Chava: The office manager at Hillel is a middle-aged Jewish woman who isn’t really observant, but is growing in her Judaism. She asked me and YD if she could take our Maimonides course, and we said yes, but we can’t pay you [MEOR pays students who take the course]. YD promised to give her a book at the end, though. She took the class, and though I thought it would be kind of weird and I wasn’t sure why she wanted to take it with the college students, she really enjoyed and contributed in great ways. At the end, YD gave her Kosher for the Clueless but Curious by Shimon Apisdorf.
She came back to us the next day and said, “I read this book cover-to-cover last night. I don’t know if you know this, but I just signed on a new house and after reading this, I’d really like to start keeping kosher in my home.” So YD and I helped her kasher her entire brand-new, never-before-used kitchen and now she keeps kosher! It was a totally unexpected benefit of doing our job and a clear message from Hashem that we’re totally not in charge. We were confused the whole time as to why she was there, but we know it was because Hashem wanted her keeping kosher.
What are your plans for the future?
YD: JET hopes to expand in the future, bringing in another couple and moving us into a house closer to campus. I came here to be involved in the business of making a Kiddush Hashem and I will go wherever that takes me.
Chava: Our plan is to keep doing whatever Hashem wants us to do. We want to move to a community that’s still growing, while giving our family what we need. Hopefully to a community with a Jewish school.