Minyan Makers
We are starting a new project called Minyan Makers. Our goal is to get to know each one of the people who have come to Chabad of Coronado to make our minyan. By getting to know everyone a little better, we feel it will make us an even more special minyan family.
Profile on: Adam Fishman
By: Richard Friedman
Last edited: April 17, 2024
Our first Minyan Maker is Adam Fishman, without whom we would probably not be having our daily minyan.
Adam Meyer Fishman was born in Sacramento, California, thirty one years ago. His family moved to Phoenix, Arizona when he was very young and that’s where he grew up.
He attended Phoenix Hebrew Academy, an Orthodox Jewish Day school through the sixth grade and Madison Meadows, the public middle school, for grades seven and eight. For high school, he attended Brophy, a Jesuit school. Both his father and uncle had attended Brophy, which was known for its high academics and the best lacrosse program. Many Jewish kids attended Brophy, as well as kids from other religious backgrounds. After graduation, he attended Lawrenceville, a boarding school in New Jersey, to additionally prepare him for college and college lacrosse. He attended and graduated from Dartmouth where he also played lacrosse.
He met his wife Allie in Boston. She grew up in South New Jersey and went to college at the University of Georgia. She lived in Augusta for a few years then life brought her to Boston. They were engaged and had a wedding planned for Boston when Covid hit. Everything went remote. They thought it would be three months before things would get back to in-person. Covid turned out to be this extended thing and they ended up in Coronado where his grandparents had a condo. They figured they would stay there until things had passed. After a year and a half, they got spoiled by the beach, the weather, and their relationship with Chabad of Coronado and Rabbi Eli and Zeldi. They were married in Coronado by Rabbi Eli, and ten months later their son Aiden joined the family.
Aiden is now twenty months old, and Allie is pregnant with their second child that is expected in May/June.
In discussing Judaism with Adam, it was interesting to learn that although he grew up attending an Orthodox school and attending Conservative services, he was really not that religious. Even though his family kept Kosher, had Friday night Shabbat dinners and celebrated all the Holidays, he really didn’t feel a connection until after college. Up until that point Judaism was mostly about community and tradition to him.
When he was 18, he went on a Birthright trip to Israel, which was a game-changing event for him. A part of the trip he was really looking forward to was a visit to an Israel Defense Forces base. But they were unable to go due to rocket fire in the area. He couldn’t understand why people were firing rockets at Israel just because they were Jewish. He learned much about Israel and even considered joining the IDF.
In college, his religious activities were confined to Chabad Shabbat dinners, since lacrosse took up most of his Saturdays. Fast forward to him celebrating the High Holidays in Coronado with Allie and his grandparents and getting to meet Rabbi Eli. After they moved to Coronado and decided to get married here, they had their first pre-wedding meeting with Rabbi Eli. They discussed all the traditional parts of the wedding (e.g. the sheva brachot- the seven blessings) and Adam was not too keen on including them in the ceremony. That is when Rabbi asked Adam if he knew the “why” of these traditions. Rabbi’s explanation opened his eyes to many of the “whys” in Judaism, which Adam has since learned from Rabbi Eli and other community members.
Adam started attending services and classes with Rabbi Eli and, in addition to learning more about his Judaism, has developed a deeper appreciation for the connectedness of life.
We started the daily minyan in Coronado when Adam’s brother passed away and he wanted to say Kaddish every day. At first, admittedly, Adam would say it felt like a schedule inconvenience. But then, it became a way to see people to start your day and then there became a meditative aspect of being together and bringing light into the darkness and seeing things from different perspectives.
When Adam was in college he took a personality assessment test to figure out his career path. The term “consultant” came up and upon further investigation he learned that it meant corporate problem solving which interested him very much. Initially, he started a company that was dealing with carbon and climate change. Today, his company deals with creating a new approach to learning, development, leadership and innovation called Gratitude-Based Learning. They work with companies, schools, and individuals to do training, coaching, and consulting.
The achievement he is most proud of is not quitting when things didn’t make sense with his company. There was a time when things were not going well with his climate change company and it looked very dark. Allie asked him a simple question. “Do you have to do it this way?” From that simple question he changed his direction and found a successful alternative path forward that led to the creation of Gratitude-Based Learning.
Moses is the biblical character that inspires him most. The story of Exodus where Moses has an existential awakening and leads the evolution of the Jewish people. It teaches us to break free of whatever enslaves us and not to worry it will be alright.
When asked what three words describe him, he replied weird, earnest, and passionate. He sometimes just gets interested in weird things. But he has learned to embrace his weirdness and make the most of it.
One of his favorite possessions is a bright pink lacrosse stick that belonged to Robby, his best friend in high school. It was given to him when Robby passed away. He remembers in middle school when Robby would use the stick like a light saber and hit it on everyone’s stick, so everyone would have a little pink chip on their lacrosse sticks.
The best decision he ever made was marrying Allie.
The thing that gets him out of bed every day is the excitement of discovery. Whether it’s meeting someone new or connecting on a new idea or concept, or just unearthing something you haven’t experienced before, the opportunities are endless.
When asked, looking back, where he thought he would be at this time in his life, the answer was “not in Coronado.” When thinking about where he wanted to live after college, the two extremes he did not want were New York City or Coronado. New York was just too fast paced and Coronado was too “chill”. Boston seemed like a happy balance (which is why he moved there after college). Yet, here we are and are incredibly happy here in Coronado.
Adam has been to Israel four times. The first time on Birthright when he was 18 and 3 times subsequently as part of the Israeli National lacrosse team.
His favorite Jewish holiday and tradition is Passover. The Seders usually include 15 to 20 people and are led by his grandfather. In recent years the Seders have gotten a little longer with stories and Devar Torah’s influenced by Rabbi Eli.
His favorite Jewish food is grandma’s chicken soup. The memory it brings back is the scar he has on his neck from when he was a baby and the pot of chicken soup spilled on his neck and left a scar. So he has two scars to remind him of his Judaism; his circumcision and his chicken soup scar.
Skills or hobbies that most people wouldn’t know Adam has include lacrosse, ice baths and making up songs. He is able to take facts about people or situations and turn them into songs.
Another thing that most people don’t know about Adam is that he spent two weeks each summer for six years as a counselor at a camp for seriously sick children with cancer and other illnesses called Hole in the Wall. The camp was founded by Paul Newman the actor for seriously sick kids to be able to get away and just be kids. The camp was specially outfitted so that these kids could enjoy all the activities of summer camp. This experience was very special for Adam.
His pet peeve that really annoys his wife is that things need to be in order and organized. Everything has its place.
We hope this has given you a little insight into Adam Fishman and we look forward in future weeks to learning more about other Minyan Makers.
If you’re interested in being profiled, here is more information to help make it happen! We are very open to ideas & feedback 🙂
