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MEET HUC-J IR’S STUDENTS
2009
ISSUE 72 | 51
“
When Operation Cast Lead
first began in late Decem-
ber, my first thought was about
our soldier friends: where were
they, were they going to
be okay, and how could I
help them?” recalls rabbinical
student
Jaclyn Fromer,
L ’13.
“
Talking with them, even hear-
ing the limited information
they could give us, provided a
much deeper understanding of
the Israeli psyche, the effect of
war on a society, and the way in
which Israelis live their day-to-
day lives.”
Months before the war,
Fromer and education/com-
munal service student
LuAnne
Tyzzer,
RHSOE/MAJCS ’11,
had
become the HUC-JIR coordi-
nators for ‘Parallel Lives,’ a
program that links Israeli soldiers with Jews
of the same age around the world in order to
expose Israelis to different streams of Judaism
and to promote the integration of Jewish
identity in Israeli and Diaspora youth.
Through this program, Fromer and Tyzzer
were able to ensure that their first-year class-
mates in the Year-In-Israel Program could
accomplish one of the year’s key goals: to be-
come more intimately connected with the
people and land of Israel.
From social events and educational get-
togethers to being guests at a ‘live drill’ at an
Army base, Fromer and Tyzzer brought to-
gether Israeli elite unit soldiers and HUC-
JIR students to learn more about one
another. The HUC-JIR students were able
to get a better understanding of what it is like
to come of age in Israel, join the army, and
serve one’s country. In turn, the soldiers
learned about the Reform Movement and
the students’ lives in North America.
“
It is so important for us to leave the
classroom, to get out and experience the real
Israel,” Tyzzer explained. For example, dur-
ing a joint tour of the tunnels underneath
the Western Wall, “the juxtaposition of the
civilian HUC-JIR students with the rifle-
draped uniformed soldiers symbolized the
merging of shared history and common
links. We were forging our own personal re-
lationships with the Jewish homeland and its
people. As for the soldiers, they were learning
about what it’s like to be Jewish in the Dias-
pora; about maintaining a religious identity
in the world outside
Eretz Yisrael
.”
Fromer described a two-day
Shabbaton
,
when “we began by welcoming
Kabbalat
Shabbat
together in the Murstein Synagogue
with five female
sh’lichot tzibbur
,
guitar and
drums, and men lighting candles and saying
Kiddush
,
and concluded with
Havdalah
in
our home. Many of these secular soldiers
were being introduced to Reform Judaism
for the first time. For the soldiers, it crystal-
lized why we’re here in Jerusalem studying at
HUC-JIR, and why the Reform Movement
is and will continue to be significant for their
country, and ours.”
After years of Jewish and Zionist ac-
tivism at Wheaton College and with AIPAC,
it was her year as a DeLeT Fellow at the
Stephen S. Wise Day School that propelled
Tyzzer toward the joint master’s program in
Jewish education and Jewish communal serv-
ice at HUC-JIR. In addition to ‘Parallel
Lives,’ she said that being the ARZA-
ARZENU liaison on campus further
enriched her understanding of Israel and
Jewish peoplehood. “When I attended the
35
th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem,
I felt like I was a part of history,” she noted.
Fromer’s lifelong attachment to Stephen
S. Wise Temple inspired her role as a canto-
rial soloist and worship leader during college
at UCDavis, and ultimately led her to define
her future aspirations as a Jewish leader. “I
was drawn to fuse my love of Judaism with a
desire to teach, learn, and help others culti-
vate their own connection to God and
Judaism. I had wanted to study at HUC-JIR
for years, especially because of the Year-In-
Israel. I knew it would be an amazing
education with unparalleled experiences, and
that’s exactly what it’s been.”
P
A
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Jaclyn Fromer, L ’13 (top, left), and LuAnne
Tyzzer, RHSOE/MAJCS ’11 (top, right) with
Israeli elite unit soldiers and HUC-JIR Year-
In-Israel Program students (below).
Elizabeth McNamara Mueller
