The CJN recently reported on five young Canadians who received Wexner Graduate Fellowships.
The fellowship is designed to enable a select group of aspiring Jewish professionals to engage in full-time study leading toward careers in the rabbinate, Jewish education, Jewish professional leadership or academic Jewish studies. What is most remarkable about this year’s class is the prevalence of Canadians. Five of the 20 fellows, a quarter of the class, are Canadian.
It’s not only in the Wexner Fellowship that Canadians are disproportionally represented. Last year, a third of the students in the Hornstein graduate program in Jewish communal service at Brandeis University were Canadians, and there is similarly skewed representation of Canadians in a variety of rabbinical schools and Jewish studies programs across America.
The trend speaks to the tremendous success of our education system. Young Canadians are interested in Jewish studies and communal service. We are fortunate that our community has fostered a culture where being a teacher or rabbi, federation executive or camp director does not hold the negative stigma found in some corners, but rather these professions are treated with respect and even reverence. High engagement rates of day schools, summer camps and other educational programs expose our youth to professionals who model a passion for their work and a commitment to community that filters into their students’ professional lives. I know that many of the reasons for my own career as a Jewish educator were my mentors both inside and out of the classroom.
It is understandable, and in may ways important, that our future leaders spend time studying in America. Notwithstanding strong programs in Jewish studies at many Canadian universities and programs specifically in Jewish education at York University and McGill University, we do not offer programs in rabbinical studies or communal service to train the future leaders of our community. By studying in America, our future rabbis and educators glean valuable lessons from communities abroad that they can bring back to Canada, and they are given the opportunity to study from the masters of their field in some of the richest Jewish settings available. Opportunities such as these would never be available in similar programs in Canada.
My concern, however, is that these young leaders don’t come back. Time after time, I attend conferences on Jewish education populated by Canadians working in America. After studying in the United States, many find lucrative jobs and continue their career south the boarder. Many of these ex-pats have told me that they want to come back to Canada but have difficulty finding appropriate jobs or the right “fit” in the Canadian community. We are experiencing a brain drain of the best and brightest of our professional Jewish minds.
Few initiatives have been designed to stem this tide. Canadian Friends of Yeshiva University runs the only program I have can identify, offering significant scholarships to Canadian students to study at YU conditional on a commitment to teach in Canada upon graduation. The return on such an investment is a cadre of teachers, fluent in the unique character of Canadian Judaism but with the knowledge and skills of training at a flagship American institute.
It is time to create a “Wexner Fellowship” for Canadians – a fellowship that will allow our best and brightest to hone their skills at the best schools in America, Israel or elsewhere, with a commitment to return to serve the Canadian community.
In addition to funding studies, the fellowship can offer seminars exploring the unique needs of the Canadian community, build a network of future Canadian leaders while facilitating networking with current professional and lay leaders, and assist in job placement upon graduation. Most importantly, it will serve as an investment in building a strong, vibrant and committed Canadian community in the future.
