r/ReformJews

I know there's a wide range of positions and types of jobs but I'm really just trying to broaden my list of future potential careers. I'm in the US in a state that's relatively "low" in the number of Jews but high enough that there's schools, daycares, organizations (like JFS), and multiple synagogues.

I'm working on my bachelor's right now in social work. I want to help people and I love making connections but there are simply too many domains of social work that I'm interested in to be set on anything right now.

I used to work for a Jewish daycare and loved it. I loved being fully involved in the community, volunteered more, went to synagogue at least 2x/wk but usually more, literally made myself a little Jewish bubble that I loved and thrived in. I love all things Judaism, I love Torah study, I love sharing my knowledge and gaining more knowledge. As much as I think I would love working in a Jewish day school, I don't think that I could be a teacher. Potentially about a specific religious topic but not a regular, everyday studies teacher.

I'm happy with office jobs but I also like to be able to be on my feet if I want. I love working with kids of all ages. While income is part of it, a fulfilling life and career are the true important things to me.

Part of me has always considered becoming a rabbi and the family I used to nanny for once suggested it but I feel nowhere near smart or capable or "good" enough for a title that big. It's not completely off the table but something that I push to the back. It feels unattainable and embarrassing to consider, even though I'm doing so via the internet to a bunch of strangers.

Thank you all if you read this far. It's very appreciated.

It's a difficult day for a lot of people, and it has every right to be; I reckon it's always been hard for the past 3 years and will continue to. With many voices resounding across feelings and approaches to the tragedy on this day, I find myself really finding strength in this insightful and bittersweet commentary by Rabbi Weinberg. He writes about observations that never would've come to mind for me about the times the Jewish community live in 3 years on, such as the increased engagement and feeling of connection to Judaism both within and outside Jewish lives - an "awakening" as he describes - while also making room for things I've personally long sensed but in a way that was to-the-point yet easy to process in Rabbi Weinberg's article, such as the costs and internal divides Jewish communities come to terms with relating to Zionism and anti-Zionism/criticism of Israel and the place for Jewish concern for Palestinian rights. "Multiplicity" and "belonging" (of perspectives) are elements of Jewish culture I've long cherished, and Rabbi Weinberg navigates these things in the aftermath of October 7th wonderfully despite the difficulty of it; how nuance not only exists but is needed in the aftermath as to not deepen the wounds, whether Jewish and/or Israeli or Arab and/or Palestinian, that we've already endured.

May the memories of the people we lost across all life in the region since that day continue to be a blessing. May healing come to us and that fear never dominates over our heads in Jewish life any longer.