Milwaukee’s two Conservative synagogues inaugurated their separate educational paths by hiring new education directors, both of whom officially began work on July 1.
As The Chronicle reported in the March 11 issue, the former Beth Torah Religious School, the three-year old joint project of Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and Congregation Beth Israel, ended with the past school year, with the two synagogues deciding to develop their own educational programs.
Of the two directors, Samara Shuster-Edelson is the newcomer to the community. She arrived at Beth Israel from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, with a master’s degree in Jewish education and a Master of Business Administration degree in non-profit management.
Naomi Berkowitz, on the other hand, has already established her presence in the region. She is director of the Wisconsin Child and Family Guidance Art Therapy Center in Port Washington, and is the wife of Beth El Cantor Jerome Berkowitz, who joined the synagogue’s staff in 1994.
And each has her own philosophy of what the goal of Jewish education will be at her synagogue.
In a telephone interview, Shuster-Edelson said, “It is my hope I can help inspire love of Jewish learning” and “inspire people to be lifelong Jewish learners. And I see the way to doing that as providing quality Jewish educational opportunities.”
Berkowitz, on her part, appears to want to take a more synagogue-focused approach.
“I want students of all ages to feel confident and comfortable in the synagogue,” she said in a telephone interview. “When they go into the world on their own, they will have a quality education that will offer them the ability to walk into any synagogue anywhere and feel comfortable, competent and confident.”
Naturally, they bring differing backgrounds to their positions. Berkowitz has previous experience as an education director. She functioned in that role in the synagogue in Portland, Ore., where her husband served before they came to Beth El.
Though fresh out of school, Shuster-Edelson also has a long record of teaching. In fact, she said her teaching experience, as well as her interest in the field, goes back to her childhood.
In the small Pennsylvania town in which she grew up, she and her brother were the only Jewish children in their school district, and so “from a very early age, I was accustomed to teaching about Judaism.”
Both directors, however, will have similarly broad responsibilities, covering not just the usual religious school classes for children, but also adult education and family educational programs and projects.
Shuster-Edelson added that she also will be in charge “of all youth activities,” including the Kadima and United Synagogue Youth groups at the synagogue, and will also lead the “junior congregation” and family Shabbat services.
Berkowitz added that her program will involve student participation and leading of religious services, including a monthly Kids In Shabbat Service (KISS), in which students and families will lead services.
And both appear to fit with the distinctive climates and visions of the two institutions, according to their respective synagogue presidents.
Shuster-Edelson “brings to us a great excitement and passion for learning,” said Donald Bass, Beth Israel’s president. “Her hiring enables us to expand the educational opportunities that we are able to provide for our entire congregation” and “she is full of energy to do all these things.”
And “the entire point” of hiring Berkowitz “is to develop a family education center that touches on a variety of things beyond just having a school for the kids,” said Beth El president Robert Rudman.
Berkowitz “comes with past experience, having done that before with a high degree of success at a previous congregation,” Rudman continued. “And she has a close, warm relationship with the congregants and knows many of the families. She seemed to be a good fit.”
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