Dava Schub, who became executive director of the Edlavitch D.C. Jewish Community Center six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, resigned last week, citing family reasons. She will remain in her position until late December, she said.
Schub moved from New York to the District at the height of the pandemic, taking over an agency whose doors were shuttered to the Jewish community it was meant to serve.
The center has begun a search for a successor, said Board President Dan Hirsch.
Schub said her 10-year-old daughter was diagnosed with an eating disorder, and that by moving back to New York, her daughter would be surrounded by supportive family and friends.
“My daughter is the most important thing in the world to me,” Schub said on Tuesday. “I wish to set her up for success. This is a family-first moment.”
In an email to the Edlavitch community on July 1, a day after Schub announced her resignation, Hirsch said the agency’s leaders “support her decision without reservation and have committed to do all we can to make this an easy transition for her.”
Hirsch said he has set up a search committee and retained a search firm to find Schub’s successor. The search will be nationwide, he told WJW. “We have been advised that six months should be enough to have a successful search.”
Schub will be on the job through Dec. 20. Hirsch said writing the story of her tenure at the Edlavitch JCC is premature. But the stamp she is leaving is clear enough.
“She steered us through COVID and expanded our reach,” he said. The “vaccine popups” during the pandemic were examples of how the center reached out to the neighboring community, bringing food and entertainment even as it made COVID shots available to a widening circle of recipients.
The popup for 3 and 4 year olds was held on June 26. The following day, some of those children returned for the opening day of camp.
“We are tremendously sad that her term will end much earlier than we had imagined,” Hirsch said in his email, “and are so appreciative of Dava for how she has cultivated and strengthened the EDCJCC community.”
See also:
Schub named new Edlavitch DCJCC chief
