Like many Jews, Meg Siritzky lives an adult life that is guided by Jewish values and traditions. Unlike many Jews, this appreciation started well before this senior manager of research and analysis at the Jewish Federations of North America reached mature adulthood.
“I was extremely obsessed with Hebrew school,” she said. “I had perfect attendance because I actually wanted to go. Jewish learning has always been really compelling to me and when I was a kid I felt like I didn’t have access to the depth of Jewish learning that I was interested in.”
Siritzky’s focus never wavered in the time that it took the all-star Hebrew school student to grow into a whip-smart professional. After attending NFTY events, singing with the cantor at services, joining a Jewish acapella group and participating in a handful of other notable Jewish activities as a youth, Siritzky found her perfect role with the Jewish Federations of North America.
“The Federation is such a broad umbrella and it really tries to understand what it is that Jews across the country in all different-size communities are looking for, in a nonjudgmental way,” she said. “The projects I work on, I am super passionate about. I get to look at what Jews in small communities want, what LGBTQ+ Jews are looking for, what financially vulnerable Jews need.”
This appreciation comes in part from her own upbringing. Growing up in Maryland, near Washington, D.C., Siritzky was raised in a Reform household, but was close with her Orthodox aunt and uncle.
“I had some really interesting dual influences,” she said.
Siritzky came to the Commonwealth largely because her husband is a fourth-generation Philly native.
“I think the biggest difference in Philly that I noticed is that it is more hamish. I grew up in Washington, D.C., which is very ‘see and be seen,’ and about big names, and it’s more of a transient area,” she said. “I was shocked when I came to Philly. We would run into people everywhere; my husband runs into people he was in preschool with. It’s such a close community.”
She said that the close-knit nature of the Philadelphia Jewish community is exemplified by a group she and her husband joined recently. Someone that the couple knows asked them to join a group of locals that spend some nights learning Yiddish.
“They were like, ‘We are going to sit and sing Yiddish songs together; do you want to come?’” she said. “We [went], and it was beautiful.”
Siritzky views Judaism largely through the lens of the people that comprise it because of her background. Apart from studying Judaism, she focused on psychology in school — but even that took on a Jewish point of view for Siritzky.
“I recently got my Ph.D. in psychology and my area of study was political violence, and a really strong motivation for me in that space was research on antisemitism and understanding genocide and obviously it felt very tied into my Jewish identity,” she said.
“But I felt that while I could keep focusing on the dark side of what it means to be a Jew in today’s world [as a professional], I was really compelled to focus on what the Federation focuses on, which is building flourishing Jewish communities, whether that’s in Philadelphia or Missoula, Montana.”
Siritzky said that one key aspect of her outlook on Judaism was forged by two trips that were completely separate but similar in nature.
During a gap year after high school, Siritzky traveled to Jewish communities around the world with an organization that focuses on the Jewish diaspora outside the context of the Holocaust. Instead of just seeing Jewish towns in Poland and Germany, Siritzky visited Jews in Morocco, Turkey and India.
Then, in college, she and the aforementioned Jewish acapella group she was a part of embarked on a similar journey with a bit more of an interfaith bent, traveling to Chile.
The intersection of Judaism, social justice, international relations and cultural studies fascinated Siritzky.
“I was like, ‘I can’t ignore this focus,’ because it really consumes me and that is what drove my Ph.D. studies,” she said.
Now, Jewish joy — in whatever form that may come — is Siritzky’s focus. And that’s just how she likes it, especially in a place like Philadelphia.
“When I first came here I didn’t understand it, but now I am so fond of it. I get it,” she said. “To see a community through so many generations keep coming back, I really cherish it.”
