Miles Kessler

It's an 84 mph submarine left-handed pitch.

My family background is relatively typical; my ancestors were fortunate enough to leave Europe prior to the Holocaust.  Among these ancestors was my great-great grandmother, Rose Neumann, who became a prominent female leader of the Jewish community on the West Coast (she has a section in the historical archives at SDSU).  My father was the president of his BBYO region in his youth and is active with prominent Jewish organizations.   My mother went to a Jewish day school in El Paso, TX, but lost her connection as she aged.  She retained her Hebrew skills and has basic Yiddish understanding.  She is actively involved in a women’s kiruv group and just returned from Israel.

I saw a sign for TPF near campus and scanned the QR code.  That led to a meeting with Rabbi Eliyahu Greenberg, whom I knew from my involvement with MEOR at NYU.

TPF offers a WhatsApp community group chat.  In March, there was post on the chat about internships in many cities, including DC.  I responded (to TPF Trips Coordinator Asher Israel) and was soon on the phone with Rabbi Zvi Teitelbaum (of Mesorah DC and Sinai Retreats).    After just 10 minutes of shmoozing, we agreed I would be a great fit for Sinai Retreats, which combines professional internships with a 12-day retreat in upstate New York.

The set-up was truly some form of hashgacha (Divine Providence).  My internship boss Emily Friedman and her husband Todd both grew up in the same public school system as I, and returned to Judaism in their adulthood.  Their son is a baseball lover.  I grew quite close to the family and am actually going to be spending next Shabbos by them.

I should say my initial interest to grow in my Judaism was motivated by my Rabbis at MEOR.  Last spring, I would learn with Rabbi Eliyahu Greenberg once a week, a chavrusa once a week and would attend a weekly "shteig" (a group shiur on the basics of Judaism, featuring amazing guest speakers), all while competing in collegiate baseball.  Baseball puts logistical limitations on me, so I was excited to really devote time to learning; exactly what I got at Sinai.  Currently, I am on the executive board for both MEOR and Olami JBiz and pride myself on being one of the most active members in the campus community.

Sinai Retreats was truly a life-changing experience.  The students were all roomed with tutors--a diverse set of yeshiva bochurim--whom we learned with daily.  This gave us a holistic social experience of observant Judaism.  Rabbis gave shiurim on marriage/relationships, an intro to Gemara, tefillin/tzitzis/other basics and Chumash.  This helped us gain a sense of what yeshiva is like to and interact with some of the most brilliant minds in the world.  During our Gemara sessions, we would debate and act out each scenario in the Mishna.

We also did tons of fun social activities like cruising around Lake George, going on hikes, playing baseball on erev shabbos, and hooping.  This combination of amazing people and content was an influential experience that pushed me to continue to grow in Judaism.  My growth there culminated with me calling my baseball coach to inform him I was going to start keeping Shabbos.

Baruch Hashem, my coach was very helpful.  After consulting with Rav Teitelbaum at Sinai, we agreed that I should observe Shabbos and still play baseball on Saturdays.  This led to challenges with getting to the field, which is in Staten Island.  I have had to do multiple 5-plus-mile walks, had to leave mid-davening from shul, and pretty much have to figure out a new strategy each week.  Fortunately, I have closer families that have offered to help and am moving to a Shabbos apartment next semester to help with these challenges.  In terms of baseball aspirations, the main dream is to play for Team Israel.  I am also looking at going to YU for grad school and using my last year of NCAA eligibility there, as I will be graduating NYU a year early.

I had a (tentative) Shabbos streak going into Sinai Retreats.  Because the retreat doubled my streak from 2 to 4, I decided I wasn’t going to stop.  Since then, I haven’t thought of using my phone or ripping a piece of toilet paper on Shabbos!  It's now been 17 weeks straight!

Sure.  The second Shabbos I ever experienced was by (one of the most famous philanthropic families in the Jewish world today).  They saw my growth 8 months later, after Sinai Retreats, and they invited me and two friends for Rosh Hashana.  After an amazing Yom Tov, the host said, "You guys have to come out to Israel for the Chag."

He really exposed us to all the beautiful parts of Yiddishkeit in Israel; many rosh yeshivos as well as political figures, learning with other ba'alei teshuva, learning the davening procedures for Sukkos, celebrating Simchas Torah with Machon Shlomo, and of course the amazing kiddush crashing that goes down in Rechavia.  It was an unbelievable time.

After the Trump election, the “activism” has significantly decreased, but there is still some stupid commotion on campus from time to time.  I still don’t feel 100% wearing a kippah around campus, but I have the feeling that the time of improvement is around the corner.  I pray the protestors understand that their actions actually caused them more political harm than good; that they are partially responsible for Trump being elected (sources say the far left drove a significant percentage of moderate voters to the right).  I am glad that all this nonsense is coming to an ironic finish with them looking like fools and having society pretty much reject their ideology, Baruch Hashem!!

START WITH MUSSAR (ethical teachings).  I advocate for this as many kiruv Rabbis push the basics (of mitzvos) onto prospective students.  I would argue that for someone deeply embedded in secular society, first it is crucial to be exposed to practical knowledge that is not contingent on belief.  What this allows is for the student to see the practical value in Jewish teachings and be more open to accept the possibility of Hashem’s existence.  Also, I think it is the clearest-cut way to see the personal development that learning can lead to.