By Dylan Singer
Last week, we had a session with Dr. Stephen Hazan Arnoff. He is the former Director of the JCC Association and talked to us about opportunities for us in the American Jewish professional world. He did this though talking to us about our purpose, differentiating between education and training, and discussing our communities, paths, and futures. I found that the community part was most interesting as he was able to talk about his personal experience in the JCC world. He talked about a change in the JCC model. Originally, it was formed as a place for Jews to gather and provide them with services that they couldn’t get elsewhere; over time, the institutions have evolved to a place where some JCC’s are not even a majority Jewish. I was very surprised by this because I have always thought of the JCC as a place for Jews with others interspersed, but the JCC has evolved over time and has taken in non-Jews in order to make more of an impact in the larger community. It is necessary for organizations to evolve with the times, and I think that the JCC was a great example of how a Jewish organization can make a change and become a community organization with Jewish ties.
Dr. Arnoff also demonstrated a “case study” in which he had Jake and Lara talk about what they want to do in life and together we thought through some of the possible ways to get there. This was interesting because he showed that there are many ways to get to the same place and this was very comforting. I have been here for over three months and have been trying to figure out exactly where I am going to land in my professional life. I think that, for me, it is much easier to know where I will end up in the long term, but I am unsure of how I will get there. There are many ways to get to this place, but what Stephen Hazan Arnoff showed us is that there is not only one right way. Each experience that you have, whether it be formal skills learned on a job or just finding your place in an organization, will help lead you to your place.
As I begin to think about what post-college life will bring for me, I am thinking about countless possibilities that lie in front of me. Should I try to get a job, spend a year trying to develop myself and learn more, or go straight into grad school? I don’t think there is a right answer because all have their pros and cons, but what Dr. Hazan Arnoff taught me is that no matter what I choose, it is important to develop skills and apply them to my next opportunity. This is, in a large part, what I am doing here on the Nachshon Project. I am learning a lot, expanding my horizons, meeting incredible people, and experiencing Israel in a way that I hadn’t before. Although I am having an exciting time, it is important for me to think about how I can bring this experience back home with me.
