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Profile:
JEREMY BRUCE, Straus Rabbinical Student
I have now spent over four years in total at Yeshivat Hamivtar-Orot Lev, and am now part of the Straus Rabbinical Kollel. Looking back, it never ceases to amaze me that I came to Yeshiva at all. My journey to a more religious lifestyle began when I joined Hasmonean High School in London, England. There, from age 11, I began to experience a side of Judaism that I was unaware of up till then. Although this may sound cliched it was the warm emotional experience of Shabbat that I found on the school Shabbatonim that caused a change in my attitude towards Judaism. By the time I was 18 I felt an emotional urge to find out more. A year off at Yeshiva was suggested and to my great surprise my parents were amenable to the idea, with one clear proviso - only one year! I agreed and with that my local community Rabbi suggested Yeshivat Hamivtar-Orot Lev in Efrat. Since at that time I had little idea even what a Yeshiva was, I went along with his choice. It quickly became clear that my Rabbi's choice was a good one. The programme at Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev proved to be the most demanding I had ever encountered but after a few months I found myself making steady progress. The end of the year came too soon but I nevertheless had to return to University. I left Yeshiva and Israel with much sadness but before I left I made some important life decisions. After much thought it became clear to me that I was not suited to the world of business, law or medicine and the Rabbinate somehow had a certain appeal. Of course that would mean returning to Yeshiva after University. I attended the University of Leeds in the north of England where I studied International History and Politics. I became very involved in Jewish student activism through my local Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students (UJS). During my three years as a student I was able to use the knowledge that I gained at yeshiva to teach other students about Judaism. After I completed my degree I took up a full time Sabbatical position as Education Director of UJS. In this capacity I organised conferences, gave shiurim and edited a fortnightly education pamphlet. The highlight of my year, however, was the production and publication of the UJS Pesach Haggadah. My year at UJS ended in style with the celebration of my wedding to Joanna. We had met in Leeds and succeeded in surviving a 15 month engagement whilst I worked for UJS. I am eternally grateful for her patience! A month after our wedding we returned to Blechner College, and I began to study for semicha at Straus. During the past few years whilst I have been at the Yeshiva Joanna has also been engaged in a long term process of Jewish Study. She has spent one year at Shearim in Har Nof under the inspiring guidance of Rebbetzin Holly Pavlov, after which she moved on to Matan where she spent two years studying Tanach , Gemora and Halacha. From the beginning of this year she has enrolled in a Masters programme in Jewish Education at the Melton Centre of Hebrew University. Amongst all of this we have somehow found time to have a beautiful daughter named Adina who is now just over fourteen months. As for the future – well, we are planning to return to Britain when we have both completed our programmes of study. We hope to be employed in a pulpit position somewhere in the Anglo - Jewish community. I say we, since it is clear to us that any position in a community in the Diaspora must be a joint effort between husband and wife. We look forward to returning to the Diaspora to share our joint knowledge as a dynamic team. Missed a Profile? See Previous Profiles Return to Ohr Torah Stone Home Page
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