Talia Rasiel may have just graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in Jewish studies two years ago, but she has quickly become involved in the local Jewish professional space, working as the education coordinator at Washington Hebrew Congregation before joining Ohev Sholom Congregation as their youth director in mid-May.
Rasiel, a North Carolina native, has been highly involved in Jewish education specifically, an interest that she said stems partially from her time in college as a Jewish Learning Fellowship intern, a position where she sometimes felt she lacked complete knowledge, which is something she doesn’t want others to experience.
Rasiel is in the process of getting a master’s degree in education and is excited to foster a connection for young people with their Judaism for years to come.
What is your family and educational background?
I was raised in the Conservative movement. We were what I call “twice-a-year Jews.” We went to synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We lit candles every Friday and had dinner. But otherwise, I wasn’t raised particularly observant. I went to Jewish day school until I was nine and, after that, for a long time, I had very little Jewish exposure.
The summer after my junior year [of high school], I wanted to go to Israel, and I ended up going on a USY program. I ended up participating in USY my senior year … and then I went on Nativ, which is the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism gap year program … I did my first year of college at Middlebury in Vermont. I originally applied there early decision to study Chinese, [which I had studied] for six years.
On my gap year, I decided I wanted to do Jewish studies. So, I left Middlebury after a year because they didn’t have much of a Jewish studies program, and I transferred to American University in D.C., where I majored in Jewish studies and minored in Israel studies.
What caused that change from Chinese to Jewish studies?
When I was either a junior or senior in high school, I was thinking I would minor in Jewish studies. But then being on Nativ, I was studying in the Conservative yeshiva, and I was really enjoying it. I realized I was more interested in Judaism than I thought.
What got you started working in Jewish spaces at Washington Hebrew?
When I was looking for jobs senior year [of college], I had about 30 different tabs from jewishjobs.com open at all times. I was interning at Hillel as the JLF intern at American … I was, at that point, figuring out exactly what I wanted to do with my degree … Then doing JLF I [realized] Oh, I like doing education.
I grew up without much exposure to Jewish education after age nine. And so when I was on Nativ, I often felt very embarrassed because I didn’t know stuff … I sort of had to cram and often felt somewhat left out. And so I decided I don’t want other people to have that feeling … that’s when I decided I wanted to get into Jewish education. And Jason Benkendorf, the director at AU Hillel, had passed on information about the job at Washington Hebrew and put me in contact.
What work were you doing at Washington Hebrew and what will you do at Ohev Sholom?
I helped with running Sunday school, and this past year, I wrote the Jewish Studies curriculum for the year…I also did a lot with the preschool, and I taught Hebrew during our midweek sessions. My new job is [as] the youth director at Ohev Sholom Congregation in Shepherd Park.
There are a lot of pieces that I don’t know yet … but a big part of it is Shabbat and holiday programming. So every Shabbat and holiday they have programming for the kids … they have different age groups that have their own activities. And for the past couple of years, they haven’t had someone in [my] position, so it’s all been parent and volunteer run.
Part of what I’ll be doing is making that programming for the kids more structured … more defined age groups, organized activities, designated leaders of each activity, things like that. Also [I’ll be doing] youth programming during the week [and] on Sundays, and potentially after school supplementary educational items during the week.
What is the particular interest you have in pursuing a career in Jewish education?
Like I said, growing up, I didn’t have a lot of Jewish exposure. I noticed when I was in JLF, in my conversations with students, a lot of them had similar experiences [to me], and they were kind of confused and there were a lot of things they wanted to know, and they didn’t even know where to start. And I think it’s important to foster that [knowledge] in children as much as we can. At least to give them a solid base … I think from as young an age as possible, fostering a connection to Judaism and a love for Judaism is very important, and that goes beyond Jewish day school.
I think youth group is great [for filling that space]. I think [Judaism and Jewish education] needs to be seen as communal and fun and exciting and not just sitting in a classroom. There are activities you can do through a Jewish lens. It can be fun, it can be engaging. And I think that we need to show that from a young age to keep kids interested and keep them engaged so that they’ll want to continue participating as Jewish adults and they don’t just drop off after their b’nai mitzvah.
What are some skills you hope to improve as you continue your career?
I’m in the process of getting a master’s in Jewish education right now … In the last year, I’ve really learned a lot more about structure [in the classroom] and this upcoming year in my [program], the overall theme of the year is leadership and organization. That’s something that, to me, is important to learn.
You can learn a lot about leadership and organization experientially, but I think it’s important for me to get some theory and academic perspectives on that. I think building my skills in programming will be a big part of this. And I’m hoping that the combination of the experiential with the academic … will be helpful in creating programming that’s engaging [as well as] organized and well planned.