Beth El Synagogue Minneapolis - Educator & Ritual Director

Job Description
Educator & Ritual Director

Beth El seeks an engaging and experienced educator to round out its dynamic professional team. Their primary duties will be to serve as our Fiterman Family B’nai Mitzvah Program and Ritual Director. The ideal candidate for this position is a talented educator, an effective and experienced manager, a highly organized and detail-oriented administrator, an excellent presenter, a passionate teacher, and someone who possesses a team-oriented work ethic. An engaging singing voice and guitar skills are not necessary, but are a plus. Experience in school or camp administration (i.e. school/camp director, Rosh Eidah, etc.) will likely provide the professional background we seek. They must be able to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, be a strong and timely communicator, and be able to work simultaneously on multiple projects. The person in this position will work closely with our other clergy, our professional team, teen and adult b’nai mitzvah education staff, and lay leaders. There is administrative support for this position, shared with our Senior Cantor.

The most unique facet of our B’nai Mitzvah program is TaRBuT, our Shabbat morning study program, which they will direct and oversee. On any given Shabbat, one will see over 80 students (5th-7th grade) learning tefilot in virtually every corner of our building with teen tutors. We have an incredible tradition of over sixty years of post-b’nai-mitzvah students teaching in our program thereby earning scholarship money for Jewish summer programs. The teen tutors are overseen by a small staff of dedicated adult Master Teachers.

As Director of our B’nai Mitzvah Program, which is the primary focus of this position, they will guide students on a journey beginning in fourth grade, through their simcha, and continuing as teen staff through high school.

This includes:

leading, planning, and executing programing including:
weekly Minyan & Mitzvot (Jr. Congregation)
family learning opportunities on Shabbat mornings throughout the year
T3 (Tefilah, Torah, and Tefilin) Sunday program
annual 5th/6th grade shabbaton in partnership with other staff
Shabbat dinners for b’nai mitzvah families, scholars-in-residence, etc.
overseeing Torah/Haftarah instruction for students; tutoring some students each year
hiring and managing a staff of Master Teachers and teen tutors
using and implementing technology effectively, including MitzvahTools or similar online learning platform, ConstantContact, and other applications we use across the organization (Office365, ShulCloud, iRMS, etc.)
monitoring student progress across the program
directing all communications of the program
creating and managing the departmental budget

Our community is blessed to have strong schools. Our Director will serve as an educational liaison with Talmud Torah (our community Hebrew School), Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School, and local Jewish summer camps.

As Ritual Director, our Educator will:

oversee our Yad Hazakah Torah Reading Society (80+ members)
partner with lay volunteers to assign the weekly kriah
participate in growing our bench of leyners/shamashim/gabbaim/megillah readers
organize our team of volunteer shamashim and gabbaim
vet Torah readings as needed (in partnership with lay volunteers)
ensure all ritual needs of the synagogue are met
participate in daily minyan rotation
prepare weekly bimah/honor sheets
There will be opportunities for this Educator to support the religious and spiritual needs of the community in their position. As they establish themselves in their roles, there will be opportunities to teach family and/or adult education courses, offer programs throughout the year, participate in planning holiday-related programming as part of our team, and pursue their unique passions within and for the congregation. Clergy candidates will also have opportunities to offer pastoral care, participate in lifecycles, daven/preach, etc.

Compensation:

NON-CLERGY CANDIDATES: $65,000-90,000
Additional benefits:

Organizational dues
Conferences/Professional Development
Health Insurance
HSA Contribution
Vision/Dental
Total compensation for non-clergy in this role depends on skills and experience. The Education Director position on its own is considered a part-time position. With the skills to also serve as our Ritual Director, this becomes a full-time position with higher compensation.

CLERGY CANDIDATES: $95,000-115,000 total compensation
Available benefits (allocated from total compensation):

Organizational dues
Pension contribution
Conferences/Professional Development
Equipment
Work travel
Entertaining/hosting
Books & periodicals
Additional benefits:

Health Insurance
HSA Contribution
Vision/Dental

About Beth El

Beth El Synagogue is a dynamic, engaged, intergenerational community of 1,400 families, located in a wonderful Jewish area and in a vibrant city. Since its inception, it has been a leader in the Conservative movement. We have for many decades celebrated that women are full participants and leaders in the congregation. USY was founded at Beth El, and since our founding we place a great emphasis on youth programs and youth education. We are recognized nationally for our B’nai Mitzvah training program (TaRBuT), and for the outstanding work of our distinguished clergy. Locally, the synagogue is engaged in numerous chesed projects with local and national partners, we are hard at work on issues around DE&I, and we have recently put an emphasis on reducing our waste as close to 0% as possible. We are deeply engaged with Israel and offer regular opportunities for members to visit. Members of Beth El play an active role in leadership positions in many Jewish and communal organizations. Beth El has the largest Heilicher Jewish Day school contingent in the Twin Cities, and one of the largest Camp Ramah and Herzl Camp contingencies regionally. Our congregation has a very special love for its clergy, past and present. Rabbi Kassel Abelson, who occupied our pulpit for over forty years, remained active in the community for 75 years until his passing in 2023. In 2021, the congregation celebrated Cantor Audrey Abrams’ retirement by endowing the Cantor Audrey Abrams and Cantor Neil Newman Cantorial Chair, ensuring that Beth El will always have a Hazzan on the bimah. We are currently in the midst of a $10M capital campaign which will, among other projects, endow our Senior Rabbinic Chair as well. Our clergy have historically served long and fulfilling tenures in our congregation; Rabbi Davis is our seventh Senior Rabbi, and Cantor Tisser is our sixth Hazzan in our 100-year history.

About Life in the Twin Cities

Many who live here will tell you that Minneapolis is “the best kept secret in America.” With professional and NCAA teams in all major sports, hundreds of miles of bike trails, the 2nd largest (per capita) theatre district outside of NYC, over two dozen professional and community orchestras and dozens more choirs, phenomenal chef-driven restaurants (with vegetarian options readily available), incredible year-round outdoor activities, and a diverse cultural landscape, Minnesota is a wonderful place to call home. Affordable housing and top-rated public schools make the area perfect for raising a family.

Jewishly, there are 5 Conservative, 4 Orthodox, and 4 Reform congregations in the Twin Cities, plus some smaller communities and Chabad houses. Our wonderful Minnesota JCC shares a campus with the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School and Talmud Torah of Minneapolis, our combined supplementary Religious School. We are also home to Torah Academy, Yeshiva of Minneapolis, and a Kollel. There is a Kosher market, kosher restaurants and kosher meat readily available at Trader Joe’s, local markets, and Costco. Our synagogue communities interact regularly with each other, with many families holding multiple memberships. Our Minneapolis Jewish Federation is strong, providing services to the area with community partners. In 2023, Federation ran a Mega Mission to Israel with over 250 Minneapolitans participating. Our JCRC is a leader in Holocaust and Israel education and programming, advocacy, and communal security. JFCS provides robust services to our community as well. Our community is proud to be home to Sholom Home, a Kosher Jewish Senior Living Campus, which includes rental independent living apartments, assisted living, convalescent space, memory care, low-income housing, and hospice (on-site and in-home). Our local clergy have strong relationships in the Minnesota Rabbinical Association and Minnesota Cantors Association, which meet regularly.