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H
ow transformative was Allie
Fischman’s year in Israel as part of
her Master of Arts in Jewish Education?
It convinced her to keep kosher.
That’s not all. In addition, the third-year
education student started wrapping
tefillin
and wearing a
kippah
during her
classes and when she prayed or studied
at home.
“
I’ve been exploring my religiosity since
the beginning of our year in Israel,”
Fis-
chman says.
“
It was really powerful to go to pray on
Rosh Chodesh at the Kotel with Women of the Wall
and to wrap tefillin at Robinson’s Arch.”
Perhaps more importantly, the Chicago native has contin-
ued experimenting with many of these practices since
returning stateside. Making each ritual into a habit has led
to one revelation after another and made the religious
practice of Judaism a more active presence in her life.
“
It’s really lovely when ritual infiltrates our lives in so many
different ways. I feel like it has created a new kind of
meaning that I had never experienced before,” she says.
Allie
Fischman
Rhea Hirsch
School of Education
Student/Los Angeles
Education student
Allie Fischman leads
services at the Jack H.
Skirball Campus in
Los Angeles.
Aryeh Ballaban (center) with
leaders of his student pulpit at
Temple Israel, Paducah, KY, one
of the founding members of the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations in 1873.
