How Do You Cultivate Jewish Self-Confidence? Jaimie Krass
As director of youth programming at Keshet, Jaimie Krass strives to be the kind of educator who made a difference in her own life, promoting self-discovery using the learner-centered constructivist approach she mastered at The William Davidson School of Jewish Education.
During the first week studying Hebrew at the University of Haifa where Jaimie Krass (MA 2019) was studying abroad on what she called a bit of a whim, she reached out to her teacher requesting to switch to a lower Hebrew level. “I had taken one semester of Hebrew at the University of Florida, and I felt like I was understanding 20% of what my professor was saying,” she remembered. “Mina, the teacher, would not let me drop. She insisted that I stay in the class and through our shared love of the arts, we developed a close relationship, and I ended up thriving in her class.”
Finding a teacher who believed in her made all the difference to Krass, and she aspires to replicate this in her current role as Director of Youth Programs at Keshet.
“When I think about what educators do, I think about the pivotal moment in our tradition when Bnei Yisrael was crossing the Jordan with the Torah they received at Sinai. While scores of people approached the river, I imagine there were some who stood to the side, reaching out their hands to support those who slipped along the way,” said Krass. “That’s who I aspire to be through my work at Keshet–someone who provides support and motivation to others as they make their own way to their Promised Lands.”
Like Mina, her Ulpan teacher, Krass wants to promote self-confidence, self-worth, and self-discovery. These are the features of professional development that have made an impact on her own growth as a person and educator.
Having moved from Chicago to Florida in high school, Krass grew up with minimal Jewish affiliation and was involved in LGBTQ+ advocacy amidst a primarily right-wing, non-Jewish local population. This brought her to Keshet and her first connection to organized Jewish life.
Krass began her unexpected journey toward a career in Jewish education as an undergraduate when a stranger gave her a set of Shabbat candles on campus. “I watched a YouTube video on how to light them and quite literally, the fire caught,” said Krass.
Abroad in Israel was the first time Krass met scores of LGBTQ+ Jews, and she recalled attending a pro-peace demonstration in Tel Aviv’s Kikar Rabin where she witnessed a touching moment of solidarity between a gay rabbi and a Palestinian activist. “I realized that there were many ways of carving out a Jewish life, including ways that affirmed my own identities” she said.
When she moved to the mountains of Virginia after graduation, she formed a connection to the Hillel at Virginia Tech, whose director encouraged her to look for a job in Hillel. “Even though I had no formal Jewish leadership experience, they hired me at Muhlenberg College and for the first time, I got the sense that I might have something to contribute to the field of Jewish education,” said Krass.
Throughout Krass’ work at Hillel—she went on to work at Columbia/Barnard Hillel–she tried to do what others have done for her, “instill a sense of Jewish self-confidence,” she said. “In Hillel I exercised muscles I didn’t know I had; being in Jewish education gave me opportunities I didn’t even know I was craving and brought together all the pieces of Jewish life I hadn’t had.”
Working at Hillel in Morningside Heights, she learned about JTS and The William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education and enrolled in the MA program. “Studying and working at the same time enabled me to apply directly, in real time, what I was learning in class,”said Krass.
Krass was drawn to Davidson’s learner-center constructivist approach, an educational philosophy that aligns with her own personal and professional experience. She found at JTS a community of professors and classmates that fed her ambitions.
“At JTS we were all standing on the shoulders of giants. So many leaders in the Jewish world have their roots at JTS. The thirst and love of Jewish life is transcendentally powerful,” she said.
Krass found at Davidson professors who exposed her to both content and pedagogy. “The Multicultural Pedagogies course I took with Shira Epstein continues to shape how I see my work with Keshet,” she said. Courses with luminaries such as Barry Holtz, Sarah Wolf and Alex Sinclair shifted paradigms in Krass’ mind, and in Ofra Backenroth’s Arts and Exegesis course, the projects were experiential and innovative.
“Transformative learning takes place through action,” said Krass, who found the practicum among her most important courses. “Because I was working at the same time, on any given evening at Hillel I was able to directly apply what I had learned that day at Davidson.” Krass credits her practicum faculty, Backenroth and the late Dr. Rabbi Sarah Tauber z’’l, with cultivating the kind of reflection that supported Krass and her classmates to greater self-confidence in their own practice.
Krass now holds what she calls her dream job, at the intersection of her LGBTQ and Jewish identities. “The Keshet model is all about empowering youth to build their own communities and to tap into their own imaginings of the liberated world they deserve,” she said. “LGBTQ youth face more barriers to leadership and belonging in other youth groups than cisgender, heterosexual youth do; within Keshet, we strive to remove these barriers and empower youth to take the helm. The impact this has is profound. One hundred percent of youth who take on leadership in Keshet go on to serve as agents for change in their own communities.” In effect, Krass’ work at Keshet is emulating the model of effective professional development she herself has experienced.
About three years ago, following the sudden tragic loss of Dr. Rabbi Sarah Tauber, Krass was in touch with Backenroth who asked for her help leading the practicum for current Davidson MA students. Stepping into the shoes of her beloved teacher was not easy at first, but Krass found that being back around the practicum seminar table became one of her most important learning experiences.
“Professional development is any space that empowers you to learn more about yourself,” said Krass. “All professional development is about fostering a connection between yourself, your community, what you want to be, and what you want your community to be.” Back at Davidson, being with the cohort of students and workshopping their challenges, reflecting on shifting paradigms, Krass finds herself in the sweet spot of blending theory and practice.
Krass counts herself fortunate in being able to continue to enrich her professional life with ongoing reflective practice. “That is not baked in to most full-time jobs,” she said.
Thinking back to the image of those who played a helping role as Bnei Yisrael crossed the river, Krass identifies with the aspirational nature of education. “Confidence to try something new comes when you know that if you slip, someone will be there to support you,” she said. “You can’t give anyone a sense of self-worth, but you can create conditions and catalyze them to find it for themselves.”
Written by Suzanne Kling Langman
