Some Rabbinic Position Ideas as a Rabbinical Student

A couple of years ago, while still a student in rabbinical school, I was talking with my mother and came up with three different positions that would be interesting to take:
1) Disney World Rabbi - This position would be to supply a rabbi for Disney World primarily for providing kosher supervision on making various foods around the theme parks (probably primarily confection shops, but there may be a number of other possibilities that could easily be made kosher (aside from the meals that are kosher)), for officiating at weddings on Disney property, for helping put together prayer minyanim for travellers visiting the parks, and general availability for consultation/counselling. I haven't let go of this dream yet and it doesn't hurt that my current position has me living only 20 minutes away from Disneyland....
2) Work for Rabbi Shmuley Boteach - I didn't think there would be any sort of likelihood of this happening, but in the spring of my last year in rabbinical school, a position opened up in his organization and, lo and behold, I got an interview with Rabbi Shmuley! But I wasn't picked - I imagine that that was a smart decision: I probably wasn't ready for it yet. At least I hope I made a positive impression on him that he would think of hiring me down the road.
3) Director for the Center for Modern Torah Leadership - After having spent my summer of 2006 in Boston for the Summer Beit Midrash of the CMTL with Rabbi Klapper, I not only grew to appreciate him and his intelligence, but also generally the thrust of his initiative. For over a dozen years, his Summer Beit Midrash existed as the only program that he did aside from teaching. However, he then decided to branch out and create the CMTL, which had the SBM as its cornerstone and has since had several summer conferences of educators. I know that Rabbi Klapper has a vision of publishing a journal as well as, perhaps, a year-long learning program. That would be awesome, although he would need someone to direct those activities to free him up to work on his scholarship. That would be me. And although I did my last year of rabbinical school's internship with the CMTL - including running a program for it - there would need to be funding for such a position. Drumming up that much money in this economy: not going to happen. I'm still keeping this one in mind, as long as Rabbi Klapper would hire me (and money suddenly appears, as well).

Anyways, those are the three positions I had in mind but did not come to fruition. Ah well, I'm in sunny California, meeting lots of great people and working for the Jewish people :)

Wondering How Blogs Will Figure Into the Discussion: Summer Beit Midrash Press Release

I recently re-received this press release regarding this summer's Summer Beit Midrash in Boston (which I attended three years ago) and wondering if blogging is going to come up much:

THE CENTER FOR MODERN TORAH LEADERSHIP

Contact Anne Sendor FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tel: 781-784-5391 June 11, 2009

Email: ModernTorahleadership@gmail.com

THE CENTER FOR MODERN TORAH LEADERSHIP AWARDS 2009 SUMMER BEIT MIDRASH FELLOWSHIPS

2009 SBM will focus on the theme “Toward a Jewish Ethic for Journalism”

SHARON, MA: The Center for Modern Torah Leadership, the intellectual catalyst of Modern Orthodoxy, is proud to introduce the Fellows for its 2009 Summer Beit Midrash. Fellows include men and women from leading universities, yeshivot, and seminaries with advanced textual skills and a passionate commitment to learning Torah in an environment that welcomes the moral challenges of modernity as spiritual opportunities and sees recognition of each human beings as a Divine Image as a fundamental assumption and telos of Torah study.

The Summer Beit Midrash is an intense and exhilarating learning program that allows Fellows to pursue compelling questions with intellectual rigor and ethical integrity in the framework of a warm and challenging Orthodox community, and to experience themselves as active contributors to the halakhic conversation. This year's seminar, our thirteenth, will center on the theme "Toward an Orthodox Ethic for Journalism." It will run from July 6 – August 10 at Young Israel of Sharon, 100 Ames Street.

SBM is headed by CMTL Dean Rabbi Aryeh Klapper, with an array of distinguished guest lecturers including Rabbi Howard Jachter, author of Gray Matters Volumes 1-3 and a member of the Elizabeth Beit Din and of the RCA Halakhah Commission; Binyamin Appelbaum, reporter on national economic issues for the Washington Post, who, while at the Charlotte Observer, was among the first to spot the emerging foreclosure crisis; and Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, and former Boston Globe Ombudsman and Media Critic.

SBM Fellows will lead a variety of public learning opportunities during the seminar, including one-on-one study, thematic text-study groups, and formal classes. For more information, please contact Anne Sendor at ModernTorahleadership@gmail.com. For more information about CMTL and its programs, as well as for many terrific articles and audio and video classes, please see www.torahleadership.org.