Penina Satlow

Hey there! I’m Penina Satlow, from Providence, Rhode Island, and this year I will be a mentor and advisor for jGirls+ magazine. I am currently on a gap year studying and volunteering in Israel, at Mechinat Beit Yisrael in Jerusalem. I graduated from Classical High School, a public school in Providence. Throughout high school I was involved in theater, played varsity field hockey, and sang with HaZamir, the International Jewish High School choir, among other things. I love to read, especially on Shabbat afternoons. Throughout high school, I have been involved with three different synagogues and youth groups that affiliate with three different denominations: Modern Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform, and I have been equally comfortable and uncomfortable at all of them for different reasons. I am a Jew who is committed to some form of traditional practice and Jewish community, but like many I am still figuring out what that means and how I want to define myself, if I want to define myself at all. This is a journey that I’m sure I will be in throughout my life, and I know it will take me many new and unexpected places. I applied to the jGirls+ editorial board because it combines two of my favorite things: constructive literary circles and pluralistic Jewish spaces. I absolutely loved being on the editorial board last year, and I knew I would have to continue my involvement in any way I could.