AJU Ziegler trainees go with alternative summer season experiences

(Sept. 30, 2026/ American Jewish University)

This summertime, trainees at American Jewish University’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies acted as teachers, pastors, organizers, clergy interns and camp leaders at a range of Jewish organizations and neighborhoods.

” Rabbi education can not occur in the class alone,”Ziegler School interim dean Rabbi Cheryl Peretz stated. “Summer internships offer our trainees the chance to equate finding out into practice– to establish the abilities, judgment, existence and management that can just emerge through dealing with genuine individuals and genuine neighborhoods. It’s an opportunity for trainees to evaluate their abilities, find brand-new possibilities and discover what it suggests to serve Jewish neighborhoods in the real life.”

Lily Gross, a third-year Ziegler trainee, invested 10 weeks with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), an L.A.-based social justice company. Gross took part in CLUE’s Young Religious Leaders Fellowship, taking a trip throughout Los Angeles and Orange County and experiencing a few of the methods individuals are impacted by financial inequality, migration policies and other systemic obstacles.

A focal point of Gross’ summer season was assisting arrange a Tisha B’Av rally outside the downtown L.A. migration court in July. About 100 individuals collected for the occasion.

Gross stated the fellowship provided her something that can not be quickly discovered in a class: relationships with other emerging spiritual leaders that she anticipates will last well beyond the summer season.

Gross concerned rabbinical school after operating in the Hillel world and is now starting a pulpit internship at Ohr Shalom in San Diego. Together with school and her internship, she is taping an EP and preparing to launch initial tefillah she has actually composed.

Jacob Perl, a fourth-year trainee in Ziegler’s sped up program, invested his summertime at Jewish dependency treatment and healing center Beit T’Shuvah, where he worked as a spiritual therapist.

For Perl, the internship linked deeply with his own course to the rabbinate. He matured in Los Angeles, was active in USY and Ramah and at first discovered significance operating in the dining establishment market. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered him to reevaluate his profession and his relationship with Jewish practice.

At Beit T’Shuvah, Perl discovered a chance to bring Jewish knowledge to individuals browsing dependency and healing.

Perl called it “a few of the holiest work I’ve ever had the ability to take part in.”

Other Ziegler trainees invested their summer seasons in similarly varied settings. Tony Westbrook functioned as rosh tefilah at Ramah Galim in Northern California, where he assisted Israeli employee end up being comfy with egalitarian prayer and assisted campers discover self-confidence through music and prayer. At Camp Ramah in Ojai, Ian Temkin worked as a mashgiach, a kosher manager, while Samson Nderitu returned for his 4th summertime in a various function. Adrian Marcos worked as workplace supervisor at Ramah Galim and Josh Mendel acted as Jewish and routine organizer at Eden Village West in Sonoma County.

Marissa Street interned with Ziegler alumnus Rabbi Ari Kaiman at Shearith Israel in Atlanta, consisting of acting as solo clergy while Kaiman was away. Josh Feldman dealt with Stephen Wise Temple senior Rabbi Yoshi Zwieback; Jacob Schatz continued his internship at IKAR; and Joey Abeles functioned as a pastor at Cedars-Sinai along with Ziegler alumna Rabbi Sarah Barukh and head pastor Rabbi Jason Weiner.

“We are happy our trainees operate in these varied settings since it shows both the quality of the experts who coach them and the self-confidence we have in the rabbis we are preparing,” Peretz stated.

Moe Howard, who just recently started his last year at Ziegler, invested his last summertime as a rabbinical trainee at the Hadar Institute, a center of Jewish life, discovering and practice in New York. It was his very first time in New York and he remained on the Upper West Side. When he wasn’t participated in research study at Hadar, he invested his downtime checking out Manhattan, Brooklyn and, he stated, “the Jewish scene out there.”

“I had a fun time, however disliked the weather condition,” he stated. “I’m so delighted to be back breathing the fresh L.A. air. I’m not a New Yorker, however I valued the experience and got a lot out of it.”