Mitzvah. I was enthralled by the Old City and Issraeli accents.
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I was Bat Mitzvahed on Shabbat at Howard Beach Juda Center. I was the first girl in our congregation to read Torah. The event itself and the year leading up was incredibly meaningful and shaping to my Jewish development
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Throughout high school I tutored girls from the synagogue 1:1 to learn to read Torah since our rabbi would not.
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While 9/11 was far from a Jewish event, it had a huge impact on my blossoming faith and on my synagogue community. Three members of our community were first responders that died in the rescue efforts. A good friend's mother died in a building as well. The high holiday services this year were heart-breaking.
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I immediately became involved in the small but active Jewish Student Union, oranizing Shabbat dinners, attending holiday services, and building community.
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I started working at the Jewish Community of Amherst, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Amherst, MA. This was my first exposure to Reconstrcutionist Judaism and I immediately felt at home.
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During this year, I celebrated Pesach at an Ethiopian-Kenyan communal home, went to Shabbat services led by British Jews, and began making more and more independent choices about my Judaism.
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My grandmother, who I was very close with, died in August of 2009. I played a big part in planning her funeral, going through her apartment, and being present at shiva. This was my first real experience of Jewish death rituals.
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My husband and I spent the year leading up to our wedding planning what Jewish rituals spoke to us, how we'd utilize them, and how we'd include our family and closest friends in the process. Talk about Jewish growth and learning!
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After a long time searching for our Jewish "home", my husband and I found LabShul, a members-less, everybody-friendly Jewish sacred community. We're active members now and love being part of that world.
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