Tiffany
Storyboard Text
- Tiffany was first excited about Jewish life when she was in NFTY, living in Chicago, where being Jewish is easy. She was especially moved by her experience at the Religious Action Center's L'taken Seminar.
- In College, Tiffany was a religious studies major at a large state school. She was excited by Jewish life on campus, but turned off by how much Israel dominated the conversation. Birthright was a good experience, but also one that raised as many questions as it answered.
- While in college, Tiffany sought out lots of different religious experiences, including attending a retreat at JTS with the Conservative minyan leadership, a Chabad Shabbaton and a humanitarian trip to El Salvador with the Unitarian Universalists on campus.
- The Religious Action Center was a great fit for Tiffany. And D.C was perfect for meeting other thoughtful Jews, of all shapes and sizes. After her time at the RAC, she spent two years working for Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps in the D.C./Baltimore area.
- Her connections at Avodah got her a great new job organizing labor unions around a fair wage in San Francisco. This made it easier to stay with her non-Jewish boyfriend Sam, who was an organizer in Oakland.
- Now, at age 26, Tiffany is ready to begin thinking about rabbinic school in a serious way. Her Hebrew is weak, having sat dormant for close to four years and she is talking about getting engaged to Sam. What does she do next?
- When visiting a friend from her Avodah days in Boston, Tiffany decides to visit Hebrew College. Though a much smaller program, she immediately feels a connection to justice and spirituality-driven curriculum and decides to apply here as well.
- In the weeks leading up to finishing her application, Tiffany stresses about her Hebrew, the status of her relationship with Sam and feeling torn between the movement that raised her and the excitement of a new institution.
- Though this is a big decision, she's really hoping that her interview will help her clarify the best place for her. She's determined to ask about interfaith relationships and community organizing training.
- Tiffany was torn, even after her interview. Was she a Reform Jew or a post-denominational Jew, outside of boundaries and convention? The latter of course. She was a trailblazer. And off to Boston she went.
- A year later, as she sat on her train home through Boston one day, willing herself to like the program she had chosen. But it just wouldn't take. And she asked herself who had told her that these two things were mutually exclusive?
- After many conversations and a new application, and interview, Tiffany is off to begin her studies at HUC-JIR in Jersualem. Sam, who has since become a Jew, will be joining her.
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