Youth Advisor and Teacher in Religious School

Temple Israel of New Rochelle is a warm, vibrant and inclusive Reform synagogue of 400 families in New Rochelle, NY (about a ½ hour from New York City) dedicated to covenantal and innovative Jewish learning, social action and spiritual engagement.

We seek a full-time Youth Advisor and teacher in our Chavaya, Temple Israel’s religious school, program to develop relationships and Jewish life for our children and youth. Our goal is for our young people to build a strong Jewish identity and commitment to engage in Jewish life.

The Youth Advisor and Chavaya teacher will:

Build Relationships
• Build personal relationships with the children and teens in our community. At times, this includes being available via social media.
• Serve as a positive role model, educator, and guide in the lives of our youth
• Work with our teen population: Advise the high school youth group Board and oversee their programs, projects and initiatives.
• Recruit and communicate on an ongoing basis with youth and parents

Build, Direct and Lead Programs
• Plan and implement events for the high school youth group (as advisor to the board and working with the board). This includes but is not limited to monthly programs, travel, social action programs and more.
• Plan and implement events for Junior Youth in the synagogues (grades 2nd and up)
• Act as a lead teacher and plan, shape and facilitate educational experiences in our 3rd-6th grades.
• Plan and lead youth trips such as our Confirmation L’Taken Trip, College trips, etc.
• Teach and coordinate in the upper grades of Chavaya (7th-12th)

Represent
• The Temple at NFTY Regional and North American Events as well as community youth roundtables.
• Be engaged in current Jewish youth work trends, models and innovations taking place in the field.

Collaborate with:
• High school youth group
• The Education and Temple Team
• Other area synagogues (conservative synagogue in town, other local Reform synagogues for joint programs and initiatives)

Allocation of time:
The position will spend approximately 10 hours each week devoted to preparing materials and teaching in the Religious School, the Chavaya program. The remaining time will be spent in the Advisor role preparing and planning for events and communicating with parents and teens.

Who is the successful candidate?
You are outgoing, a self-starter who has energy, creativity, warmth, strong organizational and communication skills, and is a collaborative team player. We are looking for a person with experience in camp and/or other youth programs, religious school teaching, or other relevant settings who can connect with youth both as a mentor as an advisor.

Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s Degree in Education or Jewish Studies or a related field.
• Knowledge, comfort, and experience in Jewish Education including Hebrew expertise, familiarity with Jewish history, holidays and texts.
• Camp experience preferred
• Previous teaching experience (classroom or experiential) preferred.
• Effective written and oral communication skills with the ability to foresee/analyze educational/administrative challenges and to develop solutions.

The Youth Engagement and Chavaya teacher reports to the Director of Education. This is a full-time position spanning 10 – 10 ½ months closely corresponding to the academic school year.