As our time in Mississippi as ISJL Education Fellows comes to an end, we wanted to write a final collaborative-blog-post to look back on the memories we have made throughout our two years here.
When we all first arrived in June of 2014, we were two years younger, fresh out of college, and ready for our first full-time, real-world jobs. Of course, if you follow the other blog posts in this series, you’ll note that this particular office experience is far from a typical one. Between the four of us departing Fellows, over these past two years we have been to all 13 states of our Southern region, traveled approximately 236,274 miles, flown on some 135 flight legs, and eaten enough grits to last us a lifetime.
To best pay homage to the two transformative years we have had here, we wanted to employ the “a picture is worth a thousand words” method, and show you some of the moments we’ll always remember. So here are our top 5 favorite pictures that attempt encapsulate our colorful, diverse, inventive, experience as Education Fellows:
5. Morah (Teacher) Bethany and Morah Leah taught third grade Hebrew at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi.
4. An office break-time favorite: The Post-It game.
3. We took full advantage of the monthly festivities at Fondren’s First Thursday, a neighborhood street festival. Abby, Shira, and Arielle were semifinalists in an absurd relay race involving a shopping cart, a toilet seat, and a dizzy-bat!
2. Fellows and ISJL Summer Interns enjoyed an outing in June 2015 at a favorite local blueberry farm.
1. On our first day of our second year of the Fellowship. You can tell – we are pretty comfortable with one another.
Between all of the miles traveled, the flights flown, and the delicious food consumed, you can bet we met some incredible people along the journey. Thank you to all of the community members we chatted with at Shabbat services, the rabbis we learned from during text studies, the religious school directors we worked hand in hand with to create programming for students, and the host families who so graciously opened their doors. Last but not least, thank you to all of the staff of the ISJL who cared for us and shared memories with us during these past two years, it’s been a pleasure to come to work in such a bright environment.
Now that we’ll soon be joining the Fellow Alumni Network, we took some time to learn about those who came before us. And with that, we created a sporcle quiz! Check it out and test your knowledge of the ISJL Education Fellows of the past – can you list all 42 in under 7 minutes?! Enjoy, and thanks to all of y’all for reading about our travels along the way!
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Shabbat
Pronounced: shuh-BAHT or shah-BAHT, Origin: Hebrew, the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
