The Center for Small Town Jewish Life’s rabbinical student apprenticeship program offers a unique twist on the classic small-town student pulpit. Each apprentice works in a diverse and vibrant community large enough to support its own clergy but small enough to crave the energy and excitement for building Jewish life that rabbinical and cantorial students bring. Apprentices receive intensive mentorship from a multi-denominational team of rabbis who have chosen to establish their careers in Maine’s small Jewish communities. They also learn about the distinctive dynamics of small-town Jewish life in sessions with scholars and communal professionals.
Over several visits across the year to a single congregation, apprentices lead services, teach children and adults, and establish meaningful relationships with congregants. In addition, apprentices offer programs in Jewish communities across the state, including at Maine’s colleges. These include programs related to a project with potential for lasting impact that the intern selects and executes in consultation with local rabbinical mentors.
The insights and leadership strategies that apprentices gain are relevant in Jewish communities of all sizes. Maine provides an especially valuable training ground for the next generation of American rabbis. Our state’s rabbis and lay leaders are master entrepreneurs, experts at finding ways to do more with less. They have much to teach our apprentices about innovation, collaboration, and the socioeconomic realities of small Jewish communities. Because small-town congregations lack large support staffs, these apprentices will develop practical rabbinical skills in everything from teaching and pastoral care to budget management and cooking. Apprentices will also experience the many ways in which non-Jews play important roles in sustaining vibrant Jewish life in diverse communities.
Anne Prusky is a second-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Pennsylvania. She received her bachelor’s degree in Sociocultural Linguistics, with foci in Deaf and Jewish Studies, from Brown University. Anne is passionate about issues of social justice, tikkun olam, and ways to make the world better for our neighbors. A teacher at heart, Anne loves collaborating with kids and adults alike to uncover more faces of Torah. In her free time, she loves reading science fiction, playing with her cats, and getting her hands dirty in the garden. Anne is delighted to be working this year with Rabbi Erica Asch of Temple Beth El, and the Augusta Jewish community.
