By Susan Afriat (4-21-09)

Today is twelve days, which is one week and five days of the Omer.

 

It is a tradition to count the days between Passover and Shavuot, as we mark our freedom from slavery and celebrate our freedom to accept Torah. This is called "counting the omer." This year we will observe the tradition of "counting the omer" by sharing stories about the many different ways that we have been turned on to Jewish learning, and through Jewish learning to Torah.

I was raised in a secular Jewish home with no Jewish education and no Jewish camp. I married a man who grew up in an observant home, and for a variety of reasons, rejected most aspects of his Jewish roots. My Jewish education began with the birth of our first child: a boy. Because it was important to my mother-in-law, we had a Brit Milah, and that was the beginning of my eagerness for learning. I began learning with my son, and then with my daughter, and just after my daughter's Bat Mitzvah in 1996, I had my own Bat Mitzvah with a group of 10 other women. 
 
I credit my love of Jewish learning to a wonderful rabbi, Vivian Schirn, in Philadelphia who guided me through all the milestones, and I continue learning today with Rabbi Geller and Jill Zimmerman.  I am so grateful for the contagious love of learning that I have caught from these teachers!
 
By Susan Afriat

These stories are brought to you by the Temple Emanuel RE-IMAGINE project, an 18-month initiative sponsored by Hebrew Union College, devoted to re-thinking and re-structuring our religious school.