What is your name and grade? My name is Eva Miriam Spiro, and I’m a senior in high school.
What is your connection to Judaism? I grew up conservative Jewish, and that means that I grew up traditional. I keep kosher. I go to synagogue every Shabbos, every Sabbath. I have a Sabbath meal, and I do all the customs. I also went to Hebrew school growing up.
How do you reinforce Judaism in your daily life? Well, I keep kosher and I keep the majority of the traditions. Let’s say there’s a holiday. I go to synagogue. I miss school in order to pray or daven. I keep a connection to God by learning at synagogues, and I also teach Hebrew school in a few synagogues as well.
What is the most challenging thing about being Jewish? For me, what’s challenging at the moment is having is being proud and being proud in public. While I am extremely proud, it’s hard to show that off when it feels as though, especially in certain public places, that the majority of people don’t want me to be proud, and are almost rooting on my downfall, and it’s because of my religion. I feel like that’s just kind of a generational thing that every Jewish person goes through, and I’m feeling it right now.
What is your favorite subject at school and why? Right now, I’m really loving chemistry. I think I really like it, just because of my teacher, Mr. Kretzos, shout out, you are the best. But also I think I really enjoy the way that it’s almost like a recipe that you have to make. You put a little bit of elements here, you put a little element there. You have to figure out how much you used in order to make a product, in order to make a cake. It’s kind of cool, and I really find it to be fun.
What do you plan to pursue in college, and what got you interested in it? I plan to pursue psychology, I think specifically pediatric clinical psychology. I have a real passion for talking to people and for understanding people, and not to mention, I really enjoy working with kids. I think there’s a big problem in the clinical community with misdiagnoses of kids, and I want to support not having misdiagnoses and doing the right thing.
What do you love to do in your free time? I like to sing and play guitar. I like to hang out with my friends. I like to go to the library, and I really love teaching at my Hebrew school.
Can you describe your perfect day from sunrise to sunset in as much detail as possible? Okay, I wake up, and I see the sunrise with my best friends. And then we go to a cafe in Evanston, and we get really bougie matchas or chai teas. Then we get delicious, delicious food, I would get potatoes, because you have to have potatoes and breakfast. So I’d get some potatoes and some eggs. Then we’d go to the Botanical Gardens, and we’d see the butterfly exhibit. Then we walk around. We see the flowers, and then we go, maybe to one of my friends’ houses, and maybe we go swimming, and then we cook our own dinner, and we hang out, we have a sleepover. A chill, nice day.
What is your favorite cuisine? I really like Jewish food, but I also really, really enjoy Japanese food. I really, really love sushi.
What meal could you eat for the rest of your life? I honestly could eat chicken soup with noodles, like every day.
What is a life lesson you wish everyone knew? To have love in your heart, and to spread that love through kindness, and not through hate.
