Senior Jewish Educator at UC Berkeley Hillel
Senior Jewish Educator - UC Berkeley Hillel
At Berkeley Hillel, we’re looking for an innovative, creative, dynamic team player who thrives in informal educational environments. Someone who has deep rootedness in Jewish tradition, while at the same time is creative in offering compelling and creative ways for Jewish students to engage in tradition. The Senior Jewish Educator at Berkeley Hillel will need to work within a pluralistic framework that supports both traditional and innovative practices of Judaism. They will provide a nurturing environment for students to grow religiously, socially, and ethically, in community with other Jews, with respect for other faiths, and with a broad understanding of what it means to be Jewish.
You’re great at:
- Sharing your deep well of Jewish knowledge in relevant and meaningful ways with many different types of students.
- Inspiring college students to engage and learn deeply, and help create opportunities to express their Jewish identity.
- Working with students to find ways to celebrate Shabbat and the totality of the Jewish calendar.
- Community organizing to create a variety of ways for students to gather and engage with Jewish tradition.
- Building one-on-one relationships with people and then helping them connect with what they’re passionate about.
The right Senior Jewish Educator will possess the following key attributes:
- Knowledgeable - The Senior Jewish Educator will be highly educated in areas of traditional Jewish content. These could range from traditional Jewish texts and tradition, prayer and the Jewish calendar, Zionism, contemporary Jewish culture, and Jewish social and political activism, thus providing the educator with a reservoir of knowledge to share with students.
- A Strategic Community Organizer - The Senior Jewish Educator will think strategically about how to reach and impact students not involved in the traditional networks, and will utilize methodologies of community organizing in order to manage and strategize for success.
- An Informal Educator - The Senior Jewish Educator will be experienced with the theory and practice of informal education and will use that knowledge to model and teach others, particularly the Hillel professionals on our campus, how to create the most effective opportunities for meaningful Jewish experiences.
- A Relationship Builder - The Senior Jewish Educator will be capable of building rapport and developing meaningful relationships with a diverse, broad base of students.
- A Pastoral Counselor - Talking one-on-one with students about the challenges in their lives, and giving them ways to understand those challenges in a Jewish framework.
As the Senior Jewish Educator, a typical day may include:
- Coffee meetings with a few students you met at Shabbat
- Working with a few fraternity brothers or residents of a co-op on a unique and creative approach to Shabbat to be held in their houses
- Teaching one of several Jewish learning fellowships
- Meeting with a few students for one-on-one chavruta learning about the weekly parsha or other text
- Meeting with students to help organize a learning circle with their peers
- Brainstorming with staff and students on how to create a pluralistic Shabbat experience on Friday nights
What you’ll own and how you’ll grow:
- Student Fellowships -The Senior Jewish Educator will work along with other staff members in teaching and managing different student fellowships of students with diverse backgrounds who utilize their own social networks to build relationships with their peers and connect them to Jewish life. Together, these fellowships have the potential to engage hundreds of Jewish students each year and over time
- Jewish Holiday Celebrations - The Senior Jewish Educator will work closely with the staff and student leaders in creating and developing innovative ways to celebrate Jewish holidays throughout the calendar year
- Programmatic Involvement - The Senior Jewish Educator will supervise several students as well as work to add Jewish depth and content to already existing networks and groups in the UC Berkeley Jewish community
- Individual student connections - The Senior Jewish Educator will be responsible for building relationships with 20-40 Jewish students who are uninvolved in Jewish life on campus. This will include meeting students one-on-one, teaching in small groups and staffing immersive experiences, and developing new and creative Jewish initiatives
- Jewish Content - The Senior Jewish Educator is encouraged to bring their whole self and unique set of skills to enhance key areas of the Jewish community at Cal and at Berkeley Hillel. Some of these may include a traditional or creative approach to High Holidays or Shabbat, or mentoring students to understand and learn about traditional prayer experiences. They will be dedicated to meeting students, staffing immersive experiences, and facilitating and teaching learning opportunities. To build on these experiences, they will work as an integral part of the Berkeley Hillel staff.
