We are here as “transplants” to Milwaukee. Neither of us grew up here, yet in five years’ time, Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Jewish community have become home.
Adam grew up in Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago, and Laura in Louisville, Ky. Adam attended the University of Texas at Austin, and Laura attended Indiana University.
After dating long-distance for two years while Adam finished law school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Laura continued teaching in Chicago, we moved to Milwaukee in 2009 to begin our lives together in the same city.
Adam began working as an attorney at Michael Best and Friedrich, and Laura began teaching in the Milwaukee Public Schools. We each knew one friend from college who lived in Milwaukee, but other than that, we had no connection to the Milwaukee Jewish community.
We both come from families with strong Jewish identities, commitments to their respective Jewish communities and to the Jewish world at large. Having a connection to Milwaukee’s Jewish community, our new home, was a priority.
However, we were in our mid-20s, living in the Third Ward, unaffiliated with a synagogue in town, and focused on building our careers, making friends and our upcoming wedding.
We reached out to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, attended a few events, began to donate money, and volunteered on the Latke Vodka Committee.
Over the next four years, however, our involvement and perspective on Milwaukee’s Jewish community dramatically changed. We began to feel that we had an integral part to play in helping to ensure that young Jewish leadership in Milwaukee remained strong.
We met several couples who influenced our view of the thriving young Jewish life here, and we wanted to build upon that. We were asked to become more involved in the MJF by our now good friend, Jordan Herbert.
We were then invited by Mitch Nelles, another dear friend, to join the Weinstein Fellowship, a program of the MJF that develops young leaders for service to the Jewish community.
The Weinstein group connected us to others we had not previously known and gave us a platform for further involvement. We joined the ongoing dialogue to ensure that the community remained relevant to the needs of young Jewish professionals and families.
Through monthly meetings and the trip of a lifetime to Israel (thanks to the Weinstein family), we have befriended similarly-minded people and have collectively taken a more active role in our community.
Now, we live in the suburbs, Laura is a literacy coach at a local elementary school, Adam is still practicing law at Michael Best, and life continues to move forward fast.
We are blessed to have a happy, healthy, and beautiful 12-month-old daughter, Leni. She attends a Jewish pre-school, where she is gaining an early foundation in Jewish values.
We are members of Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid, where Leni had her baby naming, and we are actively involved in the MJF. Laura has joined the Women’s Philanthropy board and Adam is on the board of directors of Milwaukee Jewish Family Services and president of the board of Operation Dream (a nonprofit founded by members of the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center).
We see a bright future here in Milwaukee and plan to stay. We view Milwaukee as a city that is growing and know that our daughter will have strong Jewish roots here.
We encourage other young people to get involved just as we have. We know that everyone is busy, with more obligations than ever and less free time.
However, we are here, and we hope for the future of Jewish Milwaukee, that you will be too.
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