First Came Jewish Service, Then Came Love

When Tori moved to New York in 2018, she wasn’t looking for love. She was looking for a Jewish community rooted in purpose.

She found that community through Repair the World’s Fellowship. What she didn’t expect was that it would also introduce her to the woman she would one day marry.

Growing up in Miami, Tori celebrated her bat mitzvah but drifted away from Jewish life during her teenage years. In college, she made a conscious decision to reconnect through Hillel, where she became deeply involved as both a student leader and intern. As graduation approached, she remembered her cousin had participated in a year-long Jewish service program in New York through Repair the World. Inspired by his experience, she applied and was accepted.

Like many young adults after college, Tori arrived in a new city searching for purpose, friendship, and a place to belong. Instead of starting over alone, she found herself surrounded by eight other young adults who had all made the same leap. “We were all one year out of college, and everyone was looking for community,” she said. “It was really nice to move to a new city and find a built-in group of friends.”

Tori (center left), Alison (center), and their cohort of Fellows in New York.

Over the course of the year, the group lived, learned, and served together. Week after week, they partnered with local organizations across New York City to address pressing community needs and volunteer at food pantries, legal clinics, and community gardens.

“Repair invited us to be proximate with people who were different from us,” Tori reflected. Through service, the cohort built relationships with neighbors, nonprofit leaders, and one another while becoming deeply rooted in Brooklyn.

“That’s a big part of why many of us still live in Crown Heights. We built a real community here.”

Repair also introduced Tori to a Jewish community unlike any she had experienced growing up. Surrounded by peers from diverse backgrounds and identities, she found a space where she could explore and embrace her own identity for the first time. “I actually didn’t come out until my Fellowship year,” she shared. “I had never been around so many queer people before.”

Alison and Tori completing their First Aid USA Mental Health Certification together.

One of those young adults was Alison, who had also moved across the country from California to join Repair. Throughout the year, the two became close friends. When the Fellowship ended, neither of them was ready to leave behind the friendships they had built. Tori, Alison, and two other Fellows decided to continue living together as roommates.

A year and a half after they first met, their friendship grew into love. “We would not have met if not for Repair,” Tori said.

Nearly eight years after arriving in Brooklyn, Tori is still surrounded by the people she first met through Jewish service. “We have all stayed super close and most of us still live within a mile or two of each other in Brooklyn,” Tori shared.

When Tori and Alison married this June, the community they had first built through Jewish service surrounded them. Two Fellows from their cohort signed their ketubah. Their officiant was a Jewish educator whom they first met through Repair. Cindy Greenberg, who served as Executive Director of Repair the World New York during their Fellowship before becoming Repair’s President and CEO, celebrated alongside them.

Even the ceremony reflected the values that first brought them together. Rather than reciting the traditional

Alison and Tori celebrating their love on their wedding day.

Seven Blessings alone, Tori and Alison invited seven groups of loved ones to write their own blessings inspired by different themes. Their niece and nephews were asked to write about repairing the world, tikkun olam.

“Having the next generation talk about the idea of repairing the world, and having that passed down, felt important to us.”

For Tori and Alison, it was a way to carry the Jewish values that first brought them together through service into the family they hope to build.

Repair remained part of Tori’s life in another unexpected way. During the pandemic, she joined Repair’s staff, where she now helps others build community through Jewish service. This past July marked her sixth anniversary with the organization. She also continues volunteering every other week at CHiPS, a Brooklyn food pantry.

“So many organizations need volunteers in the middle of the workday, and I’m lucky enough to work somewhere that has volunteering at the center of its mission,” Tori said.

“I feel better when I take action instead of wallowing about the world. It’s been a really nice way to continue building community here.”

Tori came to New York looking for Jewish community. Through Jewish service, she found lifelong friendships, a deeper connection to her Jewish identity, and the woman she would marry.

Her story is a reminder that the greatest impact of Jewish service isn’t only the difference we make in our communities. It’s the people, relationships, and sense of belonging we find along the way.