Ora Heard

Sure!  I've attached a piece from my thesis project, Blue Egrets, 2023 (see below).  It's a print from a photo series about family history and heirlooms.

Thank you!  My mother's grandparents came to New York from Austria-Hungary in the early 1900's, and most of my family was born and raised in NY with strong ties to the Jewish community.  One story: my grandfather Lee, and his father, Max were each individually collecting illegal weapons in 1947-48 to smuggle to Israel, where Max's brother was a soldier, but neither one told the other what he was doing.  Then, one day, Max picked his father's satchel and asked why it was so heavy.  My grandpa tried to play it off as a bunch of books, but the bag was far too heavy to be just books.  That's how they learned that they were both collecting weapons in secret.

My mother ensured my and I grew up in a Jewish home, celebrating all the holidays and attending synagogue each week for most of my childhood.  I also went to Jewish day school from kindergarten through 8th grade, as well as attending Sunday school.

I volunteered to help with our synagogue's Sunday school when I was in high school.  During college, I wasn't near an established Jewish community, so besides celebrating holidays with family, I wasn't very involved.  Since moving to Baltimore in 2023, I have become more involved in the community here, attending Jewish social and learning events for young professionals.

Through my mentor Adina Swiatycki, one of the organizers of Etz Chaim's young Jewish professional's group, which I'm involved with here in Baltimore.

I love learning and was looking for ways to expand my knowledge of Judaism.  So I would have been interested even without the stipend, but I think the stipend is an incentive to stay consistent and continue listening each week.

I've had a great experience with TPF so far.  I look forward to meeting with Adina each week.  I find our talks to be very engaging, thought-provoking and inspiring.  It usually puts me in a positive headspace to start my week and I often find myself thinking about what we discussed throughout the week, connecting it to my daily life.

I like having an assignment each week; listening to a new podcast and then discussing it.  I also like the variety of topics and courses to choose from.  I feel like I'm getting a well-rounded learning experience.

I really enjoyed a talk from Rabbi YY Rubenstein about guilt, and I also like the Contemporary Issues and Jewish Belief and Philosophy topics.

My observance today is more on the lax side; I feel very culturally Jewish, I'm active in my community but not especially observant in my daily life.  I think the Jewish values I was raised with have continued to influence how I approach life, and I think since starting TPF, my connection to my Jewish background has strengthened.

“The Podcast Fellowship has been a valuable support in my continued growth as a young Jewish person looking to connect to my roots.”