For Vanessa Bloom, Jewish Learning Became a Way to Claim Belonging

When Vanessa Bloom enrolled in American Jewish University’s Miller Intro to Judaism course in fall 2024, she wasn’t searching for something new so much as giving structure to something she had been carrying her whole life.

Bloom, 27, grew up in Orange County, California, in a largely secular household. Her mother is Jewish; her father comes from a German Catholic background. Born in southern China and adopted at seven months old, Bloom was raised with Jewish holidays and rituals—but without formal Jewish education.

As an adult, that gap began to matter. Bloom, now a synagogue member at Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin and a full-time history teacher at Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School in Irvine, wanted a deeper understanding of Jewish history, practice, and theology. On the recommendation of Rabbi Adam Greenwald, an Intro to Judaism instructor and spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Israel, she enrolled in AJU’s Miller Intro to Judaism course, taught online at the time by Rabbi John Carrier.

“I never had any formal Jewish education, and I never did any sort of formal learning,” she said. “And so, as an adult, I was like, ‘I should take a class.’”

What stood out immediately was the diversity of the Intro to Judaism cohort, which included someone from the Caribbean, someone from Spain, several East Coasters, and someone from the south – “people from all over,” Bloom said.

“I met people who were curious about Judaism. I met people who were converting. I met people who were coming from all walks of life,” she said. “So, I was like, ‘This is great!’”

For Bloom, the course was as much about community as it was about content.

“My favorite thing about the class was meeting other people who also liked learning a lot about Judaism,” she said. “I thought that was really cool. And I also loved that, because we’re an online cohort, there were people from all over the country—and the world.”

That sense of community resonated deeply with Bloom, who is a leader and organizer with Lunar Collective, a national organization supporting Asian American Jews—“the only organization by and for Asian American Jews!” Through Lunar’s Los Angeles community, Bloom helps create spaces where Jews of Color can explore their identities without feeling the need to justify or explain it.

The Intro course became a meaningful step in Bloom’s own Jewish journey. After completing the class, she chose to formally convert to Judaism through a rabbi in New York, completing the process at the Upper West Side mikvah. “I really enjoyed it,” she said of her mikvah experience. “I wasn’t sure what I was getting into—quite literally.”

Bloom’s commitment to Jewish learning and storytelling extends beyond the classroom. She is also an artist-in-residence with The Braid, a Los Angeles-based Jewish theater organization, and served as a producer for a nationally touring Asian Jewish stage project—titled “What Do I Do with All This Heritage?”—created in partnership with Lunar Collective. The production received widespread attention and affirmed, she says, the hunger for nuanced Jewish stories.

Today, Bloom balances her work as a teacher at a Jewish day school with responsibilities as a community leader with the Lunar Collective. In Los Angeles, she helps plan events such as Lunar’s annual Asian Jewish Passover seder, which blends traditional ritual with culturally inclusive elements and welcomes participants from across the community.

Looking back, Bloom sees AJU’s Intro to Judaism course as a turning point. “It gave me language, grounding, and connection,” she says. “It reminded me that Jewish learning isn’t just about knowledge—it’s about finding yourself within the tradition.”