Germany’s first Jewish religious school for women opened its doors in Frankfurt am Main in 2001. The majority of the students at the residential college, which is funded by the <em>Ronald S. Lauder Foundation</em> are young women from the former Soviet Union. Those “returnees” to religion experience an enormous process of religious transformation during their studies, which does not end when they leave the school. Some of these women have since raised families and moved to Israel. The article discusses the personal progress of two of the former students in both countries and uses ethnographic analysis to examine how the adopted religious system of norms continues to shape their Jewish self-image and everyday life.