Alumni Spotlight: An 8 part series with Augusta Niles

Since she was little, Augusta Niles has always been a person who’s hungered to know “the why and the how of the world-- that’s why I went into engineering, to figure out exactly how things work.” That’s also why many years later, the Vermont native landed herself in Jerusalem, for the opportunity to learn at Mayanot. “I grew up with very little religion in my home, and I didn’t know where to turn,” says Augusta, who was in the midst of her conversion process. One day she picked up a copy of Harold Kushner’s classic, “To Life!” and following that, “A Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Judaism.” Before long she was listening to shiurim online, test-driving Shabbat and every week adding more observances and attending services at the Harvard Chabad and Hillel, all the while taking her Master’s degree in engineering and business at MIT. At Chabad, she met two women, both Mayanot alumnae, who told her that Mayanot is a “good place to grow into your Jewish skin.” S