Reflections on the BJ Rabbinic Fellowship

In anticipation of the upcoming Fellows Shabbat and retreat, our current rabbinic fellows Iliana and Joe sat down to take stock and reflect on their time together in the fellowship. 

Iliana: Let’s start at the very beginning—what drew you to the fellowship in the first place, and why did you apply?

Joe: Before I came to JTS I worked at Brown RISD Hillel in Providence, and among my colleagues was Rabbi Michelle Dardashti (BJ Fellow ’09-’11). She was one of the first people to encourage me to apply to rabbinical school, and I remember being so inspired by her rabbinic style—her Torah was deep, her davening was incredibly musical, she led the campus community with so much warmth, and she was a thought leader when it came to having hard conversations on campus about politics, Israel, etc. Then in my second year at JTS I interned at Congregation Shearith Israel in Dallas with Rabbi Adam Roffman (BJ Fellow ’11-’13), and felt the same way about him… and it turns out, both were BJ fellows! This, plus the fact that some of the more recent fellows were classmates of mine at JTS who I really admired, made me so excited to apply. I figured if so many of the rabbis I admired the most had spent time in this community, I’d better find a way to follow in their footsteps!

Here’s a question for you: What’s something you’ve learned from the community?

Iliana: I feel greatly indebted to all the Torah that has been imparted by the BJ community to me this year. Folks in this space are so knowledgeable and full of Torah, and they share their insights with true grace and generosity. The most impactful learning however, has come from witnessing how this community operates day-in and day-out. It has been particularly instructive to see the way people at BJ celebrate, and lift up one another. Especially now, in a time when the world seems so heavy, I have been incredibly buoyed by the care and consistency with which members of BJ show up for each other, and welcome each other’s joy and success. 

Joe: That’s so sweet. 

Iliana: I know, right!? OK back to you.

Part of your role as a fellow is leading Aviv, our sub-community for folks in their 20s and 30s—what’s that been like, and how has leading Aviv impacted your experience as a fellow?

Joe: Leading Aviv has been one of the best parts of my fellowship. In a lot of ways, Aviv feels like a rebuttal to all of the demographic surveys that spell doom and gloom for the Jewish future. I think there’s a common narrative in our work that American Jews are affiliating less and less with religious life, but if you come to the Reception Room on a Friday night when Aviv is davening Kabbalat Shabbat, you’ll see something different: sometimes more than 150 young people studying the parashah together, or belting out an 11th-century piyyut at the top of their lungs. I see an expanding community of young adults eager for BJ’s kind of Judaism—rooted in spirituality and committed to rigorously engaging with the hard questions of what it means to be Jewish in 2026. Not that many rabbinical students have the opportunity to lead a community like this during their training, and I don’t take that for granted. I feel really grateful that I get to help steward this space, and it makes me feel so hopeful about the Jewish future!

Speaking of the future… How do you think your experience so far as a fellow at BJ prepares you for your future rabbinate?

Iliana: Well, the work of rabbinical school is deeply theoretical. The fellowship at BJ offers a profound opportunity for students to actualize and process that theory in real time. In thinking about my future rabbinate, I have deeply benefited from the depth and the rigor of the BJ fellowship. It allows me to invest more fully in the relationships I’ve made within the community, and to develop Torah rooted in those relationships. It gives me a taste of what it will be like to hold a rabbinic role full-time. To be honest, I think it takes a full year to learn the landscape of a new community—especially one of this size. So I feel thrilled to get to come back for another year and continue building on the work we’ve started together. 

Joe: One more thing that has been on both of our minds as we reflect on what the fellowship means to us is the privilege of seeing Roly and Felicia’s rabbinic relationship up close. They’ve offered all of the fellows—and you and me in a particular way, because we’re also hevruta at school!—a window into what it looks like to build a rabbinic partnership rooted in trust, honesty, and a shared sense of purpose. We see how they work together, how they navigate through differences, and how they make decisions together to guide our community on the best path forward.  

Iliana: Yes! Exactly! Well said.

I’ll add, as the newest fellow on the scene, I am extremely excited to get to know the other fellows who are joining us this weekend and to pray, connect with, and learn from them. It feels really good to know that these are our colleagues for life, and that even once we’re in the field, perhaps far away from our cozy home on 88th Street, we can continue to grow in relationship to each other and this community for years to come.

Joe: Ken yehi ratzon! 

Shabbat Shalom,

Joe Blumberg                            Iliana Brodsky