In 1983 my father, a rabbi for 15 years in Berkeley California, picked our family up and fulfilled a lifelong dream of aliyah. He had two positions waiting for him; a community of progressive German Jews in Kfar Sava had invited him to be their rabbi, and he taught at the Pardes institute in Jerusalem.
Almost fifteen years later when I graduated from rabbinical school and embarked on my own career, I also had positions waiting for me teaching in higher Torah education and serving as the rabbi of a large Jerusalem community. It seemed that both my father and I were destined to be gainfully employed in Israel, with a clear niche carved out for competent rabbinical talent.
Thirteen years later, things have changed. Over the last few months I have been directly in touch with at least five seasoned and experienced senior Torah educators who are in need of work. Two have relocated to the United States after having lived in Israel for years, because they simply could not find a job.
Many newly ordained rabbinical students and Torah educators in Israel are quickly discovering that the career they felt called upon to pursue is a one way ticket to the Diaspora. Two graduates of Sulam Yaakov, the rabbinical school of which I am the dean, both were only able to find positions as rabbis abroad.
They claim that the positions are “Shlichut” (temporary emissaries to the Diaspora), but are correctly concerned about their prospects for finding work in Israel when they are ready to return in a few years.
The scarcity of good positions in Israel for Anglo Rabbis and Jewish Educators is also a huge challenge for those hoping to make aliyah, which became even more evident in a recent meeting I had with Nefesh B’Nefesh staff.
These Jewish leaders are at the front lines promoting Aliyah in their communities, and yet they are unable to set a personal example and do it themselves. While I do not have hard statistics, my father’s aliyah definitely serves testimony to the impact a Jewish leader’s decision to move to Israel can have on their community. Only a few years after we came to Israel we were holding community reunions for many new Berkeley olim!
This lack of vocational opportunities for rabbis in Israel presents a serious dilemma for Diaspora rabbis wishing to encourage their congregants to make aliyah, for they themselves are unable to “put their money where their mouth is”.
How many forceful voices and personal examples are we losing each year because of this employment crisis?
Both my father and I, when faced with this crisisreality, wound up being self-employed and running our own institutions. Perhaps this model can be adopted by some rabbinical olim.
An entrepreneurial model for rabbinical work focuses creative responsibility on the individual, challenging him to identify his strengths and find a way to provide real value to the Jewish world.
Olim would be able to draw on the community they come from for support, engaging them in their aliyah story, and allowing them to share in creating something new in the land. This direction could spur a blessed wave of much needed creativity in the world of Jewish education, creating a refreshing renaissance of Anglo focused educational products based in Israel, realizing the eternal dream of “from Zion Torah shall emerge”.
However, the entrepreneurial model is not suited for all, and many rabbis would be better served if they focus on making themselves stronger candidates for the positions that do exist in Israel.
If non-Israeli rabbis wish to find employment in Israel, Zionist rabbinical schools in Israel and in the Diaspora must begin to require fluent spoken Hebrew for all their rabbinical students. Other skills that would add value and may make international students more employable could include project management, tools for effective leveraging of power in large organizations, social networking, internet proficiency, and more.
We live in a time that demands that teachers and rabbis bring their best to the table if they hope to succeed professionally in Israel. This is a good challenge, one that brings an opportunity to foster a more creative and proactive professional paradigm of rabbinic work.
Those who are able speak to the needs of our generation, and do so in a highly professional and innovative manner, will be the ones who make it. But I am confident that the Torah community is capable of rising to the occasion and presenting a dynamic and economically healthy image to the world, and it is time that we do so!
Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz is Dean of HaOhel Institutions in Jerusalem, now launching a new venture, Threshold, fostering Jewish educational entrepreneurship.
