MSDCS Youth Director Session

By Steven I. Weiss

On Tuesday, March 5th, the Max Stern Division of Communal Services sponsored a Young Israel Leadership Event featuring Brad Karasik, Director of Youth and Services Programming for the National Council of Young Israel.  Karasik shared his personal experiences in being a youth director for four years, and explained what types of experiences young hopefuls could expect to encounter.

Karasik recounted how becoming a youth director had not seemed a natural career choice for him as an undergraduate at Yeshiva.  Looking back upon his experiences as a youth director, Karasik referred to them as some of the “most important experiences” of his life.

Karasik outlined several benefits related to being a youth director.  These included the rewarding nature of youth work, the greater responsibility learned in doing such work, the chance to “make your mark” on a given community, and the opportunity to upgrade one’s resume.

He also listed a series of pitfalls that could be encountered in holding such a position.  Some that he listed included “people telling you what to do,” for which he advised learning various ways to appease such individuals; the fact that youth directors are often viewed as “the lowest on the totem pole” in synagogue administrations, for which he advised “selling the importance of youth” to the board.”  Karasik also said that shul politics could often be problematic.  He said that a problem that could arise from shul politics is that a youth director might have a subordinate youth leader “who beats kids, and you have to hire them because their parents are on the board.”  Karasik advised keeping a close eye on such leaders and that one should try to “hide them” by isolating them from potentially troubling situations.

Karasik closed the lecture by explaining the various levels of youth director jobs, at synagogues very small to very large.

Aspiring youth director Seth Nadel was pleased with Karasik’s lecture, saying, “I found it very helpful.  He gave a lot of insight into what being a youth director is the nitty gritty, both positive and negative.  He gave a good sense of what being a youth director is like.”