-
Period: to
Early years in Illinois
I was born in Urbana-Champaign, where my parents had met while in graduate school. We lived there until I was about five years old. We went to a Reform temple, I believe, but I really don't remember much about it. -
Move to Oregon!
We moved to a suburb of Portland when I was about five years old. When there, we joined a Conservative synagogue, where my siblings and I all went to Sunday School, then Hebrew School, then had our B'nai mitzvahs. -
Camp Solomon Schecter
I went to Camp Solomon Schecter in Olympia, Washington, for two summers - after 3rd grade and after 4th grade. Though I didn't have a good enough time to stay, I did enjoy camp. Perhaps most importantly, I learned the short version of the Birkat. -
Began middle school
At some point during middle school, I spontaneously started saying (what I later found out to be the shortened version of) the Birkat Hamazon on my walk to school. I would do it only when no one was looking or around me. In retrospect, this is one of the first moments that I found a spiritual connection through Judaism. -
Teacher inspiration
In 6th grade, I had a teacher (Mr. Ferris) that my older sister had previously and had raved about. Two examples of him making me feel valued as a learner & encouraging me to take initiative in my own learning.
1. He always had a copy of two daily newspapers available and I could come in early before school started & read it in his classroom & talk about it w/him.
2. For a book with characters on old boats, I wanted to build a scale model for extra credit and he fully encouraged it. So I did! -
Bar Mitzvah!
I had a B'nai Mitzvah with my friend Yacob. We were part of the first group to go to Hebrew School three days a week, so many of us were good friends. -
Explore youth groups
During my freshman year of highschool, I tried going to some BBYO and USY and even NCSY things. I went to a few shabbatonim that were really impactful and powerful. -
USY summer encampment
I went to my first week-long USY retreat. I heard an upperclassman speak very powerfully about what it was like for him to wear a kippah all the time, even going to public school. My friend Jeremy and I decided that we wanted to try it, and I began wearing mine from the end of that trip for the following five years. -
10th - 12th grades (2003-2006)
I started going to synagogue more with my mom, as well as doing other Jewish events around Portland -
Period: to
Continuing USY involvement
I became more and more active in USY, both in my local chapter and in the region. I attended a lot of events, was on Chapter General Board, then Chapter Executive Board, then I ran for a regional position and lost, then I was Chapter president my senior year. -
USY Poland Seminar / Israel Pilgrimage
I went on a USY trip with my friends Jeremy and Jenny from Portland, and a few others from other cities in our USY region. We went to Poland for a week then spent five weeks in Israel. It was my first time in both those places and it was very powerful. -
Period: to
Nativ
After my pilgrimage trip, I decided to spend a gap year in Israel. I lived in Jerusalem and studied at Hebrew University for the first half of the year. I then lived in Yerucham and volunteered for the second half of the year. -
Period: to
Oberlin! Hillel involvement, but decreasing religiosity overall
I started at Oberlin only a few months out of Israel. I got involved with lots of Jewish life, but stopped wearing a kippah midway through my sophmore year. Ultimately my politics drifted leftward, and I became about as non-observant (mostly of Shabbat) as I've been from when I started wearing a kippah in 2005 until now. -
Mom's death
My mother passed away at age 56 of cancer during the fall of my senior year of college. This was devastating. I was torn between anger at God, lack of belief, and a desire to mourn her through Jewish traditions by saying kaddish for her daily, among other things. -
Avodah in DC (2011-2012)
I spent a year after undergrad with Avodah - the Jewish Service Corps, working at an afterschool non-profit and living in a house with a lot of other Jews. It was interesting, as I was coming straight from Hadar, so I was back into religious life again. -
Period: to
Study at Yeshivat Hadar
I studied at Hadar the summer after my undergraduate. Partly as a desire to be able to be sure that I could say kaddish daily, partly so that I could develop learning skills and study text in a serious environment and manner. -
Period: to
4th grade (& high school) Hebrew school teacher!
I started working as a Hebrew School teacher at a major Conservative synagogue in DC. This helped me fall (further) in love with Jewish education, gave me a laboratory to teach various things that I was interested in, and to see how I could make Jewish life and values interesting and meaningful to 9 & 10 year olds. -
Met my wife!
We met at a Purim party. Didn't start dating (formally) till the following year, but this was the start of something big :-) -
Period: to
Served on leadership team of a minyan
I was on the organizing committee of Tikkun Leil Shabbat, a social-justice-oriented minyan in DC. I took on lots of projects, developed learning curriculum & learning shabbats, ran Purim programming, did fundraising, etc. -
Got married!
Talk about major life changes! And I got accepted to Hebrew College / Pardes three days before my wedding! -
Started studying at Pardes and living in Jerusalem
A wonderful way in which I could build my Jewish knowledge and skills, get professional training, and spend quality time with my wife in Jerusalem!