Monday, November 7, 2011

Overwhelmed by Jewish Identity Formation

This weekend I had the pleasure of learning from an incredible professor from HUC. Our class was on Jewish identity formation. I'm still hung up on the first concept she brought to us. Jewish Educators (us) are Jewish Identity Navigators. What an overwhelming idea! How does one person help another to navigate their own journey?
I believe that the first step for the Jewish Identity Navigator is to be actively engaged in their own Jewish journey. These people need to reflect, acknowledge and wrestle with points of dissonance, and see the as opportunities for growth. Next, the navigator should acknowledge, test and push their own Jewish boundaries in order to help others define their own boundaries. My class debated whether or not Jewish Identity Navigators were responsible for setting boundaries for teens. I believe that as a youth educator it is my responsibility to set boundaries. I think that our class was debating the wrong thing. Rather than focus on whether or not we should set boundaries, we should be asking ourselves the best way to go about setting boundaries, and how to figure out where those boundaries are.
During this class we drew our own personal Jewish Journey maps- an activity I have done on more than one occasion. What I noticed this time when I was creating my map was that my journey has changed. Or rather, the perspective on my journey has changed. I realized that I had many points of dissonance that didn't appear to be points of dissonance until recently- losses, struggles as a teen, dropping out of college, not going to Israel. I somehow forgot about these crucial moments that have been moments of personal, often painful growth as a human being and as a Jew.
I feel honored to be a Jewish Identity Navigator, and engage in the holy work of guiding teens towards a meaningful Jewish life. Thanks to Cohort 1 for inspiring me!