This past summer, a bout of the flu landed me in the hospital. I felt anxious and alone, and then I remembered that a Maharat graduate, one of my students, Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn, was a chaplain in that hospital. I texted her and moments later she appeared at my bedside. I teased her, and said, “So nu, let’s see what you got?” and then watched as she transformed before my eyes. She took my hand, asked permission to pray, and offered both traditional and personal words of blessing. I found myself in tears, receiving exactly the care I didn’t even know how to ask for. My student had become my rabbi.

I have watched my Maharat students teach, officiate weddings, lead funerals, and inspire communities, but I never imagined I would be on the receiving end of one of their rabbinic gifts.

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