When it’s time for an assistant pulpit rabbi to move on to his next opportunity, he usually has to move hundreds of miles away. But when the time came for Rabbi Neal Schuster to leave The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah a couple of years ago, he got lucky and didn’t even have to move his family into a new home. Instead he drives about 70 miles round trip to serve as the rabbi/senior Jewish educator for the University of Kansas Hillel in Lawrence.
(For information about the adult education class at the Jewish Community Center, see below.)
As a member of the Hillel programming team along with Executive Director Jay Lewis, Malinda Kimmel and Carly Brown, he said he works within lots of different contexts. Those include being an educator and an adviser. He truly loves all the aspects of this job.
“I really love what I’m doing. I’ve said more than once this is the kind of work that I became a rabbi to do. I’m very happy,” Rabbi Schuster said.
He finds his work with students both interesting and exciting. He’s led students on Taglit-Birthright Israel trips during winter break the past two years, and even though he’s lived in Israel, those trips have made an impact on his life.
“You get to see Israel through the eyes of those seeing it for the first time,” he said. “It’s also amazing that a place like KU is bringing a full busload of 40 students to Israel. It’s definitely a sign of the strength of the Jewish community here,” said the Seattle native, who lives in Overland Park with his wife, Tamara, and their three children.
In an advisory role, he works with students both individually and in small groups. His work with students, he said, is fun, interesting and exciting.
“The one-on-one conversations and the small groups are both very powerful because you get to connect and interact with the students on a deeper level in a lot of ways. You really get to see an impact that you are having in their lives,” he said.
He especially loves getting to know the students, and hear their own personal stories. In fact that was one thing that drew him to “this work” in the first place.
“When kids go away to college, it’s a mystery to most people what happens there. I have this opportunity to really see into that in a very powerful way,” Rabbi Schuster said.
The teacher
While he’s not the only rabbi in Lawrence — there’s also Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel at KU Chabad — students visit with him both for pastoral reasons as well as educational ones.
“Sometimes students have Jewish questions they want to talk to me about or they want to discuss a personal issue they are dealing with,” Rabbi Schuster said.
“Other times they come for academic help. Sometimes they want input or advice about a paper. Sometimes they want to interview me. And they don’t want help with exclusively Jewish classes, which is kind of fun,” he continued.
This year he actually taught a class through the university as well, called “The Story of the Talmud.” He’ll be condensing that semester-long class so it can be presented for adults at the Jewish Community Center beginning May 16. (For more information, see box)
The course is framed as the story of the Talmud versus a typical intro class because Rabbi Schuster thought it would be an interesting way to approach the material.
“At one end of the timeline we have the emergence of the Torah and the biblical text. At the other end we have the emergence of these phenomena that are the Talmuds. The question really is what happened in between? How did we get from the Bible on one hand to this absolutely unique collection of texts of this utterly unique literature at the other end of the timeline? We also discussed what has happened since, how it has been used and understood over the ages,” he said.
Teaching the class in KC is a way for Rabbi Schuster to maintain his connection with the community.
“I’ve always loved the teaching that I’ve done in Kansas City and the timing works out right now for me to do it. I really enjoy teaching this course and I think it is something the people in Kansas City will enjoy as well,” he said.
Developing Jewish adults
Besides building a strong and robust Jewish life on the KU campus, Rabbi Schuster pointed out that KU Hillel’s other main mission is to develop Jewish adults.
“One of the challenges of that is that we don’t get to see the extent of our successes until several years down the line. But that just makes it that much more important for us to maintain those connections and relationships when students leave school,” he said.
He explained that oftentimes students will turn to Hillel staffers for advice or guidance, whether it’s for a job search or a new community. No matter what, