Month: March 2018

As a rabbinical student, one of my greatest aspirations is to learn how to build and strengthen communities. In many ways, my future rabbinate will be defined by my ability to create community and sustain it within the framework of my congregation. This past summer, I was gifted the opportunity to build a community where there was none. Partnering with…

Judaism offers a much-needed spiritual community and a place of belonging for high school students in particular. “How are you doing? What is new this week?” This is how I begin my class: with a short opportunity to debrief from the week. The responses are positive or negative—but, most importantly, they are honest. I ask this question because it is…

When I found out I would be teaching about God as part of my fellowship at Valley Temple, I was nervous. We started the year learning about prophets. Last semester we learned that a prophet is a messenger who has direct communication with God. This dovetails nicely with the second semester curriculum of God. I wondered, “How do I begin…

If you had walked into my classroom on the morning of Sunday, February 11, you might have been surprised by what you’d seen. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Fifteen hands moved their pens on pieces of paper, focused on the material in front of them. No one whispered to their neighbor; no one absent-mindedly ripped…

I’ll be honest—when I was in college, I rarely stepped foot inside the Hillel building. I was always regularly involved with Jewish life by teaching Hebrew at the local synagogue, enjoying time with Jewish friends, and spending every summer at my Jewish summer camp, but I never found the time and motivation to experience Hillel in college, even though I…