Balancing a demanding career as a lawyer at Ropes & Gray while raising two young daughters — ages 6 and 2 — is challenging enough. Yet Allie Alperovich also serves as co-chair of Darkhei Noam, an independent minyan on the Upper West Side with a large, multigenerational presence, and is an active board member of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance.
Both Darkhei Noam and JOFA represent “progressive Orthodox causes” that are important to her, she says. “I want to make sure the community I live in is one I’m proud of, one that embraces progressive values.” At Darkhei Noam, she helped revamp its children’s services, including creating a children’s siddur that is engaging and aesthetically pleasing yet also reflective of a gender-balanced perspective. She has served as a member of JOFA’s strategic planning committee and helped plan its bi-annual conference, which was held in March 2010.
A former Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel participant, Alperovich helped expand the BYFI Alumni Venture Fund, which provides financial support to innovative projects spearheaded by alumni.
Being “super-committed to volunteer causes” means less time at home with her husband, an emergency room doctor, and her two girls, she says. But it also “builds the idea that giving back to the community is part and parcel of life,” she says.
The common thread of all her volunteer work is her desire to increase inclusion within the Jewish community and promote pluralism.
“It’s wonderful that we have so many accomplished women learning, and that advanced educational opportunities are available,” she says. Still, a lot more needs to be done, she says. “It’s not solely a women’s issue but rather a communal issue — to ensure that our best and brightest are fully engaged in Jewish life.”
Russian-born: Alperovich was born in Russia and moved to the U.S. at age 3. Make me a list: To keep track of all of her commitments, “I make a lot of lists,” she admits. “I have a work list, a home list, a Darkhei Noam list…”
