The Educator’s Emotional, Spiritual, and Psychological Toolkit

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When Jewish educators were recently asked what role they have most been tasked with in the past two years, they unanimously answered “therapist.”  We are not therapists, yet, we are called upon to offer comfort and spiritual guidance at a time when everyone around us, ourselves included, is depleted. This 3-part series developed skills in appropriate ways to help support others.  

This series equipped participants with the following: 

• An understanding of the effect of the past two years on us and those around us 

• Tools for checking in on your students and yourself 

• Strategies for living with communal grief 

• Dealing with extended periods of crisis 

Facilitator:

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Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman | Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman is currently a major gifts officer for the Union for Reform Judaism, after serving Congregation Kol Tikvah in Parkland, Florida for five years as the Director of Lifelong Learning. During that time she supported a community dealing with a terrible tragedy, and the mental health effects from its aftermath. Prior to that position she served her alma mater, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, as the Program Coordinator of the Certificate in Jewish Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adults. Rabbi Stollman has extensive experience working for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and its affiliates such as camps, the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) in mental health and education roles.  

Rabbi Stollman also has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University in addition to Rabbinic Ordination and Master’s Degree in Religious Education from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is a proud URJ Camp Coleman alumna attending many summers to serve on staff and faculty. She is a graduate of the University of Florida. Rabbi Stollman is also a member of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators, Women’s Rabbinic Network, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. In her free time Rabbi Stollman enjoys health coaching, teaching Pilates, running Zoom tech for the URJ and congregations, playing mah jongg, singing and strumming her guitar,  and spending time with her husband, David, and their three children.