Two of a Kind
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Temple Judea Interns Head to the Big Apple
By Jacqueline Weiss
Emma Aaronson and Joely Bothast are gearing up for the next phase of their cantorial and rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College in New York City, but their journeys began years earlier and much closer to home. Born in Perth, Australia, and raised for much of her childhood in Park City, Utah, Emma saw what clergy life was like firsthand as the daughter of a Rabbi. In 2013, her family relocated to Los Angeles, where her father, Rabbi Joshua M. Aaronson, became Temple Judea’s senior Rabbi.
“I was deeply involved in synagogue life, and I think I saw a unique perspective on the value of a synagogue and the distinct nature of synagogue life,” Emma said. “I think having my dad as a Rabbi and showing me through his work the value of being in a synagogue gave me a lot of opportunities.”
Despite being deeply ingrained in Jewish culture and synagogue life from a young age, it wasn’t initially the career path she saw for herself as she grew up.
“I loved Judaism, and I loved being Jewish,” Emma said. “But in my head, I never put two and two together that you could make a living out of being Jewish — or even have it be a career path, potentially, even though I really looked up to my dad and what he did.”
Outside of school and synagogue life, Emma was enrolled in voice lessons and acting classes. She graduated from UCLA in 2022 with a degree in theater and a minor in Hebrew and Jewish studies. During her time in college, Emma, who is now 25, said she realized early on that a career in theater wasn’t what she wanted to pursue after graduation — it didn’t fulfill her in the same way that being in Jewish spaces did. To find that fulfillment outside of college, she took available opportunities at Temple Judea in Tarzana to hold more responsibility, and she began working there as a cantorial and rabbinical intern under Rabbi Cantor Alison Wissot. “I think my parents knew long before I did that this is what I was going to end up doing,” Emma said, “but they are the kind of parents who don’t want to push anything on me or put any pressure on me to do one thing or another. I think they really wanted to give me the space and freedom to make decisions on my own and just give me all of the resources and opportunities I needed to make those decisions, which I’m so lucky for.” Friends and family were not surprised by her decision. “Essentially, the day that I started, I realized it really was what I wanted to do, and that it just brought me so much more joy than anything else,” she said. “I didn’t look back from there.” In Emma’s role as an intern, she attended weekly clergy meetings, assisted with event planning, attended life cycle services, and taught summer campers and religious school students. “It was a really, really good experience,” Emma said. “And it’s an experience I don’t think every incoming rabbinical and cantorial student has the luxury of having before school, so I felt lucky to have experienced all of that.” Someone else who was supportive of Emma’s journey? Joely Bothast, whose own path to becoming a rabbinical and cantorial student was similar to Emma’s. Joely grew up in Leo Baeck Temple’s congregation until her family moved to Temple Judea when she was 9 years old. Not long after joining Temple Judea, Rabbi Cantor Wissot took notice of Joely singing along during services and asked if she would be interested in joining the cantors-in-training program, which Joely described as a kids-and-teens, choir-type program.
“I realized that my true passion and my true connection to Judaism really lies within the music. I want to educate and help people find their own Judaism, but I want to do it through music.” — Joely Bothast
Joely, 24, sang and participated in Shabbat and High Holiday services for years without thinking it could be a potential career path until she turned 15. There was a cantor’s concert at Temple Judea, where colleagues and friends of Rabbi Cantor Wissot came to sing in a concert at the synagogue. It sparked something in Joely.
“I remember sitting there watching all these cantors having the best time,” Joely recalled. “They all seemed like such good friends. They were doing something they loved, and they were doing it together, and I remember thinking in that moment that maybe this was something I could do.”
After continuing to actively participate at Temple Judea throughout her high school years (and also working at Camp JCA Shalom in the summer), Joely had a choice to make: attend a cantorial preparatory undergrad program, or go to a different university to study something less specific.
“I had to come face-to-face with whether this was something I actually wanted to do, to face the questions of religious life in Judaism,” Joely said. “So at 18 years old, I said this is not what I wanted to do right now.”
Joely attended UC Santa Cruz, where she graduated in 2023 after studying psychology and law. After her graduation, Rabbi Eric Rosenstein at Temple Judea asked her about starting as the education intern, which she agreed to do. Within a few weeks in her new role, Joely came to an understanding.
“I quickly realized that I was in the correct place — I loved working in the synagogue,” Joely said. “It was the place for me, but I was doing the wrong job. I was thrilled to be there, and I loved being an educator, but I wished that I were singing. And I think within three weeks, I immediately knew that I needed to go to cantorial school.”
Joely added: “A lot of those big questions that had scared me four or five years prior, they were still there, but I had four years of undergrad and new skills to be able to think critically about some of these hard questions, and I also came to the realization that in order to go to cantorial school, you should walk into the building with questions, not answers.”
Much like Emma’s friends and family, “everyone in my life knew before I did,” Joely said of her decision to apply to Hebrew Union College. “It was not really a surprise to anyone. I think my parents had been secretly hoping this was the path I was going to take since I was 15 years old and first told them. And when I came back around, it made so much sense to everyone in my life that this was what I was going to do.”
Joely and Emma had already known each other for years through their involvement in the cantors-in-training program at Temple Judea. They became even closer friends during the COVID-19 pandemic and their later internships. Joely said having Emma as a sounding board for so many years, particularly when they decided to go to Hebrew Union College together, was invaluable.
In the summer of 2024, they headed to Jerusalem, where they lived and studied together until May 2025, when they returned home for clergy internship positions at Temple Judea.
Both young women agree that their year away was rigorous but also enriching, between their classes (which included a Hebrew intensive, Israel seminar, introductory cantorial classes, and history and text studies), bonding with their cohort of 14, field trips and other explorations.
“I don’t know that my year would have been the same if I hadn’t been there with Joely,” Emma said. “I think it was such a unique thing to be able to experience that year, and experience all the highs and lows of your first year of school with somebody who you know so well, and who knows you so well. It was incredible.”
Following their year in Jerusalem and summer in Los Angeles, they’re both off again to New York for the next step in their educational journey. Part of their program at Hebrew Union College is a cantor internship placement for the upcoming year, which for Emma will be at Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, New York, and for Joely at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie, Illinois.
“I was a little hesitant at first about choosing a pulpit that was only once a month and that I’d have to fly to,” Joely said. “But the clergy and leadership team at Temple Beth Israel is phenomenal. And I realized if I have to fly three hours out to Skokie once a month to be able to work with and learn from these incredible Jewish professionals, leaders, rabbis and cantors, then so be it. I’ve been working with them all summer in preparation for the year and for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and I’m learning so much already. I just feel so lucky.”
Emma is equally enthusiastic about her placement. “It seems like the warmest community. I feel so excited to meet them all and to be able to work there. The Rabbi there is fabulous and so nice, so I think it’ll be a really wonderful experience.”
Looking ahead, Emma and Joely will be ordained as cantors after four years in New York. They can begin working as cantors while they complete their rabbinic degrees, which will take an additional two years.
“There’s so much you can do that’s rooted in Jewish values, in Jewish text, and in the Jewish perspective on the world, and how we can make the world a better place. I think it sounds sort of cliché to say that, but I think that was something that was always really important to me — how can I help leave the world better than I found it or better than we inherited it? I’d like to be able to try and incorporate that into my career.” — Emma Aaronson
“I think there are a lot of wonderful things you can do with a rabbinical degree or cantorial ordination, but I love synagogue life, so I definitely would like to be doing that,” Emma said of her future plans.
Joely feels similarly, with hopes that her path will eventually lead her back to Los Angeles. “You never know when the jobs are available and where. I also have no idea what my life will look like in six years. But I think that for right now, my dream would be to come back to L.A. to work here and be with my family. That would be the dream.
