Letter From the Editor Spring 2015

By Amanda Botfeld

Earlier this quarter, my father and I were talking about my know it, it’s all gonna stop. Suddenly. It’s going to feel like you just jumped off a cliff.”

Obviously, this scared the bejeebers out of me. I was quite nervous. Not just for my own sake, but for the sake of the publication I have invested my college career in, Leviathan. I have served as Editor-in-Chief for two years. Since taking the position, we upped our distribution from 500 copies on-campus to 2,000 copies all over the state of California, as mapped on our back cover. We also now have a weekly news discussion at every Leviathan meeting, recreating the structure into more of a class. How on Earth was I going to leave this behind?

It was hard for me to see the transition as anything other than sending the organization off a cliff.

That transition happened sooner than I expected it to. Suffering from a slew of health issues this quarter, I had to take a lighter role. I could not carry as much weight on my shoulders. Embarrassed and defeated, I had no choice but to step back, hoping others would step in.

They surpassed my every expectation.

Sometimes the strength of an organization is not demonstrated by the talents of its leadership, but by the resilience of its community. Whenever we talk about pressing issues regarding Judaism, such as in this edition’s discussion of LGBTQ recognition in Conservative Judaism (see page 22), we must always remind ourselves of the classic question: Should a leader be one step ahead of the public, crusading for progress, or is a leader’s responsibility to listen to the will of the people?

I do not have an answer. But I have had the privilege of being a part of the Leviathan community, this quarter more than ever allowing the collective to be the driving force. It has both humbled me and filled me with pride. It has been an honor being a part of Leviathan for so many years, and I will forever be grateful to the staff for providing me both a leg-up and a soft landing.

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