Hope Chernak
Director of Youth and Informal Education
Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York, NY
In 1983, NFTY reintroduced the NFTY Convention for teenagers to its biennial schedule. In 1999, they added a youth advisors' professional training conference to run concurrently with NFTY Convention.
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As one who started a career in Jewish education as a synagogue youth worker, I am glad to see that younger colleagues can now envision a career in which youth work is not merely a stepping stone to other jobs in Jewish communal service, but a career goal in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion of the Reform movement in your article raises some other questions:
1. Is that ability to view youth work as a lifetime career equally true in all movements?
2. How does youth work compare to formal Jewish education in terms of lifelong earning potential? And if it doesn't, who is ready to do something about it?
3. Linking what you've learned in the Reform movement is great. What does it mean in a growing post-denominational Judaism?
Thanks for a thought-providing piece
Thanks for reading and for your questions...I will respond to 2 of the 3 (great) questions you posted.
ReplyDelete1. Is that ability to view youth work as a lifetime career equally true in all movements?
That is a REALLY good question. I wouldn't even know how to answer it but perhaps when I see my Reform Movement colleagues in a few months we could discuss it.
2. How does youth work compare to formal Jewish education in terms of lifelong earning potential? And if it doesn't, who is ready to do something about it?
Unfortunately, the answer is only yes in larger congregations where they have the resources to provide a comprehensive package for an Informal Jewish educators. I know that only a small group of us feel that we are being compensated appropriately and have worked together to share resources, job descriptions, and packages so that we can continue to grow in that area. Our transparency (to each other) has helped us with our own contract negotiations (I received that advice from an experienced educator that does the same with her cohort!).
I think those of us that plan to stick around should start thinking about how to help or support creating a system to help other informal educators receive lifelong earning potential opportunities. Thank you for bringing that up! Again, I hope that is something I can enlist my colleagues at the URJ's Youth Workers Conference to begin talking about....in a meaningful way.