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It is the responsibility of the fellow, as part of their fellowship, to do one hour of Jewish learning each week. This can be in an informal or formal setting on any subject. There is no set pattern for you to go about your learning, so it is really your own individual initiative that will determine what and how you go about fulfilling this aspect of the fellowship.

Philadelphia has many resources for Jewishly enriching your personal and professional lives. Both Temple and Drexel have Jewish studies courses with whom Hillel has a great relationship, and many JCSC's have audited courses at one of these schools. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) and Gratz College also have great programs.

Another way to go in terms of Jewish learning is finding a Chevruta. Many people on the HGP staff and in the wider community are knowledgeable and interested in this one-on-one type of study, and depending on your personality, you may get more out of it. I spent a few months working through the fist few chapters of Mishna Brachot with a friend who teaches at a local day school.

Marla knows a lot of people who do one-on-one Chavruta learning. She is also a good source to bounce ideas off of or to help you figure out what types of things interest you.

At (almost) every staff meeting, one person brings a piece of Jewish learning for us. This can be anything from a new resource from the Meyerhoff Center to the Torah portion of the week. It is a great chance for us to practice tying in serious Jewish thought into our work as Hillel professionals.

One final note: Every month in our JCSC Report, we are asked to talk about one piece of Jewish learning from the month. This is a great reminder to make sure your eyes and ears are always open to learning new things and new ways of understanding our heritage and our identity!

Becoming a Jewish Accessible Educator

A Jewish Accessible Educator is someone who is able to relay Jewish information, whether it be about holidays, Torah, etc. to students in a non-threatening and non-intimidating way. Now, no fellow is expected to be able to site verses from the Torah (hey, it's great if you can do it). Being a Jewish Accessible Educator is about inserting a bit of Jewish learning or knowledge during a program in a subtle and interesting way for the students to grasp and enjoy. Most students, especially your engagement ones, are not interested in doing formal Jewish learning. As the Fellow, it is your job to "think out of the box" and create innovative and meaningful programs and events that include some sort of Jewish learning. In many cases, this piece of learning does not have to be big, time consuming or the focus of the event. It's just a way for students to explore their Jewish identity and learn more about their Jewish faith.

I also see being an accessible Jewish educator in a slightly different way. There are many students, some engagement, some core that are interested in knowing about a certain topic in Judaism. As a Fellow (and as a Hillel professional), it's important to be able to help these students grow and help them to find the necessary information for them to be able to do that. Like I said before, most of us aren't Rabbis or have a little Jewish knowledge in our back pocket (as Marla put it once to me). But we can take a moment out of our day to research the topic and get back to the student.

I think it is just as important to students to look them in the eye and tell them you don't know something as it is to site verses of Torah or anything else Jewish. This shows we are human and haven't learned everything ourselves. I believe that this is also an important lesson for our students.