Sometimes being a father to teenage daughters is very similar to driving an Uber:

They want it to be automatic and easy. For example, when they ask me to drop them off at the mall, I try not to ask too many questions. I know exactly where their favorite location is to be dropped off. I’m not allowed to talk or say anything when their friends are in the car because that’s embarrassing, and in general I've come to realize they don’t really want to hear my opinions about everything. Even a G-d bless you to a sneeze just elicits a scowl, accompanied by a quick and mumbled thank you. Despite some classic teenage angst, I’m happy to help our girls get wherever they need to go. At times, it seems like kids today just need you to be there, nothing more. Hopefully they will tap into what I have to give them years later, but for now I'm just driving Uber for them, just trying to be there for them during the tough teenage years.  

Growing up Jewish in the US has been relatively simple: when you want to connect to Jewish community, it’s available and waiting for you. It’s there when you want/need it and it’s automatic and easy for most to plug into. Finding Jewish people these days is super easy and automatic, whether they’re in school, synagogue, or meeting friends locally. Young professionals and graduate students today can connect with other Jews through Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or even JSwipe.

When you are an undergraduate student there are many amazing options for a student to connect to. But when I walked onto a grad school campus in North America 12 years ago, things were different. The Jewish grad community was fragmented, underfunded and underdeveloped and it was difficult finding Jewish community and connecting. It just wasn’t automatic and there for you when you needed it. Not only that, but I had people telling me the community was actually already there when I knew it really wasn’t.

Our answer was to create a Jewish non profit whose sole purpose is Jewish grad students and we have spent the last 12 years building a community just for them. Now, when someone wants to connect to the Jewish community while attending grad school, JGSI is there for them.

The Torah says: “All of the Jewish people are connected, guarantors for each other.” Judaism lives on in our traditions and the community that sustains it. I'm proud to say there is now an “Uber” for grad students to connect to, we are there for them when they need us, so our traditions can continue to be sustained.