"People didn't encourage their chil-
dren to become Jewish educators, they
didn't talk positively about the field,"
said Flexner. "This has changed in the
past five to 10 years, and we're getting
wonderful people in, but it takes a few
decades of experience for them to
move into positions of leadership."
However, Flexner warned that Jewish
education jobs are high-burnout posi-
tions, and said the community needs
to focus not only on recruiting and
training educators, but on keeping
them.
"I think that Jewish educators are
undervalued,"-said Janet Moses, edu-
cation director at Congregation Shir
Tikvah, who explained that while she
enjoys her job, she has heard many
war stories from colleagues.
"It would never occur to anyone to
walk into a doctor and tell them how
to diagnose a case, but the attitude is
often that with education, anyone can
do this," she said.
Elissa Berg, Temple Kol Ami's
director of education and the chair of
Detroit's Jewish Educators' Council,
said people often don't understand the
amount of work involved in running a
synagogue school.
"It takes a long time to educate the
community that this is a full-time —
really full-time=plus — profession.
es
a shortage, two
synagogues recently
decided not to renew
their educators'
*contracts.
JULIE WIENER
Staff Writer
ewish educators are not easy
to find.
Yet, both Congregation
B'nai Moshe and Temple
Beth El recently decided not to renew
the contracts of their education direc-
tors.
Rita Abramson has run B'nai
Moshe's 130-student religious school
for four years, and Joyce Seglin has
served as Temple Beth El's congrega-
tional educator since the fall of 1996.
Enrollment at both schools has grown
significantly during the tenures of
these educators, each of whom has
And in most places we're not earning
what public school principals are earn-
ing," she said.
Not only have poor recruitment
and poor morale affected the shortage,
but training — both initial and mid-
career — has also been lacking. With
a few new programs in the works, that
might be changing.
"There aren't enough programs,
and there aren't enough people going
into the programs," said Dr. Susan
Shevitz, director of Brandeis Universi-
ty's Hornstein Program in Jewish
Communal Service.
"Jewish education is a field of ser-
vice without very clearly defined
mobility patterns," said Dr. Armand
Lauffer, director of Project STaR, a
Jewish communal service training pro-
gram at the University of Michigan.
"Other than in day schools, before
one is an administrator, there are few
full-time teaching opportunities. A lot
of people who might like to consider
going into Jewish education don't see a
field that provides much job security,
training or professional development."
Lauffer said that Project STaR is
exploring the possibility of offering an
education-degree option in conjunc-
tion with U-M's school of education.
The Jewish Theological Seminary's
Davidson School of Education recent-
worked in Jewi
hat 20 years.
B'nai Moshe Prest
Friedman would not disaose t Zeta
sons the board voted on Feb. 26 not
to renew Abramson'S contract, asser t
ing that her reticence was out of
re.spect for Abramson. The boards
decision came despite protests fro
number of parents and teachers.
"I had over 100 parents at the
board meeting protesting this whole
thing," said Abramson, who said she
plans to leave the field ofJewish edu-
cation. An educator doesn't usually
last in a congregation more than three
to five years. 'Why? You give your
heart and soul, then they throvv you
out. They don't try to work with you
to make it better."
Ruth Shayne, co-president of B'nai
Moshe's sisterhood, said she fears
Abramson's dismissal has created ten-
sion within the Conservative congre-
gation.
"There has been talk about some
families leaving, and I've talked to
many families who've said they came
here because of Rita," she said. "I
know how issues can divide a syna-
Headmaster and teachers for new
Conservative Jewish high school,
scheduled to open in fall 1999.
ly launched a program for training
existing educators and administrators
to become headmasters of Jewish day
high schools, and it hopes to start pro-
grams for elementary and middle
school educators as well.
"I hope this addresses the immedi-
ate needs in the country, but we need
to keep running this in the immediate
Right; Rita
Abr‘tinson: "You
give your heart
and soul, then
they throw you
out."
Several supporters of Abramson,
requesting anonymity, speculated that
the board wanted to remove her because
she is Reform. Others suspect that the
board hopes to transfer Abramson's
duties to the synagogue's Cantor Earl
Berris to save money. But Friedman said
a search committee has already been
formed to find a new educator.
future because the day school move-
ment is growing rapidly," said Dr.
James Hyman, the program's director.
"We're trying to plug the dam with
our fingers, but water keeps seeping
through." The program accommodates
only 12 people per year.
Ultimately, say educators, change
will come when the community
invests a large amount of money in
recruiting, training and retaining Jew-
ish educators.
Ron Wolfson, vice president of the
Los Angeles-based University of
Judaism, calls for a large-scale market-
ing campaign to recruit people into
education and creating more profes-
sional development opportunities for
educators. He also wants to see more
scholarships available for people pur-
suing Jewish education.
Hebrew Union College's Lee agrees.
"If some foundation gave 100 full fel-
lowships a year to people pursuing
careers in Jewish education, that
would definitely increase the number
interested. Then you need to keep
them, and institutions need to look at
the salary, prestige and benefits they
offer. If we want the best, then have to
treat them as valuable resource ...
Schools and federations have to be
clear about how important they think
education is." 0
ice eg in s departure from Tern-
eth El comes because the role of
ticav,r4 .being restructured, said
temple's president, Fred
eth El plans to replace
lin by hiring a third rabbi and a
religious school principal and
dividing other components of her
job among other staff.
Seglin said she had the option of
applying for the position of reli
, gious school principal but did not
want it because it would mean a
pay cut and a step down in
responsibility.
"From my understanding, the
board's decision was that my job,
as defined, was more than one
person could handle. But there
were no job performance issues
and all had been going well," said
Seglin. Enrollment has more than
doubled since her arrival. in Septem-
ber 1996.
She questions whether the temple
will have much success in finding new
staff. "Nationally there are 67 positions
open [for congregational educators] and
no one looking, she said "It's a
burnout career, a hard clreer."
❑
3/13
1998
9