“As a kid, I wanted to be a Broadway actress. I was obsessed with musical theatre. I ended up majoring in English, got married before I finished my BA, and graduated with my 1st baby. I was a stay-at-home mom for the next 8 years.
We had hoped to move to Israel, my lifelong dream, but it didn’t happen. I even trained to be a makeup artist, a good field for Americans there. I ended up opening a successful business in Toronto. A woman who worked for Aish with young professionals came to me needing to be made up for headshots. She later called asking if I’d be a leader for a women’s trip to Israel (JWRP, now Momentum). I threw myself into it. I had the opportunity to talk to people about Judaism in a way I never had before. Then NCSY asked me if I’d run similar trips to Israel for parents. I started public speaking even though I wasn’t a speaker yet and I got my current job teaching Judaic Studies at Ulpana (where I went to high school) from the principal who was in the audience. (At my interview, I said, ‘I don’t think you understand, I’m not a teacher. And she said, ‘I don’t think you understand, you are.’) Now I’m in my 7th year teaching high school girls. I don’t fit into a box. I try to be the teacher I wish I had in high school, that person willing to tell me things the way they really are. I’m planting seeds and showing my students how to look at the world through a Jewish lens.
I’ve been divorced for 2 years now. We were married for 23 years & have 5 kids. I’ve learned that people are terrified that if someone in the community gets divorced, then others are going to get divorced too. This will never happen to a couple who has a good relationship. Women in my situation often think about divorce for years. Leaving isn’t simple. The best path forward isn’t always the easiest, but it’s still the best.”
– Rina Deutsch
From the Orthodox Union’s Faces of Orthodoxy archives
