I grew up in the Bay Area and attended the Hebrew/Judaic High School program known as Midrasha. After my Bat Mitzvah, my parents said that I only had to try it for one year, and if I didn’t like it I didn’t have to continue. That one year became five years because of a strong Jewish identity and sense of community that was created during my participation in classes, camping trips, leadership programs, and time spent with my Jewish friends outside of the programs.

Throughout college it was important for me to be around Jewish peers. I had the opportunity to go on Birthright, where they talked a lot about Hillel’s motto of “Doing Jewish with other Jews.” After college, I moved back to the Bay Area to attend St. Mary’s College while obtaining my teaching credential. While I knew this program would prepare me to be a teacher, I needed something Jewish to create a balance within my life. I began teaching in the Midrasha program and at a public school in Antioch. At this school, I am the only Jewish teacher. I found that I still wanted a sense of a strong social Jewish community.

Last March, I had the unique opportunity to participate in Tel Aviv 1, an Israel trip that connected participants with Israeli Young Leaders, but also a community near home. After spending a week with this group from the Bay Area, and creating a little bit of that social community I was looking for, I wanted to find other opportunities to spend time with this group. I began attending Smooth Mondays and joining committees to see these people and continue to create that sense of belonging to a Jewish community. I knew that my teaching jobs took up a lot of my time and one thing that I liked about this is that I could be flexible with my time commitment and still be involved. Just by being on the committee and showing up to a couple of events gave me that connection without being pressured to do too much. So whether it’s attending an event, joining a committee or going to Israel, this is a perfect opportunity for people with or without a lot of extra time to be a part of the Jewish Community.