Asella Medina-Smith is working with The Associated’s Young Adult Division as a 2024 ambassador for Camp Nai – a Jewish summer camp experience for adults. Her job? Get other young people as excited about camp as she is!
Becoming A “Jew By Choice”
Asella was studying abroad in the throes of the pandemic, living in London and working on her Masters degree in Musical Theatre. While the majority of her peers moved back home to ride out COVID, she remained in England alone, feeling isolated.
“I was just living in London on my own, and it was very hard obviously, and I was feeling this need for a spiritual connection,” she explains. “So I started reading about Judaism again, which I had been interested in back in high school. I realized I needed some kind of community that no matter what I could have and hold on to.”
After taking some time to process her feelings and talking to a few rabbis, Asella made the decision to convert. “I was like, wow, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for… our theology, our laws, our practices, our traditions — it all felt right for me.”
