Posted on Mar 16, 2016

Today’s speaker, Rabbi Hannah Orden talked about her passage towards becoming a rabbi, as someone raised in a secular household, being a female, and ultimately choosing this path as a second career after being a teacher, actor and writer.  She spoke of being a life-long “seeker” who felt the need to reconnect with her Jewish heritage after experiencing a traumatic event involving the tragic death of a seven year old student in the school where she was teaching and having to deal with the inevitable explanations required of her by her students and even other faculty members.  Many years after this incident, she eventually had the opportunity to undertake the rigorous five year course of training needed to become a rabbi and was ordained in 2010.  In 2014, she accepted her current position and described her desire to “. . . build communities where people can make connections with each other, with Torah, and with the divine spark in each of us and in the world.”  The Rabbi offered an interesting portrayal of her journey to Summit, and Rotary welcomes Rabbi Orden to the community.