Schechter Residency in Educational Leadership (SREL) Fellowship Program
The SREL program is designed to create a career path to Solomon Schechter Day School professional leadership. Graduates of the Conservative movement’s rabbinical schools (the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies) who demonstrate a strong interest in Jewish education and some preparation for professional work in Jewish education are the primary target population. This cutting-edge program in professional development bridges the distance between academic preparation and the assumption of a school leadership role. The SREL program provides for the selection of a resident fellow each year, who will choose a placement from a list of Solomon Schechter residency schools that have demonstrated their capacity to supervise and support a Fellow. The residency school, together with the Schechter Network and SREL Fellow, will design the program that meets the needs of the Residency School and that will prepare the Fellow to serve as an educational leader in a Jewish day School.
The SREL program has been designed to ensure that SREL Fellows will receive guided and structured practical experience. The significant grant from the SREL endowment goes to the residency school to be used to ensure a competitive compensation package and support the capacity of the school to provide professional experiences in various aspects of school leadership. One new Fellow will be selected per year.
This year’s allocation of $30,000 is awarded to the Nate and Ann Levine Academy in Dallas, Texas. The residency school will receive an allocation for up to 3 years that the Fellow serves in the school.
Candidates for the fellowship are interviewed by a special committee established by the Schechter Day School Network and includes representation from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, its host institution.
If your school is interested in participating in this cutting-edge program to develop educational leaders for Schechter schools, click on SREL School Application 2012-2013.
Current SREL Fellow
Rabbi Micah Liben has been named the SREL Fellow for 2011-2012 and is serving as the Rabbi-in-Residence at the Kellman Brown Academy in Voorhees,NJ. The Schechter Residency in Educational Leadership is a fellowship that is awarded annually thanks to an endowment established some years ago at the United Synagogue.
Ordained in 2011 at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Liben also received an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Davidson School of Jewish Education at JTS. He earned his BA from the University of Pennsylvania where he was active on the Hillel board. During his years at JTS, he has participated in the Ivriyon Hebrew Immersion program, and taken part in a number of training institutes to hone his skills in outreach, differentiated instruction (pertaining to the MaToK Torah curriculum) and pastoral care. He has pulpit experience as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Beth-El in South Orange, NJ and at Temple Adath Sharon, inSharon,MA.
Micah Liben espouses a deep commitment to Jewish day school education. He is enthusiastic about joining the leadership team at Kellman Brown Academy in Voorhees, NJ and says, “As the rabbi-in-residence, I am already working to implementing experiential programming that will ignite a passion forJewish engagement in our students. “ The Head of School. Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, was a SREL Fellow during the years that he worked as campus rabbi at the Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island.
More about the Fellowship
The SREL Fellowship is one significant way that the Schechter Association works to build the field of Jewish day school leadership. All the rabbis who have served as SREL Fellows remain in Jewish day school education and have risen in the ranks of their schools. Rabbi Amanda Brodie serves as the Assistant Head of School at Ezra Academy in Woodbridge,CT. Rabbi Shawn SimonHazani serves as the Rav Beit HaSefer of the Saligman Middle School of the Perelman Jewish day School in Philadelphia. Rabbi Sheryl Katzman is the Principal of the Skokie campus of the Metropolitan Chicago Solomon Schechter Day School. Rabbi Matthew Bellas serves as the Vice Principal of Judaic Studies/School Rabbi of the Talmud Torah School in Vancouver,BC. Rabbi Harry Pell is the Rabbi in Residence at the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester. Rabbi Fred Elias serves as the School Rabbi at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County. Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, as mentioned above, is the new head of School of the Kellman Brown academy inVoorhees,NJ. Rabbi Eve Posen is the Campus Rabbi at the Ann and Nate Levine Academy in Dallas, TX. All these school rabbis are contributing in a very significant way to the quality of Jewish life and learning in the Schechter schools where they serve and they exhibit leadership skills and experience that fulfill the founding vision of the SREL fellowship.
Past SREL Fellows Share Their Thoughts
- Rabbi Bellas participates with 8th grade Brandeis students in morning tefillah in Israel.
“What is most powerful for me about being a Rabbi in Jewish Day School setting is that each and every day I am working to help build a strong foundation for the next generation of the Jewish people. I am able to share formative moments with my students (in class, in minyan, in Israel, on field trips) during which their connection to Judaism and the Jewish people is growing and really coming alive. The knowing smiles they share with me, the stories they come to tell me,or the glimpse of the twinkle in their eyes that I spot when a they have experienced new “Aha” moments make all the hard work and attention to their variety of needs worthwhile.”
–Rabbi Matthew Bellas, former SREL Fellow, The Brandeis School, Lawrence, NY. Currently, Vice Principal of Judaic Studies/School Rabbi, Talmud Torah School, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Rabbi Brodie engages with students in her lively class at Ezra Academy.
“Being a SREL fellow was one of the most instructive and effective ways to transition as a rabbi-in-residence to a school. All of a sudden I was beginning my professional career as a rabbi and I had the backing of the Schechter community and a wonderful head of school who was assigned as a mentor. I beganmy career here at Ezra with everybody in the community acknowledging that I had won a fellowship with a major agency of the American Jewish community, the United Synagogue. It was a wonderful way to help me establish myself. Despite the fact that no one knew me, they understood I cam with an important credential. I was the SREL fellow after all.
Having Schechter and Ezra behind me was crucial. Both quickly became pillars of support. Being a SREL fellow was an important way to transition but also taught me how to live my life as a spiritual exemplar within the school environment. It has allowed me to move on to the headship of Ezra Academy knowing I had a wonderful background.”
–Rabbi Amanda Brodie, Head of School. Ezra Academy, Woodbridge, CT
“I will be ever grateful to the SREL Fellowship and SREL program for giving me the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of life at Solomon Schechter. As part of my SREL Fellowship, I have rotated through programs and projects, both Judaic and secular including;
Kindergarten Kabbalat Shabbat and 5th grade parashat hashavua; overseeing the BÕnai Mitzvah program and traveling to Israel with our seniors; planning class Shabbatonim and being an assistant coach for the varsity girls basketball team; leading an interfaith seder for 8th graders and coordinating student and teacher schedules for our high school.
Throughout it all, I have learned from my colleagues as well as my students. Through these rotations, I have seen and experienced the inner workings of Day School education.
I am proud to be a SREL Fellow and the experience has certainly crystallized my initial aspirations for a career in Jewish Education, specifically in Day Schools.”
–Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, 2008
Director of Jewish Life and SREL Rabbinic Fellow
Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County
Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island