BMitzvah Education Associate

Position Overview

The BMitzvah Education Associate at Mishkan Chicago plays a pivotal role in guiding students through the learning journey of their BMitzvah ceremonies. Primarily focusing on Hebrew instruction and ceremony preparation, they engage students in the six-month period leading up to their BMitzvahs, fostering fluency and comfort in prayer while helping make connections between their own lived experience and Jewish rituals and teachings. 

The BMitzvah Education Associate's responsibilities include scheduling and conducting tutoring sessions, creating tailored prep materials such as recordings of Torah portions and prayers, and maintaining and creating students' records and progress. Additionally, you'll attend Torah services alongside BMitzvah students, ensuring their seamless integration into community rituals. As an Assistant Educator, you'll extend your support to both the BMitzvah cohort and students in the 6th and 8th grades, offering guidance, assistance, and organization to enrich their educational experiences and spiritual journeys. This position is integral to our team as it allows us to provide our students and families deep learning experiences around BMitzvah, prayer, and torah.

What You'll Do:

Hebrew Tutor and Ceremony Prep (70%- approximately 20 hours per week)

• Tutors each BMitzvah student with a scheduled date at Mishkan (approximately 15-30 per year) in the 6 months before their BMitzvah 
• Engages students in the process of building fluency and comfort in the act of prayer
• Helps students form meaningful connections between their own lived experience and Jewish prayer, ritual and torah.
• Assigns Torah readings for each BMitzvah service in communication with BMitzvah family, schedules sessions with students, and communicates regularly with families 
• Creates all prep materials for BMitzvah including Torah portions and chanted prayers, maintains documents of each BMitzvah service and tracks progress for students
• Attends Torah service for each BMitzvah student (1-2 per month from 10am-12pm) 
• Attends yearly 4th and 5th grade BMitzvah Orientations

Assistant Educator for BMitzvah Cohort (10%)

• Assistant teacher for monthly meetings of Kehilat BMitzvah (KBM) cohort made up of current 7th graders and their families
• Sends regular emails to KBM families reminding them of cohort meeting dates and upcoming BMitzvahs

Assistant Educator for 6th and 8th Graders (20%)

• Supports weekly 6th grade fundamentals class taught by Director of Youth and Teen Experience
• Helps students who need one on one attention, assists with material preparation 

What You'll Bring:

• Experience working with and a deep love of teens 
• 2-3 years of formal or informal Jewish teaching (camp, Hebrew school, day school)
• Knowledge of trope and Conservative style Jewish worship
• Comfort with singing 
• Excellent time management and ability to manage workflow with multiple stakeholders
• Strong organization ability and attention to detail
• Strong communication skills, ability to email teens and their parents about scheduling repeatedly with warmth, patience and humor
• Experience with Google docs and other GSuite tools

Salary, benefits and why it's great to work here:

• The salary for this position is $50,000-55,000, commensurate with experience and education.
• A competitive benefits package including 12 weeks paid parental leave, subsidized health insurance with a 100% employer-covered option and a defined benefit contribution to spouse/dependents, dental and vision covered 100% by employer; a 401k retirement plan with a 4% match after one year of employment. 
• 15 vacation days, 10 sick days, and 4 mental health days with office closures for major Jewish holidays and US holidays. We close the week of Thanksgiving and for Winter Break.
• A commitment to a positive and collaborative staff culture. For more on why it's great to work here, please see our workplace values (
• Generous professional development funds for full-time employees

Where You Work :

Hybrid work environment with our main office located at 4001 N. Ravenswood Avenue in Chicago as well as holiday and prayer service venues across Chicago. 

This position requires the following availability: 

• Sunday-Wednesday from 4pm-8pm for scheduled virtual Hebrew tutoring
• Thursdays from 4pm-8pm for in person classes for 6th and 8th graders at Mishkan HQ
• Monthly Sunday classes for BMitzvah cohort at Mishkan HQ
• Attendance at students' BMitzvah ceremonies (1-2 Saturday mornings each month) 10am-12pm

To Apply:

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, applications submitted prior to June 20, 2024 will be given priority.

Not sure you meet 100% of our qualifications? Research shows that men apply for jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria. Systemic inequities in hiring have caused women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ folks, and others to apply to jobs only if they meet every requirement. We encourage you to break that statistic and apply, as no one ever meets 100% of the qualifications. We look forward to your application. 

Mishkan is an equal employment opportunity employer and does not discriminate against qualified applicants or employees with respect to any terms or conditions of employment on account of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, creed, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related condition, citizenship, military service status, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law or local ordinance. When necessary, Mishkan will reasonably accommodate employees and applicants with known physical or mental disabilities or medical conditions if the person is otherwise qualified to safely perform all of the essential functions of the position.