Leonie Taylor hails from Hull, England, a “small fishing town” that had a “fairly vibrant Litvish community.” She moved to Leeds when she was young, and went to a Jewish primary (elementary) school. After graduating from Leeds Girls High School, she decided to make her gap year something special:  she left for Israel.  She received madricha training, taught English in Israeli primary schools and worked in a kibbutz kitchen near Eilat while learning to dowse – a valuable skill in the desert!  She finished off her experience with a final month volunteering in the Israeli army.  Leonie returned to England to study History of Modern Art at Manchester University, while also joining the Officer Training Corps of the British Territorial Army (OTC).

In the OTC, Leonie worked hard and she played hard, including taking weapons training and joining the shooting team. There were several weekends spent crawling through mud in the cold, wet English countryside.  Not your typical She’arim background!

After she finished her degree, she realized her dream of working in an art gallery and promptly learned she didn’t want to work in an art gallery, so she worked in retail in Leeds for a few years. Leonie went to London, and she put her people skills to work organizing public relations events and marketing corporate furniture design companies, building relationships with architects and designers.   She worked (or “shmoozed” as she puts it) for several years and eventually quit her job for some time out. She chose to come back to Israel, once again.

Leonie hadn’t dreamed of going to seminary before she went with Aish on a trip to South Africa; for her it was “a cheap way of going on a safari.” However, the program interested her enough that she began getting involved in Aish while in London, learning Torah, and meeting like-minded Jews. At that point, she began committing to some halacha. “I never had the big bang, [nor a] flash of light,” she says. Everything was taken on step by step. She went on another Aish trip, but this time to Israel. She got her taste for seminary by going to Neve for three days, and was hooked. At the time it wasn’t practical for her to stay longer, but she knew she wanted to come back for at least a month, and soon.

By the time she was able to go to seminary for an extended period of time, she knew she wanted to focus on in-depth textual studies, and at a friend’s suggestion, tried She’arim. From the minute she walked through our doors, Leonie was at home. “I never felt so welcome and included as I have at She’arim.” Leonie admits, “Israel is amazing but intense. You need grounding, and She’arim provides that.”

Like many She’arim students, Leonie intended to go home after a short three month break, but within her first week she knew she was going to be here longer.  So, eight months later, she finds herself still at She’arim.  During her stay, she has broken her teeth on text; made many new friends; and has made good use of the dorm kitchens to bake for people who weren’t well, for Festivals, Shabbatons, and even for engagements.  She’s come a long way from crawling through the mud in the OTC!

She’arim benefited from Leonie’s particular talents in her direction of our annual Purim shpiel which combined a wicked sense of humor with a high degree of professionalism. She satirized the Brits, Americans, Rabbis and Rebbetzins, students and staff with a profound blend of love and insight. Bringing out the myriad capabilities of her performers and bringing Purim joy to her audience. Leonie became a role model of serving Hashem with one’s individual strengths and talents.

Before her stay at She’arim, Leonie had an indifferent attitude towards G-d’s existence: “Of course I believe in G-d” was her approach.  Now, she says, “She’arim has helped me to concretize my beliefs; to accept Hashem as the Creator and to place Him at the center of my life.  Everything else is built on this – without it I had weak foundations so there was always risk of collapse.”

As time has passed, Leonie has used the unique environment at She’arim to “centralize Torah” while remaining herself.  Her interests have stayed the same, as her professionally executed role as director over the annual Purim shpiel proves, but as Leonie asserts, “She’arim has changed how I deal with people and the world.” She is not leaving yet, but she knows that when she does it will be with a new perspective. As for now, Leonie says, “I am happier than I have ever been, not because things are easy, but because they are right.”