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THE FIRST HEBREW COLLEGE FELLOWS EMBRACE CAREERS AS JEWISH EDUCATORS Inaugurating the Hebrew College Fellows Program this fall, four outstanding graduate students bring scholarship and intellect, creativity and diversity to their work as learners as well as educators in the Jewish community. From disparate religious backgrounds—two are Jewish by choice—these Fellows have made conscious decisions as adults to immerse themselves in Jewish learning and actively share their knowledge and experience.
All speak of social justice and responsibility, all volunteer and teach. Symmetrical interests resonate through the different paths they have taken—love of language, exposure to world cultures, musical studies—but the common factor that connects these students is their joyous commitment to strengthening Jewish community.
"Rather than a Reform, Conservative or Orthodox rabbi, I just want to be a Jewish community rabbi. That's all I want." The genesis of that purposeful statement began in 1995, when Chaim Koritzinsky, a Russian studies major with a minor in psychology, was studying in the former Soviet Union during his junior year at Vassar College. On a visit to the historic Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, he was invited to pray. He recalls thinking, "Pray? But I don't know how to pray! I learned a few prayers for my bar mitzvah, but I can't remember any of them. I can't even remember the Shema! I was shocked and ashamed. If I don't know anything, how on earth am I going to pass anything Jewish on to my children?" That day, standing before the ark, he vowed to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Jewish learning and a commitment to the Jewish people. "I felt when I was living in Russia that I was watching Judaism unfold around me. I think it was the first time I could appreciate the opportunities I was given growing up Jewish in America in contrast to these Jews who were coming out of the woodwork after years of holding back. It helped me realize that I wanted to commit myself to this emergence of Jewish history," he says. After working and studying in Israel for three years, this outgoing and inquisitive 28-year-old moved to Boston for its strong Jewish educational community. As social justice director for Teens for Tzedek, a program of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, Koritzinsky developed a social justice curriculum and led Boston-Haifa exchanges: "Social action, in my opinion, considers the needs of the community—homelessness, AIDS, literacy and environment—and looks at our responsibility." "Rather than a Reform, Conservative or Orthodox rabbi, I just want to be a Jewish community rabbi. That's all I want." As Koritzinsky explores a transdenominational approach to his learning and teaching, he incorporates his experience in drama and dance. While studying at Pardes Institute in Israel, he formed a Dance Midrash program, facilitating workshops integrating Torah, Jewish texts, and creative movement. He is co-founder of Dance Midrash Boston. A Master of Jewish Education (MJEd) student in the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education, Koritzinsky expects to enroll in the Aleph rabbinic ordination program, where each student is mentored by three rabbinic advisors—the entire group convenes regularly while students complete their graduate-level coursework and training. "The Aleph approach is that everyone is on their own spiritual path," he says. "Under the Aleph umbrella, Hebrew College will serve as my academic home." "The bottom line is that I want to sharpen my skills as a Jewish educator. I want to teach at a higher level and gain core text skills that I can only get at Hebrew College. It is the best place for the foundation I need."
When New York native Lisa Sheiman first moved to New Hampshire, she recalls, "I had to think about being a Jew." Her childhood Jewish education began in New York in the Workmen's Circle, a Jewish cultural organization. Sheiman did not learn Hebrew or belong to a temple. She went to shule for children three days a week, where she learned to read Yiddish. "I could read Sholom Aleichem and Peretz in Yiddish and loved singing the songs," she says. After moving to New Hampshire ten years ago, Sheiman, who holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in education, brought her children to programs at Temple Beth Jacob in Concord. "It seemed a good idea for me to be learning too," she says, and began Hebrew classes seven years ago. She became a bat mitzvah in 1999 and assumed the chair of the adult education committee, taking all the available classes. "Maybe you can get through this life thinking of nobody but yourself, but what will there be for your children?" At the recommendation of Rabbi Richard Klein (P'59), Sheiman entered Hebrew College's Me'ah program, which she recently completed. In her graduation speech, she said, "I have been blessed by being part of an exceptional community of learners, a group of brilliant, articulate, wonderful women who have been passionately engaged in a joint endeavor which has involved learning from each other as much as it has involved learning from the texts and the teachers." Reflecting on her Me'ah experience, Sheiman says, "At first I thought that studying Talmud was hair splitting and navel gazing, but it was what was underneath that surprised me. What I love is that it gives me a moral and ethical framework that I can relate to." An avid reader and writer who once worked in a bookstore, Sheiman shares her love of books at her temple, which has fewer than 200 families—volunteering to buy and review books for the library. "I'm on a mission to unite people with the right book," she says. Also on a mission to learn, she has studied history, Talmud and Maimonides at her temple and is now teaching, by her own account, "very, very beginning" Hebrew. "Sometimes it's the nearsighted leading the blind, but I'm usually a couple of steps ahead," she says. Sheiman, now in her fifties, feels the opportunity to pursue a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies full time would not have been possible without a scholarship. Her plans after completing her degree at Hebrew College are still evolving. "I know I want to do something useful and find the best way to give back," she says. "Maybe you can get through this life thinking of nobody but yourself, but what will there be for your children?"
