{"id":1537,"date":"2025-06-14T18:14:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T22:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/?page_id=1537"},"modified":"2025-06-14T18:14:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T22:14:56","slug":"rebecca-schilling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/rebecca-schilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Schilling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1366\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1647\" style=\"width:331px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/RebeccaSchilling-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1366px) 100vw, 1366px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the narrator: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rebecca Schilling is a Jewish woman originally from Sebastopol, California, who later moved to Portland, Maine. Raised in a Jewish household, she was deeply influenced by music in her community\u2019s religious practices. As part of her continued engagement with Jewish traditions in Maine, Schilling observed the mikvah ritual alongside a friend who was in her final trimester of pregnancy, and one who immersed due to infertility struggles. Her experiences reflect the evolving role of Jewish rituals, the significance of community, and the variations in Jewish identity across different locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this excerpt from her interview with Jennifer Lin on January 19, 2025 at her house in Portland, Maine, Schilling talks about the importance of actively showing up for Jewish traditions to preserve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/files\/2025\/04\/SCHILLING_EXCERPT.wav\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transcript:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I think the importance beyond the ritual and the actual doing of it, is the importance of participating in Jewish cultural traditions and rituals as a way to help sustain and preserve them for future generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s a huge part of being Jewish is &#8211; it&#8217;s very easy not to be Jewish. It would be even easier not to be Jewish. And to be Jewish is to actively choose to show up and to be Jewish. And there is a lot of pain and adversity in being Jewish. And there is a strong tradition of showing up, basically. And so, showing up for traditions like this, for resources like this, and showing that there is an interest and a need for these sorts of resources, I think, is very important.&#8221; &#8211; Rebecca Schilling<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Rebecca Schilling&#8217;s full oral history interview is available through Colby&#8217;s Special Collections &amp; Archives.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the interviewer: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Lin is a freshman at Colby College, majoring in Economics. An 18-year-old Asian woman from New York City, and coming from a background where many Asian traditions are fading, she found a personal connection with Schilling&#8217;s perspective on preserving cultural and religious customs, which deepened her appreciation for the importance of maintaining traditions in changing communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After learning about the mikvah ritual, Lin came to understand that &#8220;it&#8217;s not something that is supposed to magically help you get rid of all of your problems, but rather, it allows for you to just be in a space where you can feel that there are people that care about you and to be able to feel an oceanic connection to the water,&#8221; she reflected. &#8220;It represents renewal and a new beginning for all. It allows people to leave behind thoughts and feelings that they can&#8217;t otherwise, and come out refreshed.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About the narrator: Rebecca Schilling is a Jewish woman originally from Sebastopol, California, who later moved to Portland, Maine. Raised in a Jewish household, she was deeply influenced by music in her community\u2019s religious practices. As part of her continued engagement with Jewish traditions in Maine, Schilling observed the mikvah ritual alongside a friend who&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18487,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1652,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1537\/revisions\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/jewsinmaine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}