Fort Tryon Jewish Center (FTJC) is an independent traditional egalitarian community in Washington Heights & Inwood, NYC. We are an exciting, emerging congregation, attracting many families with children of all ages. As we continue to develop our grassroots model for “Rimonim: A Family Learning Community at FTJC,” we are growing our capacity to help families raise menschy, knowledgeable, and ethical children who love being Jewish. Being a part of our team is a rare opportunity to innovate and create, drawing on the best current models in Jewish education, in a dynamic community.
DIRECTOR OF YOUTH AND FAMILY LEARNING
The Director of Youth and Family Learning is the overall staff leader of Rimonim, providing educational vision and guidance while also supporting our paid educators and our volunteer member leaders. Rimonim includes Shabbat morning and holiday programming for four age groups from newborns through teens. It also includes our Rimonim Torah School, now in its first year, which consists of a classroom program one afternoon per week, a Family Beit Midrash bimonthly, and Online Hebrew Chavruta tutoring weekly. The new director will have the creative opportunity to grow the Rimonim Torah School and bring its curricula and systems to the next level.
Primary responsibilities include:
- Leading the vision for Jewish education in our community, helping to set curricular priorities and guide the creation of quality content
- Building relationships with parents, children at many ages, and other members
- Providing support to volunteer leaders and supervision to paid educators.
- Directing our Shabbat morning and holiday programming.
- Directing our Rimonim Torah School as a school administrator.
- Staffing our Rimonim Leadership Team of volunteers who advise and assist on many aspects of our programming.
- Integrating our educational activities along a trajectory from early childhood through the teen years.
- Bringing in best practices and ideas from the broader field of Jewish education.
Qualifications:
- Leadership experience in Jewish youth & family education in a variety of settings.
- Knowledge of Hebrew language, Jewish holidays, and core Jewish ideas and practices.
- Understanding of child development, curricula, and approaches to education.
- A degree in education or school administration, or comparable experience.
- Flexible and creative ideas and the enthusiasm to make them happen.
- Love of children – able to create bonds of affection that inspire participation.
- Love of Jewish life – able to translate Jewish ideas and practices into conversations and programs with kids and adults of varying observance and knowledge.
- Spiritual seeker – able to infuse learning with consciousness of God’s presence, helping children to develop a relationship with God.
- Great relational skills – fun, energetic, and kind, able to relate to diverse children and families.
- Classroom management skills – able to maintain a safe, respectful learning environment.
- Professional skills – able to work quickly, independently, collaboratively, and accurately.
- Supervision and management skills – able to support teams by setting up and implementing systems for scheduling, payment, training, feedback, budgeting, etc.
- Willing to live in or near the Washington Heights eruv and be present on Shabbatot and holidays.
- Commitment to FTJC’s values of mitzvah observance and full egalitarianism for people of all genders and sexual orientations.
FTJC is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and seeks to have our paid staff and volunteer leadership reflect those commitments. People of diverse backgrounds and perspectives are encouraged to apply, even if you do not meet every qualification above but feel that you have comparable, relevant experience and skills.
Term: Full time, starting spring or summer 2023, as soon as possible.
Location: Hybrid and flexible remote/onsite work environment. (Onsite for Shabbat mornings weekly, Torah School weekly, holiday and other programming, and some meetings.)
Reports to: FTJC’s Rabbi Guy Austrian
Compensation and benefits: $60,000-$65,000 per year, three weeks vacation, health reimbursement account, two-day weekend.
To Apply: Please send a resume and cover letter to Rabbi Guy Austrian (he/him) at [email protected]. Applications will be handled on a rolling basis until the position is filled.