This semester, Meor Emory started a Women’s Learning Program for Jewish students. This program was a three week program where we had eight ADPI’s participate, one who prior, had never been involved in Jewish life. Speakers included Erika Needleman, Sara Werbin, and Rabbi Fleshel. We found this program to be important to engage students who weren’t involved in Emory Meor and we hope that this program will inspire more involvement from these students, and other students involved in ADPI, in the future!
Here were some of the students reflections:
Lena Lerner (Class of 2022): The ADPi and Meor learning program was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed getting together with a group of amazing women from my sorority community to discuss and learn about many important topics through a Jewish lens. Learning Erika Needelman’s story to finding Judaism was inspiring and hearing her passion for feminism within her Jewish practice was very interesting. The lesson on finding meaning during challenging times left me with a lot to think about, and I was able to continue that discussion with friends and family outside the program which was very rewarding for me. Rabbi Fleshel made everyone feel so comfortable and open to sharing ideas! It was a great program and I would definitely recommend it to other students in the future.
Charly Hochman (Class of 2023): The ADPi Meor program allowed me to discuss important ideas through a Jewish perspective. The program was small, allowing us to delve into personal experiences and questions, hearing our sisters’ views and thoughts on the topics. I was only able to attend the second and third talks but found both incredibly rewarding. The second session was on Finding Meaning Through life’s Challenges. As a group we shared some of our own moments that have challenged us, and how they may have shaped us into the person we are today. Our speaker, Sara Webin, then helped us relate this to one of three viewpoints of why we may encounter a challenge. For our final session with Rabbi Fleshel we discussed life after death. Here we were able to ask so many questions and learn about the Jewish belief on the afterlife, heaven, and reincarnation: something the majority of us knew little about. The program was a wonderful way to have a midweek break from school-work, and discuss interesting topics. This also gave me the opportunity to engage with people in ADPi who I rarely see (due to covid) and people who I did not know as well (because of my Freshman second semester being cut short). I loved the program and cannot wait to take part in another!