Council of American Jewish Museums

Rachel Harvith Oral History Interview

Rachel Edwards Harvith is Director of the Arts, Media, and Communications Career Community Center for Careers, Life, and Service at Grinnell College. In this interview she shares information about her family, her Jewish history, and the various paths that brought her back to Grinnell, Iowa. She articulately describes how the Covid situation was handled early on and what has developed since then both at the university and within her life. She shares personal stories about her pregnancy, parenting of her son, striving to stay healthy both physically and mentally. She says that it is hard being a Jew in Grinnell as any synagogue is over an hour away and that Covid precautions prevented some important family gatherings concerning her newborn son. She speaks of antisemitism and the overall lack of awareness from most Iowans. Rachel gives examples of how she maintains her Jewish traditions and values. She is currently on the rabbi search committee for Charverim, the college's student Jewish organization.

1:07:00

Rachel Edwards Harvith

Susan Jellinger

MPEG-4

Oberlin OH

Grinnell IA

Family Life

Grinnell University

Syracus NY

Covid-19

Education

Jewish Holidays

Skokie IL

Family History

Interfaith Marriage

Parenting

Vaccinations

Theather Directing

Antisemistism

Herrick Chapel

Hitler Gang

Chicago IL

PJ Library

Facebook Posts

Capitol Insurrection

Pregnancy

Michael Williams

Tic-Toc Video

Kellogg IA

Camp Auschwitz T-shirt

Black Lives Matter

TheirStory

Iowa Jewish Historical Society

Harvith_Rachel.mp4

12/8/21