- Staff Education - The Senior Jewish Educator will serve as the key educational resource for Hillel student leaders and professionals on campus, helping to mentor and enrich their Jewish journeys and ability to facilitate new Jewish opportunities for students. They will be responsible for working with Staff on their own initiatives as well as organizing weekly staff learning.
What you’ll bring to the job:
- A deep knowledge of traditional texts, learning, and holiday celebrations, along with Rabbinic ordination, is highly encouraged.
- 3-5 years of professional work experience is expected, as is experience with young adults.
- Experience as a volunteer or professional in a Jewish organization is a plus, as is community organizing, informal education, summer camp, or other types of direct customer relations work.
- You’ll have a team-oriented approach to work, a strong work ethic, proven experience thinking and acting strategically to reach goals, a sense of humor, and an ability to take risks and learn from situations when things don’t turn out the way you thought they would.
- A personal commitment to embodying Jewish tradition and modeling for students a life rooted in Jewish practice.
- A commitment to creating a pluralistic expression of Judaism and Jewish practice throughout the diversity of initiatives and Shabbat and holiday celebrations.
What you'll get out of it:
- Hillel offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, Group Supplemental Retirement Annuity (GRSA), pension plan, life insurance, Long Term Disability (LTD), Flexible Spending Plan, self-managed time off, generous sick time, and parental leave
- Salary Range: $100K - $140K, commensurate with experience
- Great professional development, mentoring, and skill-building opportunities
- Unlimited paid coffee dates with students
- Flexible work hours
About Berkeley Hillel
Working at Berkeley Hillel means working with a team of passionate, driven, and fun Jewish professionals at the #1 public university in the country. We offer competitive non-profit salaries, excellent health and wellness benefits, work-life balance, and a student community that is smart, caring, and engaged. Our renovated 15,000 sq. ft. building, finished in 2018, sits as a campus landmark in a prime location across the street from Berkeley Law and International House. Berkeley and the Bay Area boast a diverse and thriving Jewish community with many opportunities for young adults and families to practice and engage Jewishly. Every day we feel lucky to work on this campus, in this building, with this team, and we hope you’ll join us!
Berkeley Hillel Vision and Mission
Vision
Envision a world where every student is inspired to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life and learning.
Mission
Enriching the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world through:
- Welcoming students into a pluralistic community in an inclusive and respectful way.
- Fostering the growth of students' Jewish identity.
- Developing students' sense of social justice, civic responsibility, and service to local, national and larger communities.
- Providing opportunities for students to examine their Judaism and spirituality.
- Serving as an integral and indispensable partner to the University community.
- Supporting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
Berkeley Hillel will advocate for its mission to the greater campus community and will model in its actions: excellence, innovation, accountability and fun.
4 Strategies for achieving our Vision and Mission and Delivering the Jewish Future
Hillel activates four strategies to fulfill our mission: Belonging, Growing, Creating, and Committing
- Belonging -We strive to create a community where students belong
- Growing -We nurture the growth of the students’ Jewish self-confidence
- Creating -We encourage students to take ownership of their Jewish identities, pushing them to create authentic expressions of their Jewish selves
- Committing -We give Jewish students compelling reasons to commit to Jewish Life
Berkeley Hillel completed a major building campaign and renovation in Spring 2018, and is now operating in an updated facility. Our goal over the next few years is to continue to shape what Jewish life looks like inside this new, beautiful space, as well as on campus.
In 2016, Berkeley Hillel won Hillel International’s prestigious “Great Place to Work Award.” In 2017, Berkeley Hillel won Hillel International’s “Katz Innovation Award” for its innovative Fellowship program.
About Hillel International
In 1923, Rabbi Benjamin Frankel started Hillel with humble means, a noble mission and a breathtaking vision: to convey Jewish civilization to a new generation. Today, Hillel International continues to enrich the lives of Jewish students and is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world at nearly 1,000 colleges and universities across North America and around the world. As Hillel evolves as an organization, the mission remains steadfast: to create lasting connections with every Jewish student that foster an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning, and Israel and train them to become the next Jewish leaders.
Hillel is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an accepting and inclusive environment for all.
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