Employment at CBI

Congregation B’nai Israel, Northampton MA

Hebrew Language Specialist

Congregation B’nai Israel in Northampton, MA  seeks a part-time Hebrew Language Specialist to join its ALMA: Youth and Family Program teaching staff for the remainder of the school year through May 2021.  All programming is currently virtual, so the Hebrew Language Specialist could work remotely.  

ALMA is a bi-weekly, religious school program serving children ages 3-12 and their families.  The Hebrew Language Specialist will lead three, 1hr classes each week.  The classes are for combined grades 2-3, 4-5, and 6-8.  

The primary goals of the Hebrew program are for our students to build strong decoding skills and to develop strong and positive relationships with Hebrew that lead to lifelong Hebrew engagement.  

ALMA’s curriculum includes use of Hebrew Through Movement methodology as well as the use of our on-site vegetable farm and outdoor classroom, Abundance Farm.  The ideal candidate is a fluent Hebrew speaker with 2+ years teaching experience with students ages 7-13.  Applicants must be comfortable and confident teaching on a Zoom platform.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead Hebrew teacher for ALMA classes

  • Introducing decoding and employing Hebrew Through Movement methodology to combined 2nd/3rd grade classe

  • Teaching decoding to students in combined 4th/5th grade class 

  • Implementing an engaging Hebrew curriculum for combined 6th-8th grade class

• Work with school leadership to refine Hebrew goals, metrics and methods for evaluation

Required Skills and Experience:

• Very strong Hebrew skills (fluency preferred)

• 2+ years experience teaching Hebrew, ideally in synagogue school setting 

• Willingness to experiment with new teaching methodologies

• Passionate educator

• Natural collaborator

• Comfortable and confident using Zoom

Schedule:

Hebrew classes run from  4:00-6:00 on Tuesdays and 5:00-6:00 on Thursdays.  There is a staff meeting on Thursdays from 3:00-3:30.  This position is currently open and will run through May 2021.   This a part-time, 6.5 hour weekly position.  Approximately 3 hours weekly will be spent teaching and an additional 3.5 paid hours are allocated for ongoing curriculum development and meetings.

Pay:

This position pays $40/hr.  

To apply:

Interested candidates should send a cover letter, resume and two recent professional references to Rabbi Jacob Fine at rabbijacob@cbinorthampton.org.  The cover letter should include your available start date.

More About ALMA:

ALMA means 'world' in Aramaic and 'soul' in Ladino. At ALMA, we believe that Judaism matters, and that Jewish life and tradition has the potential to add profound meaning and richness to the lives of our students and families.  We take a fresh approach to Jewish education. We engage our students' neshama (soul) and empower our students to engage with Jewish tradition as a lens for awe, wonder, and action in the world (olam or alma). 

Our dynamic curriculum engages students in an active exploration of Jewish values, Jewish time, and Jewish customs. Our students learn songs and prayers, create ritual objects, and get their hands dirty on our chava (farm). Our Ivrit (Hebrew) specialist works with ALMA students to learn fluent decoding and our Tefillah (prayer) specialist helps students build familiarity with traditional Jewish prayers. This year, our COVID adapted curriculum focuses on bringing these elements in-home with distance learning and engaging chuggim (electives).

We believe that our students must genuinely enjoy themselves in order to learn and develop a love of Jewish life and tradition. Our passionate staff works hard to create a culture that is joyful, in which our students and their families feel respected, engaged and inspired.

ALMA is a diverse community. We are proud to have LGBTQIA, BIPOC, blended and interfaith families.