GALLERY OF GRADS
MAY 30, 2019
ColumbusJewishNews.com | COLUMBUS JEWISH NEWS | 21
Gallery of Grads2019 A Columbus Jewish News Special Section
David and Irene Cole Essay contest winners
T
he winners of the David and Irene Cole Essay contest, an annual local contest aimed at challenging high school seniors to consider their future college experiences, were announced at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus’ Teen Awards Night May 14. The scholarship contest was established by Stuart and Marilyn Cole in honor of Stuart’s parents, who had strong beliefs about Jewish education, according to a news release. The essay prompt asked, “How will I perpetuate my Jewish knowledge and practice as a college freshman, and why?”
FIRST PLACE ESSAY Avigayil Rosenberg Senior, Columbus Torah Academy “Continuing a Legacy” Every summer growing up, my family would take a flight down to Sarasota, Fla. to spend a week with my grandparents. My mom, my brother and me all went together. It was always the best week of the year. A week spent swimming, making sand castles on the Siesta Key beach and visiting the aquarium. Several years ago, the yearly tradition ensued. As the vacation went on, I noticed something out of the ordinary. My mom was cooking our food in a separate oven than my grandparents and not only that, she was using a whole different set of utensils and the table was set with disposable plates and cups. Ever since I was old enough to understand, I knew that my mom was a convert. I knew that my grandparents practiced a different religion than me, but I never realized until then how different our lives truly were. My mom had converted before my brother and I were born but she carried the impact of that with her throughout her life. We would go to family gatherings like Christmas weekends, birthdays, Thanksgiving dinners, baby showers, but we would bring food in coolers and containers and eat at separate tables. At times I resented the fact that I was living a completely different life than my own family. I couldn’t even get a taste of my great-grandmother’s famous cooking at Thanksgiving. And then sometimes I couldn’t have been more proud of my uniqueness, proud of the fact that I was different in faith but the same in blood and flesh. Thankfully I was blessed to have a family that was accepting and welcoming to my mom’s conversion, but there was still a lot that they didn’t understand. My family is constantly educating our relatives about our circumstances. It can be very difficult and frustrating at times, but they always genuinely listen and take our instructions to heart. I have never taken for granted the support that my mom’s extended family has given my family. And I am also not naive to the fact that the world is not so embracing. As I close this chapter of my life and embark on
experiences outside the safe walls of a Jewish day school and beyond the security of an accepting family, I will be faced with barriers that will challenge my Judaism and my connection to G-d. It’s hard to imagine this foreign concept, because for the past 18 years of my life, I have been enclosed on all sides with Orthodox Judaism, for good or for bad. I have been blessed with a Jewish education for my entire life but I have also yet to see what the “real world” will be like for me. For me, going out into the world and practicing my Judaism is no average feat. I am continuing a legacy that my mom fought so hard to create. College campuses continue to be a target for many forums of anti-Semitism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, creating a very unappealing atmosphere for practicing Jews. Many Jews who have stepped foot on a secular campus have left their Jewish identity at the door because of the burden of that Jewish label. While it is understandable, I hope to break the status quo. I don’t want to drop my identity at the door, the identity that my mom worked and expended so much for. I am proud to represent the Jewish people whether it be at a secular or Jewish university. Going to Jewish day school has provided me with tools that I can utilize when I am put into situations such as this. Over the past four years of high school I have grown a fond connection to morning prayer. Morning prayer, or Shacharit, has not only become a part of my daily routine, but it has evolved into a vital time for my soul and mind to meditate and reflect on my life every morning. For 35 minutes, I get to focus and talk to G-d uninterrupted and without distractions. I know transitioning to a different setting will be an adjustment for my daily routine, but what I’ve learned about prayer is that prayer is a part of your soul that you have the ability to access no matter where you are on the map. My mornings will continue to begin with that essential conversation with my Creator. Prayer will keep my soul in check. Being on a secular campus creates other challenges and issues such as keeping Shabbat and kosher. But growing up in the way that I did has prepared me for this challenge. I will mimic what my mom did at our family gatherings and on vacations with my grandparents and I will prepare my own meals. I will continue to be proud of my hard-fought identity and practice being an observant Jew, not because of what I was taught but because of what my mom and role model has proven to me. Some things in life can be compromised, but my Judaism isn’t
one of them. Experiencing the exposure of coexisting with the secular world within my family has taught me to be proud of who I am and where I come from. My passion and consistency will continue through my routine prayer and connection to my Jewish values. My mom laid the foundation for a family to start a bright Jewish future and I cannot and will not let go of that foundation. I will grow upon my roots and carry my Judaism with me whether I am in secular college in the middle of Ohio, in the Jewish community of Washington Heights, N.Y., or on a kibbutz in Israel, because I am proud of my Jewish identity.
Avigayil Rosenberg will go to Israel for a gap year.
SECOND PLACE ESSAY Orli Hartstein Senior, Columbus Torah Academy “My Promise for the Promised Land” My entire life has been lived in the same small school building, the same small classes, surrounded by the same teachers that continuously like to remind me, even in high school, that they have known me since I was in diapers. When I was younger, I used to look at that negatively, like I was frozen in time, doing the same thing year after year. But recently, my perspective began to morph into another image. The new image is of a close family enriched with heritage, friendships that will last me a lifetime and the strongest Jewish community I have ever seen, always there to open their doors to help others. While the small yet strong Jewish community has inspired me to always open my doors for the needy, my parents are the ones who ignited the eternal thirst for Judaism and a love for Israel inside me. While they were growing up, my parents weren’t religious. They did go to temple with their parents on the Sabbath, but they would drive. They did keep kosher inside the house, but went to McDonald’s after school. Then, they both took a chance and turned their lives
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