Director of Youth and Family Education

Job Description

Temple B’nai Or is a welcoming, diverse, and caring Reform Jewish community in Morristown, New Jersey. We are dedicated to serving God by serving others and connecting the values and visions of the Jewish people to our lives today. While we are proud of our heritage of sixty plus years, we look forward to enriching the sacred relationship that binds the Jewish People with God.

Temple B’nai Or is seeking a Director of Youth and Family Education to be the visionary educational leader for our community. The Director will be the administrator and curriculum developer of the Joel and Helen Jacobs Religious School, a supplementary K-12 program with 200+ students; supervisor of all faculty at the school; creator of programs to engage families with young children to become more connected to the Temple; and advisor for the Jewish curriculum in our Frances and Herbert Brody Pre-School.

We seek an educator that is passionate about Jewish life, learning, and community and can think holistically about experiential education and character development. Our school is poised for growth as Temple B’nai Or becomes more of a regional community in Morris County. Therefore, the new Director will need a vision of how to meet the diverse needs of our growing community. The Director will be a trusted partner on the senior staff of Temple B’nai Or with the Rabbi, Cantor, and Executive Director supervised by the Rabbi and the Vice President of Education from the Board of Directors.

Skills Required

Some of the Professional Responsibilities of the Director of Youth and Family Education

• Director of the Joel and Helen Jacobs Religious School
o Develop and execute your vision of Jewish learning through collaboration with current faculty, implementation of curricula and the development of programs for students and families
o Hire, supervise, and train the faculty of teachers
o Supervise our Rishon(a)—the Israeli teen who is part of our community in partnership with the Federation
o Create a system to help families with children with special needs
o Ensure effective communication with the families of students
o Develop, manage, and oversee the school budget

• Jewish Education Advisor to the Frances and Herbert Brody Pre-School
o Work with pre-school director to create Jewish curricula
o Work as a team with pre-school director and executive director in overseeing Sing Shalom Music Together program and its feeder status
o Create relationships with Jewish preschool families to transition them into the
Religious School

• B’nai Mitzvah Training
o Work with Cantor to hire and supervise Hebrew tutors
o Create family programs through the Religious School to prepare families for the B’nai Mitzvah process
o Administer the assigning of B’nai Mitzvah dates

• Informal Education and Youth Groups
o Advise the leader of the Torah Explorers young family Shabbat service and learning
o Restart extra-curricular youth activities like youth groups
o Promote Jewish camp and Israel Trips

Required Qualifications

• Previous Jewish education leadership required
• Masters degree in Jewish education or educational leadership preferred
• Hebrew proficiency preferred
• Strong commitment to egalitarian Jewish life and community
• Flexibility, relationship minded, collaborative attitude a must
• Demonstrated ability to turn vision into reality