Rabbi Jennifer Marx Asch
The Exeter community is grateful for Dunbar Hall dorm head Rabbi Jennifer Marx Asch, who serves as a beloved resident mother figure. Whether you find her performing religious ceremonies, walking her two adorable dogs or spending time with her Dunbar girls, Rabbi Marx Asch has made her mark on campus. Her kindness and compassion for others is much appreciated by the Exeter Jewish Community (EJC), for which she serves as faculty advisor, and the religion department. She heartens others to pursue their goals while practicing self-care. A passionate feminist and vocal leader, Marx Asch is a role model to many students on campus.
Marx Asch grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts with a strong familiarity with her Jewish identity, because her family embraced its Jewish heritage. Marx Asch’s mother is a descendant of Russian immigrants who arrived out of Ellis Island and moved to the Lower East Side of New York City and her father came from a family of Holocaust escapees. However, Marx Asch refers to her upbringing as a “hybrid mix” of American and Jewish cultures. “[My father] was the kind of person I would watch Woody Allen movies with. He loved bagels and lox. My mom was the one we would go to synagogue with,” she said.
When the family moved to Lexington, they had to leave the orthodox synagogue and switch to the reform synagogue. “As an orthodox woman, she was taught how to do things, but not allowed to do anything,” Marx Asch reflected about her mother. She described her mother as being shocked when she saw for the first time men and women sitting together at worship and playing guitar. “She always said that having her daughter become a Rabbi was the best revenge for her upbringing,” Marx Asch said.
Marx Asch was further inspired to pursue a career in congregation when she met a female Rabbi, Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, for the first time in Washington D.C. “She just really impressed me… She is just a powerhouse,” Marx Asch said. Interning under Landsberg, Marx Asch worked on several women’s issues, such as reproductive rights, women’s health and the Family Medical Leave Act. “I realized that this idea that I wanted to save the world had a lot of Jewish ethics and values behind it,” Marx Asch said, explaining Landsberg’s influence on her. In addition, Marx Asch revealed that growing up, there were very few female Jewish role models to look up to and learn from, making Landsberg all the more revolutionary. “I liked the idea of trying to fit Judaism and feminism together because they weren’t fitting together so neatly,” she said. “I liked the idea of trying to evolve Judaism in a way that would make it more open for women to be valued and seen as equal.”
Once Marx Asch made the decision to pursue being a religious leader, she was faced with the same struggles she strove to fight. At her first congregation in Dayton, Ohio, at one of the oldest Reform Judaism synagogues in America, Marx Asch became the first female Rabbi ever to serve. “It was a lot of new things for the congregation to learn how to accommodate,” she said. Marx Asch explained her struggle to obtain maternity leave when she became pregnant with her first child. The other leaders in the community expected her to prepare to lead services for the upcoming Jewish high holidays and still be present during her time off. “It was a bit frustrating,” she said.
Despite these challenges, Marx Asch remained rooted to her mission. On campus, students witness her commitment each day. She works on the Discipline Committee and the newer review committee where she looks at questions about how our discipline process works. “I actually loved being on the discipline committee,” Marx Asch said. “That question of helping people understand why someone does something, what the impact is and how it affects other people is very Jewish to me.” She explained that in Judaism, there is the belief that nobody is really broken and people can always go back and fix their mistakes. “Even the word for ‘sin’ in Hebrew means to ‘miss the target’, rather than implying that you are a bad person.” Marx Asch explained.
The Dunbar Hall community also benefits from Marx Asch’s compassion.“My goal was to make people feel like this was a big family,” she said. Marx Asch explained that her own family has an “open door policy,” and that is exactly what she wanted to embody in Dunbar when she became dorm head. “We love to have kids come to our house, we love to feed people,” Marx Asch said. When she is on duty, Marx Asch leads people to her living room and starts a fire, fostering an environment for studying and warming up from the cold weather or simply hanging out.
Rabbi has formed close relationships with both faculty and students on campus. In her free time, she socializes with her colleagues. “Our friendship grew after [our trip to Israel] and now our spouses are also close—when the four of us get together, we laugh. Rabbi has the gift of finding humor in most situations,” says Joanne Lembo, “Rabbi helps me be my best self.”
Reverend Heidi agreed. “Rabbi makes me strive in all things to be my best self and listen to my inner voice. She inspires that in others. She can also always, always make me laugh with her wicked sense of humor.”
Marx Asch’s students love her for her caring personality. She has been known to help others with their mental and physical health by taking the time to fully understand the lives of her students. “She acts in a very motherly way with those students who have formed closer relationships with her, and is constantly checking in on each of us, etc. In essence, she has been an integral part of my support system on this campus,” says senior Theodore Jaffrey, head of EJC.
The benevolence for students which Rabbi displays most likely comes from time spent with her own children. “My favorite qualities of Rabbi is her ability to make anyone feel at home in any situation and her awareness of herself and others. Rabbi is different from others because she won’t hesitate to give advice or tell it like it is. She is always looking for a way to help you be the best version of yourself that you can be,” says prep Abby Marx Asch, Rabbi’s daughter. Whether related by blood or bond, Rabbi spreads positivity through everyone she meets and does everything in her power to bring joy into their lives.