As a fifth year student in the rabbinical program, I have a unique vantage point to reflect on my time at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. I came into HUC-JIR following a “non-traditional” path, although at this point so many of my classmates and colleagues have a diverse portfolio of skills, interests and passions that it is hard to determine “traditional” from “non-traditional.” I came into rabbinical school focused on pastoral care, with a particular passion for issues of end-of-life care, hospice and palliative care. I now know more about living, having accompanied people on their journey into the hereafter – into life eternal or however they have named it. It is not dissonant to say my…