#BlogBOmer: Netzach B'Tiferet

As I type this, there's some definite need for personal endurance...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can BLOG! I know I've said this before, but blogging every day is a real personal challenge--more often than not, I've usually started and skipped around on these challenges. When I realized that I was five blog posts behind, I knew that I had two choices: miss the days I missed OR slowly, but surely make my way back to the day at hand. I chose the latter because I think there's a special harmony to completing what you start...even if your pace is a little slower than it should be.

I want to dedicate this to another fellow Fellow of mine, someone who has a passion for helping others to endure, who finds ways to create compassionate opportunities for other Hillel professionals and her students to create harmonious communities. This particular post goes out to fellow #Hillelpro Jenna C!

Jenna with two of my other favorite #Hillelpros (shout out Rachel &; Jason!)
Photo Cred: STOLEN from Jason Oruch's photos

Jenna is by far one of the hardest working people in show Hillel biz. Her personal and profession endurance are unparalleled by most--this is part of the reason that she's one of the three Hillel professionals running the Hillel Mentorship Initiative, and is always one of the first people willing to help another #Hillelpro (or human!) in need. Jenna's confidence and kindness encourage those around her to put their heads down and get to work--to be the best people that they can be.

I got the pleasure of working with Jenna on a program during our Taglit Fellows Cohort I session in Chicago (August 2015). During the writing portion, we were struggling as a team to come up with a concept that we felt we could really get behind (there were limits/boundaries on our program with an unexpected twist card doled out). 45 minutes into the program, I had an idea pop into my head that I thought could get us past our problem--Jenna jumped on board and her enthusiasm (and ability to quickly write and streamline creative thinking) helped us come up with one of the most creative programs in the room [which is supposed to be in a database...somewhere].

All of this may seem small...unimportant even...but when running a marathon, it helps to have someone set a great pace in front of you--it gives you something to aspire to be. While I'm not a runner by any means, I enjoy having Jenna always being a little bit ahead of me--it inspires me to put my head down and work smarter, enduring for another day, month, or year as a #Hillelpro and attempting to find a work/life balance in the process! Thanks for being a connector to the Jewish professional community Jenna! <3 p="">