"The notion of the solitary spiritual seeker is not for me. I like a communal setting—to pray and to study. I thirst to be in a community of learning, where Jewish professionals can move along at their own pace and be connected to the community around them," says Dr. James Morgan, most recently a professor of Russian language and literature at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. With a BA from Amherst College and a master's and doctoral degree from Yale University, Morgan is heading into a second career. Currently a student working toward his MJEd at Hebrew College, he plans to attend rabbinical school. "The question is where would I fit in as a rabbi—in a pulpit, in an educational or pastoral setting," he says. Educating children—he is teaching sixth grade at Temple Israel in Boston and seventh grade at Temple Isaiah in Lexington this fall—will be a new experience for Morgan, who converted to Judaism when he married. "As a Jew by choice, I believe that how you choose to act should be grounded in a sense of responsibility to something larger than yourself—integral to a meaningful religious life," says Morgan. "I believe that how you choose to act should be grounded in a sense of responsibility to something larger than yourself." Morgan had long involved himself in Judaism on an intellectual level. His college thesis was on the Russian Jewish author Isaac Babel. "I felt hampered by not being able to immerse myself in Jewish texts in order to understand him fully," he says. Now in his mid-thirties, father of a one-year-old son, Morgan says, "I wonder why I had not come to Judaism earlier. The services at Temple Israel in Boston, where I converted under the tutelage of Rabbi Elaine Zecher, were a revelation: spiritual, participatory, joyful. The emphasis on text study and the culture of critical questioning spoke to me as a scholar." "It seemed for many of my Jewish friends that Judaism made up a lot of who they were. It is clear to me that I was drawn into Judaism through relationships—my friends, my wife and clergy," he says. "As I began to learn more about the tradition, it opened up the spiritual side."
"Judaism is not only belief, but mitzvot. It's like body and soul, one big thing together. It is a full expression of my personality," says Nitzan-Deborah Stein, who grew up in Germany as a Protestant. With an interest in comparative religious studies, she visited Israel while in high school and in 1997 returned in a one-year study program for German theology students. At age 23, after studying for two years in the theology department at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, she enrolled in Hebrew University's master's program in Jewish civilization. Stein, fluent in English and Hebrew, knowledgeable in Latin, Attic Greek and French, wrote her thesis in Hebrew. "Judaism is not only belief, but mitzvot. It's like body and soul, a full expression of my personality." In conversation, Stein's mixture of pedagogy and enthusiasm is evident. She was studying theology in Jerusalem, involved in interfaith dialogue and reading Talmud, when she made friends with a Jewish student and was invited to her home for Shabbat. "I got more and more the whole picture seeing a Jewish family from the inside. Of course, I was struggling with a hard path," she says. She came to a decision after her second year and applied to the Beit Din [rabbinical court] for conversion, ready to do a yearlong ulpan program specifically designed for potential converts. "The rabbi talked to me about my faith, my responsibility of taking upon myself all the commandments of the Torah. He asked me questions about halakhic law, and I knew the answers. He asked to talk to my 'adoptive Jewish' family members and said to set a date with the Beit Din! I didn't feel so prepared. I would have gone to ulpan for a year of reflection and to grow into Judaism." After receiving her conversion papers, fully intending to make aliyah, Stein applied and was approved. But soon after, she began dating a Harvard student who was doing research at Hebrew University. They plan to marry in Summer 2003 and settle in Boston. Stein attended a guiding course in Holocaust studies at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, and taught Israeli students at that site's museum. Her community service in Germany and Israel included camp programs for handicapped children. Now a student in the Shoolman Graduate School, she intends to finish her MJEd in one year and is teaching at the Prozdor. "I'm amazed at how the people at Hebrew College are helping me to get along," she says. "I want to get professional skills in Jewish education. My favorite is to teach Bible, Talmud or Midrash. I'm not sure that I want to teach only high school. All I know is that I want to grow, to bring Torah to the people." Beth Surdut, a writer and editor for print and radio media, Hebrew College Fellows ProgramDrawing the nation's top students in Jewish studies and Jewish education, the new merit-based Hebrew College Fellows Program encompasses several one-year, renewable fellowships for both full-time and part-time study. The following fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to exceptional students enrolled in the College's Master of Jewish Education and Master of Arts in Jewish Studies degree programs. The Betty and Irving Brudnick Fellowship: Awarded to an outstanding student in the field of Jewish Studies The Dr. David M. Gordis Fellowship: Granted to a student demonstrating exceptional potential for Jewish communal leadership The Barbara and Leo Karas Fellowship in Jewish Education: Awarded to a graduate student in the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education The Abraham and Sadie Shapiro Fellowships: Awarded to students planning to pursue a career in Jewish education and committed to postgraduate service in the Jewish community The Edith and Eliot Shoolman Fellowship: Awarded to a student who is currently active in the field of Jewish education as a teacher or an administrator The Betsy and Dr. Martin P. Solomon Graduate Fellowship: Granted to an outstanding graduate student in the field of Jewish education For more information, contact Ina Regosin, Dean of Students, at 617-559-8618 or email iregosin@hebrewcollege.edu. If you are interested in creating a Hebrew College Fellowship, please call Marsha Katz Slotnick, Director of Development and Capital Campaign, at 617-559-8722 or email mslotnick@hebrewcollege.edu. |
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Chaim (Brad) Koritzinsky's educational and spiritual journeys—to the former Soviet Union, Israel and the Greater Boston area—qualify him as a kind of Judaic tour guide as he studies to become a rabbi. Lisa Sheiman enthusiastically pursues learning to enhance her ongoing contribution to her New Hampshire Jewish community. James Morgan, who has already had a career as a college professor, is educationally and spiritually traveling toward the rabbinate. Nitzan-Deborah Stein, a theology scholar raised in Germany and recently arrived from Israel, joined the Boston community at the end of August.
CHAIM KORITZINSKY, GORDIS FELLOW
LISA SHEIMAN, SHAPIRO FELLOW
JAMES MORGAN, SHAPIRO FELLOW
NITZAN-DEBORAH STEIN, SHOOLMAN FELLOW