Imagine a world without the voices of women. In Reform Jewish communities, it is natural for a rabbi to lead her congregation in song, for a cantor to teach her favorite niggun during a Friday evening service, or for a young woman to lead birkhat hamazon, the blessing after meals, for her youth group. As a rabbinical student, I take the greatest joy in chanting Torah and creating lively musical services at my congregation. At our URJ summer camps, at our Biennial gatherings, at our synagogue Shabbat services, and beyond, music and song are essential to who we are as a movement. In our daily lives and in our sacred moments, a world without the voices of women would be dramatically different in the ways…
Hello future classmates, colleagues, and friends. If you’re interested in applying to HUC-JIR to be a rabbi, educator, or cantor, but something is holding you back, please keep reading. I’ve been in Israel now 4 months. My first year is already a third of the way over and it’s hard to believe that it’s gone by so fast! Now that I have some down time from classes, settling into Israel, and the High Holy Days, I’m able to reflect for a few minutes on my journey and what held me back for so long. Since I was a young child going to Sunday School, I’ve been fascinated by Judaism and intrigued about the idea of becoming a rabbi. I minored…
The week before my New York wedding, I boarded a train at Penn Station, Boston-bound, to immerse at Mayyim Hayyim. I was flustered and hurried, as brides often are in those logistics-packed pre-wedding days. The instructions in the prep rooms at the mikveh gently urged me to slow down, to reflect, and to clean under every fingernail. As I lathered my body with the soapy washcloth, I began crying big tears of release, of memory, of transition. The last time I had felt a soapy washcloth on my body was when my parents bathed me as a girl. Until that moment, I had been preoccupied mostly with place cards, flowers and seating arrangements. Standing in the shower at Mayyim Hayyim,…
Last year I was given an incredible opportunity when I was chosen to be part of the first cohort of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s new certificate program in Jewish Education. A year later, I have completed all of the courses, graduated from the program, and received a Certification in Jewish Education for Adolescent and Emerging Adults. I don’t think that HUC-JIR realized it, but the material we learned would be just a small part of what made the program so wonderful. Forty percent of the program takes place online and our first assignments were given through the website. I didn’t meet the other classmates at that point, but we began interacting in the chat room forums for our…