Assistant Dean Of Overseas Students
Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh
Kerem B'Yavneh, Israel
My role as Assistant Dean of Students included a variety of educational responsibilities and functions. 1) I hosted students for weekly informal learning sessions, centered around the discussion contemporary issues and real life challenges in the Jewish world. Often a blog or news article served as a springboard for lively debate. On other occasions, we dissected a children's story, as in "Cookies" from the Frog and Toad series, as a window into human nature; or played a game of Pictionary to explore what it means to see things and people in only two dimensions. 2) For several years, I was the lead or assistant teacher for a daily formal Talmud class. I guided students' independent learning and taught them the language and logic of Talmudic texts. 3) I taught weekly classes in topics of Jewish Thought, textual studies in Tractate Avoth (sometimes called "Ethics of the Fathers"), and Jewish Dating, Marriage, and Parenting. 4) The position included numerous pastoral counseling opportunities, addressing a wide range of personal and religious challenges. 5) During parts of my tenure, I was also responsible for maintaining communication with students' families and alumni, as well as providing content for the institution's website. 6) In addition to my responsibilities within the English-speaking program, I also had occasional opportunities to lecture to the general Hebrew-speaking student body.