This summer, students at American Jewish University’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies served as educators, chaplains, organizers, clergy interns and camp leaders at a variety of Jewish institutions and communities.
“Rabbi education cannot happen in the classroom alone,” Ziegler School interim dean Rabbi Cheryl Peretz said. “Summer internships give our students the opportunity to translate learning into practice—to develop the skills, judgment, presence and leadership that can only emerge through working with real people and real communities. It’s a chance for students to test their skills, discover new possibilities and learn what it means to serve Jewish communities in the real world.”
Lily Gross, a third-year Ziegler student, spent 10 weeks with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), an L.A.-based social justice organization. Gross participated in CLUE’s Young Religious Leaders Fellowship, traveling throughout Los Angeles and Orange County and witnessing some of the ways people are affected by economic inequality, immigration policies and other systemic challenges.
A centerpiece of Gross’ summer was helping organize a Tisha B’Av rally outside the downtown L.A. immigration court in July. About 100 people gathered for the event.
Gross said the fellowship gave her something that cannot be easily learned in a classroom: relationships with other emerging religious leaders that she expects will last well beyond the summer.
Gross came to rabbinical school after working in the Hillel world and is now beginning a pulpit internship at Ohr Shalom in San Diego. Alongside school and her internship, she is recording an EP and preparing to release original tefillah she has written.
Jacob Perl, a fourth-year student in Ziegler’s accelerated program, spent his summer at Jewish addiction treatment and recovery center Beit T’Shuvah, where he worked as a spiritual counselor.
For Perl, the internship connected deeply with his own path to the rabbinate. He grew up in Los Angeles, was active in USY and Ramah and initially found meaning working in the restaurant industry. But the COVID-19 pandemic prompted him to reconsider his career and his relationship with Jewish practice.
At Beit T’Shuvah, Perl found an opportunity to bring Jewish wisdom to people navigating addiction and recovery.
Perl called it “some of the holiest work I’ve ever been able to participate in.”
Other Ziegler students spent their summers in equally diverse settings. Tony Westbrook served as rosh tefilah at Ramah Galim in Northern California, where he helped Israeli staff members become comfortable with egalitarian prayer and helped campers find confidence through music and prayer. At Camp Ramah in Ojai, Ian Temkin served as a mashgiach, a kosher supervisor, while Samson Nderitu returned for his fourth summer in a different role. Adrian Marcos worked as office manager at Ramah Galim and Josh Mendel served as Jewish and ritual coordinator at Eden Village West in Sonoma County.
Marissa Street interned with Ziegler alumnus Rabbi Ari Kaiman at Shearith Israel in Atlanta, including serving as solo clergy while Kaiman was away. Josh Feldman worked with Stephen Wise Temple senior Rabbi Yoshi Zwieback; Jacob Schatz continued his internship at IKAR; and Joey Abeles served as a chaplain at Cedars-Sinai alongside Ziegler alumna Rabbi Sarah Barukh and head chaplain Rabbi Jason Weiner.
“We are proud our students work in these diverse settings because it reflects both the quality of the professionals who mentor them and the confidence we have in the rabbis we are preparing,” Peretz said.
Moe Howard, who recently began his final year at Ziegler, spent his last summer as a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute, a center of Jewish life, learning and practice in New York. It was his first time in New York and he stayed on the Upper West Side. When he wasn’t engaged in study at Hadar, he spent his free time exploring Manhattan, Brooklyn and, he said, “the Jewish scene out there.”
“I had a great time, but hated the weather,” he said. “I’m so happy to be back breathing the fresh L.A. air. I’m not a New Yorker, but I appreciated the experience and got a lot out of it.”
