Tanya Rasheesa '25 | Jewish Studies Minor
Before attending Loyola Marymount University, Tanya Rasheesa spent most of her life in Indonesia. Experience with multiculturalism always existed in her life, as she was born to an Indonesian mother and an American father. Growing up in a primarily Muslim country, Tanya was in the minority, being raised in the Christian faith. Her interest in the world blossomed with age, and for this reason, she decided to obtain her Bachelor’s degree in the United States.
Tanya’s urge to better understand the world did not cease upon her arrival in the United States. She nourished her aptitude for academia and became a double major. Her majors were English Literature and Classics. More specifically, she had an avid interest in British Literature and loved to study Ancient Greece and Rome, but had little knowledge of the Jewish faith.
During her time with the LMU English Department, Tanya took her first Jewish Studies class. The class counted toward her major in English, and she found it to be one of the most thought-provoking classes she had ever taken. At the helm of this class was Jewish Studies department chair Dr. Holli Levitsky, who would become her most inspirational mentor at LMU.
While taking classes with brilliant professors such as Dr. Holli Levitsky and Rabbi Mark Diamond, Tanya’s interest in the Jewish religion grew. She studied in her free time, and found that although the religion existed outside of her own personal identity, developing her knowledge of the Jewish faith and its history still enriched her on a personal level.
When the opportunity for a Jewish Studies sponsored internship in Crete, Greece, emerged, Tanya could not pass it up. Growing her travel, cultural, and religious experiences was exactly what Tanya desired to do during her time in higher education. She applied for the summer 2024 internship and earned one of the two available spots.
The internship was approximately a month long, and Tanya enjoyed every moment. In fact, she stayed a week longer on her own accord because she wanted more time. Tanya volunteered at Crete’s local synagogue, helping guide and educate tourists who visited the religious building. The first week was the most challenging for her, as she was still learning about the history she was meant to share. However, once she obtained this knowledge, sharing it with others was the most rewarding experience she could have asked for. The job became second nature, and she enjoyed sharing her newfound knowledge with tourists and locals alike. The position contained all of her primary interests and fields of study, primarily history, literature, and religion.
Spotlighting Jewish history and tradition on the island of Crete was the most unique opportunity provided to her during her four years at LMU, and she found the ending to her trip bittersweet.
Upon Tanya’s return from Crete, her mentor, Dr. Levitsky, encouraged her to officially become a Jewish Studies minor. Tanya did not hesitate to seize this opportunity. As a result, she took many more Jewish studies courses. Her favorite of these courses was her independent study with Dr. Levitsky, which focused on Greek Jewish literature. Her research project focused on Jewish authors who hailed from Greece. Once again, she felt that her work with the Jewish studies department touched on all of her academic interests.
Unsurprisingly, she excelled during her time as a Jewish Studies minor. Tanya was on the Dean’s List every semester at LMU, obtaining a 3.99 GPA. She was a Knott fellow with the English department, a member of the Classics honors society, and would go on to receive the coveted Jewish Studies ATOL scholarship during her final semester. When asked about her plans for the future, Tanya said she would love to follow a track similar to Dr. Levitsky, striving for a career in academia.
Tanya would recommend the Jewish Studies minor to anyone, but she would particularly like to encourage people whose identity exists outside of the Jewish faith and culture. She explained that everything learned in her Jewish Studies minor courses deepened her interest and understanding of what she was learning in both of her majors. She continued, saying that her choice to be a Jewish studies minor cemented her tolerance for differences in the world. Moreover, Tanya found that as a
non-Jewish person, learning about a religion outside of one’s own can deepen one’s personal faith.