by Rachel Rothstein

I left the Cincinnati community in 2006 and for four years, I lived in Oxford, Ohio where I studied anthropology and religion at Miami University. In my first year at Miami, I felt like I was living on the perimeters of the University community. Teasing my foot as I lightly touched the water with the edge of my toe. Sensing the cold skin of that body, I couldn’t garner enough strength to submerge myself within that community in the only way that I was aware of doing so. 

When I entered that community, peering from the periphery like a curious onlooker, I knew that I could not become a part of it under the guise of the person whom I thought I should be upon my impending affiliation with Miami University. I’ll admit that I owned a polo and shopped at J.Crew on occasion, I may have even spent an absurd amount of money on a tortoise shell headband just so I could fit in with my fellow Redhawks while I traipsed along the autumn leaf riddled sidewalks on my way to class, but what I came to learn about community during my four years at Miami University, was that a community is not a stagnant being. It is not something inert, it is not a mass of individuals just there. Rather, a community is something malleable. Not only can it be shaped, but it can also grow. Communities are alive with the individuals who embody them; lending them a pulse, giving them breath, and moving them forward with voices that represent the sentiments of the very people that have shape them.

I discovered this because I eventually found a way to identify as a member of the Miami community without having to portray myself as someone who I was not. I may not have donned a Redhawk jersey at hockey games or worn sorority letters on my sleeves, but I eventually allowed my toe to succumb to the initial shock, and let it sink in so that I could finally immerse myself within that body.

And I believe I emerged, dripping with the moisture of that experience, ready and excited to submerge myself in another community. 

I moved back to Cincinnati because within the borders of this Queen City, I knew there was an infinite amount of opportunities for me to explore. 
 

Growing up here, I never realized how awesome of a city Cincinnati really was. I took for granted the Jewish community of which I was a part before departing for Oxford, and once I had lived there for a year, I became cognizant of the longing I felt for the strong Jewish community that I had left behind.  As I moved back to Cincinnati, I was excited to become a part of that community once again. I was excited to have a role in initiatives of The Mayerson Foundation like Access, Shalom Family and Fusion where I am currently employed. The Jewish community that this organization has fostered in terms of programming and development was one of the major reasons why I moved back to Cincinnati.

I witnessed secondhand the results of giving to the young, Jewish community of Cincinnati through the examples of my brothers, Adam and Josh Rothstein. I saw how their involvement in that growing community of young, Jewish individuals, whether through kickball leagues or volunteering together on Christmas day, moved them to take the initiative themselves and begin their own community building efforts. After witnessing the growth of this group of Jewish young adults, who used the resources provided to them by an older generation of philanthropic individuals, I decided that I no longer wanted to be a bystander. I would not tease myself with the sensation of the edge of that body against the skin of my toe; rather I would dunk myself in. Knowing what I had learned during my four years at Miami, I was not going to wait idly, watching the seas of change move in front and around me as I stood by. I decided to take the plunge.

I don’t know how to classify my vantage point now that I am no longer an observer, but a member. From my point of view, I can see how our community has been strengthened by both the organizations and the individuals that make up our community. Each has lent resources and voice to one another as they work in tandem; a symbiotic relationship where both benefit from each other. The difference is, I am no longer merely a witness, I have allowed my senses to be seized by the infinite amount of possibilities that now surround me. I am ready to do my part for this community.