Today in the morning, I signed my contract with the Lauder school in Prague. On 1st August, I shall start to work there as a full-time teacher of Jewish Education and English. In the past two weeks, I spent a lot of time in the school working on the new conception of Jewish education with my new boss Shmil, who is the deputy vice principal responsible for the Jewish element in the curriculum of the school. (The school is undergoing a big transformation and Judaism will be taught in a completely new way from September on.) Last week, I even taught a short 2-hour class to the teachers of grades 1 to 5. I am honestly excited about getting the job. It is a great opportunity to combine both of my degrees (education and Jewish studies) and it is a good way to make sure I shall not degenarate and I will continue to study Judaism seriously. Also I appreciate the chance to have a chance to shape the next generation of Jews in this town, which makes me feel I can help to create a community I would want my children (בע''ה) to grow up in (what a chutzpah of me to say that). I have always enjoyed teaching and I am excited about having found a job where I can teach creatively in an environment, which is supportive of modern ways of teaching, a place where I can teach Judaism and also, naturally, a place where I can help to build the conception of how and what will be taught brom the scratch. Last but not least I am looking forward to working together with Shmil – he is admirably committed and passionate about his job and obviously sees it as a mission rather than vocation and it is naturally very important to have a boss like that. Fortunately, we seem to share the same ideas and vision on what and how should be taught in the school, which makes me believe that we will be able to cooperate effectively and with ease. Moreover, I appreciate he takes me seriously and treats me as an equal partner despite the fact he has a much richer experience in Jewish education than I do. In the heat and excitement of today´s day, I am very hopeful looking into the future, I put down ideas for next year´s teaching, I am gathering materials and plan how to get ready for the new school year in time and as effectively as possible. Hopefully, I will keep my enthusiasm at least also on 5th September (the school year starts on the 4th :o)
All being well, I will have 1 and a half job next year. This Shabbat, I officially started my part-time job for Masorti/ Marom in the Czech Republic. Already while in Israel, I agreed to work for the community as a coordinator. In real life, it means that I try to make the life of our rabbi a bit easier by taking care of some of the administrative part to running of the community, I communicate with other organizations, coordinate some of the services, take care of foreign visits, shlep sidurim from one place to another etc. I see this job also as very important. So far, the Masorti community in this country has not had any paid employee except for the rabbi, who had to take care of everything from leading High holiday services through hiring venues for the community activities to buying wine and cakes for kiddush. The community has always heavily depended on the work of volunteers (all of whom have done an incredibly devoted job, kol ha-kavod), which was not really ideal - the community, despite being as small as it is, simply needs somebody, who would help it administratively and who would be paid to be able to devote time to the job. After spending a year in the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, I started to feel strong commitment to egalitarian and modern Judaism. I think Prague deserves to have a community that cherishes these values and I feel that if I can help to maintain and develop it, I have an obligation to do it. In the past 3 weeks I have had several meetings in connection to my new work, have worked closely with our rabbi, Ron Hoffberg, I have lead one Kabbalat Shabbat service and have given one Dvar Torah, helped to host Av Beit Din of the European Masorti Beit Din, r. Chaim Weiner during his visit in Prague, have had few fights and …simply the usual stuff.
So…to cut the long story short – I have been very busy in the last couple of days, which is great. After spending so much time studying and taking in, it feels great to haveso much to do, to have a diary full of meetings, to have obligations, to organize and create. The fact that after today I even have a full time job, which will give all my efforts some stable framework, gives me an intensive reassuring feeling. I feel great, excited, grateful, it seems to me these days are pregnant with future possibilities.
In addition, my flat starts to look like a real place for living – I have a bed, a fridge, after today I have even a washing machine, iron and ironing board, a table in my study and a garden table on my terrace, wireless internet and 3 brand new plants.
And! And I got a brand new, smashing haircut – my longest hair is about 1,5 cm (half an inch) now.
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