Personal and Professional Growth
This year has been an incredible experience for my personal and professional growth. I have learned (or begun to learn) to:
1) Empower students to generate ideas and take action in a way that makes
them feel ownership over the initiative, but also support from others.
2) Build community through one on one conversations and active listening
so students know that I care, and therefore, understand that there is
place for them in the Jewish community.
3) Function in an office environment, creating fun and professional relationships
with co-workers
4) Maintain my energy for work through prioritizing my needs, expressing
concerns when I am overloaded or bogged down in administration, and finding
ways to take time off
Jewish Learning:
I participate in a weekly, one-hour, staff study session in Hillel on the Parsha of the Week read by the Hillel Rabbi Noa Kushner. In addition, I speak to my “Partners in Torah” study buddy, Rena Potter, for an hour each week to discuss a major topic such as prayer, kashrut, Shabbat, etc. The book, On Judaism, by Emanuel Feldman provides the basis for our discussions.
Through regular text study and practical applications, this job has given me the chance, not only to learn about Judaism, but also to begin to figure out how to make it an active part of my own life, away from my family. Our staff study session often involve discussions on how to apply the lesson of the week’s portion to our work at Hillel, and I refer back to these (though not as often as I’d like) when I run into challenging situations with students.