Yael Dadoun

My final year at the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion will come to a close this spring, yet my learning, in many ways, has just begun. Having had the opportunity to spend three meaningful years on the Cincinnati campus, I have been exposed to so many wonderful and invaluable experiences. Week after week, my professors took me on a journey through our literature and tradition. The great orators on our campus taught us the value and art of sermonizing to transfer a strong and evocative Jewish message. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, through our congregational work we have been touched and touched the lives of so many members of our extended community.
 
As I prepare to embark on the next part of my Jewish journey, I realize that I am leaving one place of learning and think about all the ways in which I have grown and begin to contemplate the different ways in which I have yet to develop. In many ways, our learning at the College has been a playground for us to find our voices, discover our passions and talents and foster a community of learners that will forever be bound to one another in our future endeavors.
 
         My family and I look forward to sinking our roots into a new community that is excited to make Judaism a part of their everyday lives with us and help shape a Jewish practice that will ignite the next generation.