Our New Rabbi Intern Jessy Gross
Our new student Rabbi Jessy Gross grew up in Chantilly, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C. Since 1990 her family belonged to Temple Rodef Shalom.
From 1992 2002, Jessy attended URJ's Camp Harlam where she grew from camper to cabin counselor to sports specialist to supervisor and finally to an Associate Director.
For four years, she was very active in a variety
of leadership positions on the local, regional and national level in the NFTY youth movement and continued her involvement with both Camp Harlam and NFTY during her undergraduate work. Jessy received a B.A. from the University of Maryland
in 2002 with a major in History and a minor certificate in Jewish Studies.
Jessy relocated to San Francisco after graduation where she worked for two years at the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. She began
as a Campaign Associate and completed her
time as the Young Leadership Director. Her responsibilities included event planning, Jewish programming and fundraising. Along with her
full-time work in the Federation, she also worked as a part time youth advisor at Peninsula Temple Shalom in Burlingame, California. Her focus was on reviving a dormant Jewish community.
In 2004, Jessy moved back to the Washington, D.C. area to continue working in fundraising and non-profit event planning. After a brief time at the Sierra Club, Jessy returned to work in the Jewish community as the Director of the Hiddur Mitzvah Project, a program designed to combine tzedakah and art created by Judaica artist, Gary Rosenthal. During this time Jessy worked with Jewish communities throughout North America on local community projects.
Jessy is most proud of her work after Hurricane Katrina. She helped organize communities throughout the country to work on Judaica projects that resulted in the donating of over 1,000 driedles and hannukiyot at a Hanukah party in New Orleans. This was the first organized Jewish community event after the hurricane where over 600 members of the New Orleans Jewish community joined together for a "hiddur mitzvah" project. As a follow-up, Jessy worked with Moment Magazine and the New Orleans Jewish community to "help bring the music back to New Orleans. She produced the "1 st International New Orleans Jewish Music Festival" in April 2006.
Jewish life, culture and inter-religious dynamics are Jessy's passions within Judaism. Having just completed the HUC Year-In-Israel program, Jessy hopes to continue to build a relationship with Israel and provide opportunities for others to connect as well. Other hobbies include "the outdoors", writing and being with loved ones but her single biggest passion is music.
Jessy is interested in how people choose to engage with Judaism in a process that draws from tradition but is also creative. She believes in dialogue and questioning as a means to greater understanding of the spiritual journey and what it means to live in the 21 st century.
Jessy is very excited to be continuing her rabbinic studies with a return to the West Coast. She hopes that her time in Spokane will be filled with learning and evolving for every one as an individual and as a community and enjoying all Spokane has to offer in the coming year.
