Category: From the Fellows

I walk into the classroom, all eyes on me. I remind myself that I have done this before, and that I am prepared. Little did I know at that moment the challenges I would face and the obstacles I would have to overcome. This year, as a Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati fellow, I was placed at Rockdale Temple in their…

My journey to rabbinical school began with a meaningful and impactful conversation with my mentor, Rabbi Educator Vicki L. Tuckman, z”l. After a long day at summer camp, we found ourselves sitting on her cabin porch around midnight as the stars rose over the Mahoning Valley. I remember her exact words: “You’re going to be a rabbi—you just don’t know it yet.”…

The first time I stepped into a hospital room as a chaplain, I lasted about 90 seconds. The conversation was kind but awkward—I offered my well-wishes for a speedy recovery and invited myself out the door. I was convinced that this was going to be one of the most difficult summers of my life. But Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) surprised…

It does not matter what you say or how you say it; rather, it matters how it is received. —Rabbi Yaacov Leider The relationship between an educator and a learner is built upon the ability of the educator to effectively communicate material, emotion, and passion to their learners. The role of the educator is to foster and maintain among their…

When I began my year of teaching at Temple Sholom’s Religious School, I was nervous. It was my first time teaching in a classroom setting, and I was assigned to teach the post–B’nai Mitzvah class with students ranging from seventh to ninth grade. I felt unprepared to teach them but excited to try. For the first class I decided to…

On paper it is easy. Make a list of what was needed, then do it. Contact a few people, make sure everything was set up in the right place—pretty straightforward. But I never had to plan an event before. I have done programing, certainly, but I have never had to handle logistics, or ensure that speakers were present and all…

Over this past year, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching Hebrew and Judaic studies to kindergarten and third-grade students in my role as a Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati fellow at Rockwern Academy in Cincinnati. As I was teaching, I was also reading Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach in the education seminar at HUC-JIR. In thisimportant work on education, Palmeroutlines six paradoxes of…

When I began my Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati fellowship at the Jarson Education Center two years ago, I took one look at the booklet containing grade topics for the entire school and offered, out of pure insanity, to work with the religious school director to write curricula for grades 2–5. In retrospect, I had no idea what I was getting…

As a rabbinic student chaplain for both Christ Hospital and University Hospital in Cincinnati, I have the opportunity to visit with patients on a weekly basis. Because my visits are infrequent, I often don’t get to see patients more than once. But about a month ago, I encountered a patient who had been hit by a car while he was…

The past is present. Or so we attempt to ensure with each dive into tradition on Jewish holidays like Pesach. By reenacting the history of our people through the Seder we close the gap of time and space, making possible the embodied memories of exodus, Sinai, and divine encounter. This is one motivation for religious ritual and prayer—using the same…

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray.” The words of this well-known song surrounded us as I, the volunteer, helped my partner, the artist, sit at a round table covered in art supplies. As the voices in the social hall continued, I placed an artist’s apron over her head and a matching…

Some of my fondest memories of rabbis involve stories. When I was younger, on Shabbat evenings we would sit by the medurah, the campfire, at GUCI and listen as Rabbi Ron Klotz walked slowly around it and told another story about the Ba’al Shem Tov. Sundays during religious school Rabbis Mark Levin and Vered Harris told stories about Honi the…

Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him. (Exodus 25:2 NJPS) The buzz of activity on the lower floor of the synagogue echoed that occurring amidst the trees that enveloped Congregation Beth Adam’s Loveland address with their summertime susurrus. As the local fauna—insect, avian, and otherwise—took…

The sun was shining bright as my friend and I walked loops in the park, rehashing a traumatic loss she’d experienced only months before. The exuberant shouts of children playing on a playground nearby could not permeate her grief. As we talked about self-care and what might help her in this moment, I asked, “How has it been for you…

Vesamachta bechagecha—And you shall rejoice on your festival day. (Deuteronomy 16:14) Being a student at a Jewish day school includes extra days off school for chagim—not only the high holidays, but also chagim such as Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot. In many cases, rather than a time for the school to come together, the chagim are a time when the students…

This past summer, I worked at the Holocaust and Humanity Center in Cincinnati. I translated, from Russian into English, the witness testimonies of local Holocaust survivors from the former Soviet Union. The aged often struggle with a host of debilitating ailments that not only can diminish short-term memory but also may erase memories reaching back to childhood. It was remarkable…

Torah has a deep relationship with Jewish leadership, yet both of these terms resist precise definition.[I] In this brief essay, I will use the term Torahto designate what James Kugel defines as “the very essence of Judaism.”[ii] As for the term Jewish leadership, I will follow Erica Brown, who writes: The definition that may best suit the Jewish community is…

Adolescence is rough. We have all been there, and we all survived the confusing hormonal tumult of rapid development, both physical and intellectual, with greater or lesser coefficients of personal friction throughout those years. We are all veterans of those awkward years, and seeing a new crop of young people marching inexorably into the fray might evoke visceral memories of…

I am a product of the Reform movement. I grew up in a Reform household, never keeping kosher or Shabbat. I belonged to a Reform temple, never wearing a tallit or kippah except at my Bar Mitzvah. I attended a Reform Jewish summer camp beginning at the age of five and will return this year for my twentieth summer. So…