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Isabel sits down with us one frigid afternoon in Woodley Park at Petit Monde, where we chat about living in small Jewish communities, what season of life we’re in, her experience with a Rosh Chodesh group, finding connection to Sephardic ancestors and traditions, and teaching in Romania!
Samuel: What brought you to the DMV?
Isabel: In 2022 and 2023, I was on a Fulbright grant teaching English in a northeastern village in Romania. I work for the Department of Commerce as an international program specialist on the Middle East / North Africa team. We regularly travel to Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria to do commercial development programs there. So, I moved out here for the job. I was living in NoMA, but we moved to Woodley Park a month ago.
Samuel: What was your Jewish community like in Romania?
Isabel: My primary focus was teaching English, but I did a supplementary research paper on Judaism in the region I was in. So, I got really involved. The Jewish population was about a hundred people, but I traveled out to villages where there were only seven Romanian Jewish people left. I got to tour synagogues that were from hundreds of years ago and now are kind of abandoned, but there were some people doing massive restoration projects. It used to be one of the most populous Jewish regions in Eastern Europe but, obviously, not anymore.
Just how vibrant the community remained was amazing to see, after everything they’ve been through. They clung to traditions – they were still really big on, for example, making sure everyone got matzah on Passover by shipping it in from Israel. They really took care of their community, took care of Holocaust survivors. Sticking to Judaism in the face of so much adversity really stuck out to me.
Samuel: What’s your Jewish community looking like here?
Isabel: Growing up in southern New Mexico, there was a vibrant Jewish community, but there were not a lot of options in terms of observancy or different approaches to Judaism. The amount of different Jewish perspectives in DC has been such a new thing for me; I can go to a modern Orthodox synagogue one week for Shabbat, then a Conservative synagogue the next week, then Reform the next, and I can circle through and see what fits me best.
There’s also so many Jewish programs that are focused around just community, and not so much emphasis on religion. I’m in a Rosh Chodesh group.
Samuel: I was going to ask about that! How did you find it? What has that meant to you?
Isabel: I did Beyond the Tent with GatherDC and met Michaela, who connected me with people in that group. We meet once a month and talk about different themes of the Jewish month within the Hebrew calendar. Elul was about forgiveness. Av was about destruction and rebuilding. That kind of thing. We talk about how that might apply to our lives and how we can go forward. The coolest thing is that everyone is there out of their own genuine interest. There’s no one leading it. There’s no organization. It’s just a group of women getting together to be in community.
Samuel: Where else do you find those themes or discussions popping up in your life?
Isabel: Growing up, we didn’t really have seasons. DC feels really seasonal for me. I feel that I’m getting to honor this ebb and flow of seasons, time, lightness and darkness, cold and warmth, and how a lot of that aligns with the Jewish holidays. A lot of those themes have helped me navigate experiencing seasons for the first time, and allowed me to accept personal seasons in my life of either hibernation or growth.
Samuel: What’s your personal season of life right now?
Isabel: Planting. I’m in late winter or early spring. [Editor’s note: I followed up with Isabel after our initial chat, and…] Between the interview and now my fiancé and I have tied the knot with a civil ceremony! At the time of the interview we were preparing for married life together and are now in a brand new season of being a married couple.
This transition has been so profound and sacred to me, and has brought me so much closer to Jewish practices such as planning a religious ceremony with Rabbi Amalia, going to my first Mikvah immersion, and really honoring Shabbat as a sacred space and time to be present and have intentional time together.
Samuel: Whether it is in New Mexico or Romania or elsewhere, how do you think small Jewish communities can navigate bringing people who might have a wide spectrum of perspectives into one space? What is the community dynamic there?
Isabel: I was raised pretty secularly, but started practicing a lot more in my 20s. The only synagogue that was up and running in my community was a Chabad. That was a really interesting experience, because there were a lot of people who attended regularly but had varying levels of observances. I think in a lot of those communities, you take what you need and leave the rest. In DC, you have the opportunity to find the community that’s more or less “perfect.” I think it’s nice to be exposed to different ideas – but I also really like being able to find groups that are almost exactly like me.
Samuel: Apart from work, what’s kept you in DC?
Isabel: I honestly just love DC. It’s one of my favorite cities I’ve ever lived in. I’m from southern New Mexico, but I’ve lived in Guatemala, Brazil, Romania, and now DC. The culture in DC is different than how I thought it would be. I thought people would be a lot more closed off or competitive, and I’ve been very pleasantly surprised that that’s not really the case. Everyone is really authentic and passionate. There’s so many niches you can find here.
Samuel: What’s something you’re still seeking?
Isabel: Having so many options in DC, you ask: Where do I fit in? What do I actually want? What do I actually like? I’ve never had that opportunity for choice. I’ve never had to reflect on what feels the best for me. And then, I’m Sephardic living in an Ashkenormative world, so I’m figuring out what practices work for me, what’s meaningful, what resonates. It’s very different than just taking the bits and pieces that I can find and integrating those into my life. I’m seeking a level of contentment and stability in my Jewish practice, or maybe the confidence to say: This is how I want to observe.
Samuel: What’s something that you’ve encountered, whether it is through work or travel or family or whatever, that you see as being an essential part of that Sephardic identity?
Isabel: Working in North Africa, seeing the traces of the Sephardic community is really interesting. After the Spanish Inquisition, there was such a widespread diaspora – my family went to the Netherlands, but many went to North Africa, Turkey, and South America. There’s such a variety in terms of what traditions took on based on the regions they went to, but it also feels so familiar across the board. When I go to North Africa and see an old synagogue, I can see that that’s a similar setup to what my ancestors in the Netherlands would have had, even though they’re on opposite sides of the Mediterranean.
Another thing that makes me feel really connected is Ladino music and language. I don’t speak it, but I think it is so beautiful.
Samuel: A few quick ones to end. What’s something you’re bad at?
Isabel: Throwing and catching things. I was a really tall kid, so everyone felt like I would be good at basketball or volleyball…but I was horrible. I just don’t have that perception.
Samuel: What are you feeling proud about?
Isabel: I’m learning balance, coming to DC. I feel proud of myself for taking a step back, taking care of myself, and finding balance in a really hectic city. I used to prioritize things I had to get done, but now I’m trying to prioritize things that are good for me.
Samuel: You’re having Shabbat dinner and have three empty seats. Who are you inviting?
Isabel: The first person would be a Sephardic ancestor from Amsterdam, just to see what that practice is like. What’s similar? What’s different? My favorite thing, living in different countries, is seeing the similarities and differences in Jewish practice. The second person would be the rabbi in Las Cruces, Rabbi Bery. He introduced me to Jewish observance in a way that I’m grateful to have had access to. I learned so much foundational Jewish practice from him. And the third will be my husband – not Jewish, but the best person I know and such a strong supporter of my Jewish practice.
Samuel: Last one. Finish the sentence: When Jews of the DMV gather…
Isabel: There’s authenticity and caring. We hold space for each other.
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