Oral History interview with Rabbi Sarah Brammer Shlay, campus chaplain of Grinnell College, Iowa. She is an alum of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was one of Emet’s classmates and comrades at If Not Now Philly. Rabbi Sarah Brammer Shlay is a co-founder of If Not Now.
Rabbi Zusha was a classmate of Emet at Reconstructing Judaism, and he was the rabbinic intern at Drexel University at the time Emet was in hospice. Zusha was ordained in 2020 and is a therapist and hospital chaplain based in Chicago.
Rabbi Annie Lewis is the director of admissions at the Jewish Theological Seminary. At the time Emet was in hospice, Rabbi Annie was the director of rabbinic formation at Reconstructing Judaism, and her husband, Rabbi Yosef Goldman, was the rabbi at Temple Beth Zion Beth Israel, so they lived only a block away from where Emet was in hospice. They visited often and were a consistent source of support. Rabbi Annie met Joan through Emet, and Joan later cared for Rabbi Annie’s children.
Rabbi Adam Cerino Jones was a classmate of Emet at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He is the rabbi of the Jewish congregation of New Paltz, New York.