Creating Community · Inspiring Values · Educating Leaders

Meet Josh Snyder, 4th year rabbinical student at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

          It's 1:00 on Wednesday afternoon.  I'm sitting at a table in a pizza shop on Main Street in Newark, right off of the Green.  I'm waiting to meet with a student I chatted with at a Shabbat lunch the previous weekend.  I check my schedule - three meetings with individual students, a powwow with other Hillel staff, an evening program - a pretty typical day. My student walks in, and I order him a slice and a soda on Hillel.  As we sit down to chat, I learn he's a senior, graduating with a degree in business.  "Oh well,"  I think, "I usually meet with Freshmen and Sophomores, trying to help them find a niche in Jewish life on campus.  This guy's on the way out.  How can I help him?"  But soon I find that our conversation is very useful.  He's thinking about what life after college will bring.  Where does he want to work?  What opportunities will a big city bring versus a more suburban area?  We start to talk about his hopes for Jewish involvement after college.  What kind of community will he seek out? What ways does he want to get involved?  By the time we leave, we've both started to think more about these questions.  He has started to think about how Jewish community will play a role in his post-college life, and I have begun to think about the type of support and information that college seniors need in order to connect to Jewish life post-graduation.

          8:00, Wednesday evening.  Nine students and I gather around a table at Home Grown, a bar-restaurant on Main Street with live music and a relaxing, sophisticated atmosphere.  This is the meeting place for my bi-monthly Torah on Tap program.  Each time, we focus on a different topic within Judaism, usually with a bit of an edge.  We've talked about drinking in Judaism, sexuality, war and peace, etc.  I bring some texts for discussion, and the students always have great reactions and plenty to say.  It challenges them to think Jewishly about topics they might have thought Judaism didn't cover. Tonight, I had planned to talk about Kashrut (kosher laws).  But earlier that day, the Conservative Movement had approved three different rabbinic position papers dealing with homosexuality.  So I improvise, bringing in articles from the internet and some knowledge of how the Conservative Movement works.  The students get into heated discussions about what this will mean for the Conservative movement and Jewish life in America.  They are not scared to share their viewpoints, and carry that passion over into the Kashrut conversation as well.  Each of them tells personal stories of how their families have decided to handle the kosher laws, and how they think they want to practice.  By the end of the night, each of them knows a little more about each of these topics.  It is up to them what to do with that knowledge - they can use it to teach others, and to make their own informed decisions.  Through their sharing, I have had my mind opened to different ways of being Jewish.

          The job of a Hillel rabbi or rabbinic intern is very different from the job of a pulpit rabbi.  It is not primarily about leading services or giving speeches.  It involves a mix of skills - educational, pastoral, organizational and interpersonal.  Some students come wanting to learn more from an academic perspective.  This coming semester, I'm offering a university course, for credit, in Jewish Text and Jewish Practice.  The course is designed to introduce students to seminal Jewish texts that determine halakha, Jewish law, as well as modern interpretations of halakha. Some students need guidance in terms of making Jewish decisions as young adults.  I'm beginning a program this semester called Conscious Community (modeled on a similar program at the University of Washington) in which I'll work weekly with a group of college seniors on facing what's next.  The largest portion of my time, however, is given to meeting with individual students.  Some are dealing with tough situations regarding school, their family, or their health, and they need compassionate presence.  Many are interested in getting involved in Jewish life on campus and don't know how. I have just completed my first semester as the Lippmann Rabbinic Intern at the Kristol Center for Jewish Life at the University of Delaware.  I have always been excited by the prospect of working on a campus, and it has not disappointed.  College students have so much on their plates: living independently for the first time, trying to choose a career field, extracurricular activities, not to mention studying.  Add to that list formation of Jewish identity, and you've got a complex brew.  My role is to work with students of all sorts in order to give them tools to navigate this voyage as Jews.