Rabbi Jonny Gordon (Courtesy of Rabbi Jonny Gordon)
Rabbi Jonny Gordon’s passion is finding and creating foundational moments for teenagers as they try to navigate the complicated world around them and are developing their Jewish identities.
The Bala Cynwyd resident has lived this passion at Kohelet Yeshiva since 2013 as the director of experiential education and a teacher of Jewish studies at the high school level. Gordon is also the director of teen programming at Lower Merion Synagogue.
What are your responsibilities as director of experiential education and a Jewish studies teacher?
It’s a pretty fun blend of both formal and informal education. The formal side is just classroom teaching. Teaching classes to high school students, Gemara or Tanach or Halacha, Jewish law, depending on what they need every year. The informal side is I’m one of two people that run the Student Activities team. I’m coordinating all sorts of student life outside of the classroom, whether it’s community service, Shabbatons, working with the student council to create fun programming.
What really lights me up as an educator, is sort of that balance where I can have the classroom teaching elements … and hopefully inspiring students through that, but also an equally important part of a teenager’s journey is the Jewish communal piece, feeling part of the Jewish community, Jewish identity, Jewish pride. And I think a lot of that comes with the experiences they have outside of the classroom, but within the Kohelet community. Being able to help create that experience for them is something that’s meaningful for me.
What do you do at Lower Merion Synagogue?
I would say maybe close to half of the students that go to Lower Merion Synagogue are ones that I see also in Kohelet, but there are a lot of students from different schools, other Jewish private schools, some public schools, that come to Lower Merion Synagogue. It’s sort of a big-tent Orthodox shul, so I’m able to see the broader teen Jewish community every Shabbat. I coordinate and run the teen minyan, which I think is the only Orthodox teen-run minyan in Lower Merion. I try to empower the teens and sort of guide them to lead it.
What got you interested in education?
The first place [I got into education] was probably back when I was working in a camp called Camp Stone. … That was the first time being a counselor in that setting where I was leaving the bubble of the community that I grew up in, to see the impact you can have and the ability to help other younger people find their place in the community and grow and create the relationships to really help people strive within a Jewish community and create a strong Jewish identity. When I experienced that around the end of high school, beginning of college, that’s something that I was very passionate about.
Why teach teenage/high school age kids?
High school is the age that I was drawn to the most. Often, they struggle the most with questions and where they fit in the global community and have more identity questions. [I want] to help guide them and let them have their own Jewish journey but be able to be a mentor for them. … Now, especially when the Jewish community is so othered by the rest of the world, it’s so important to help these teenagers feel that there’s something bigger than themselves, that they have a sense of belonging, and to really give them the confidence to be proud Jews as they grow up.
How have you evolved as a teacher during your career?
When I first started out, I was a lot more focused on teaching a class, getting lessons planned, making sure everything’s perfect, like the way they teach you in school how to do it. When you eventually get into becoming a teacher, you very quickly realize that you’re not really seeing a class or teaching students. Obviously you have to prepare and everything like that is important, but ultimately, you’re creating relationships, and you’re also learning and hopefully inspiring the students to become lifelong independent learners and to gain skills.
What’s something people might not know about you?
I do enjoy watching sports, but especially fantasy sports. On the side, I do some editing and writing for a fantasy sports website. I think it’s always fun to have a nice little hobby on the side. And even though I’m a rabbi, I can also do other things. … It’s hard to find time to do stuff outside of the work-life balance. My main job is here at Kohelet and LMS, my second job is being a dad and a husband, which I love, obviously, but a lot of time it’s fun to have outlets especially that make you feel young. A fantasy baseball writer — that’s my little secret online side hustle.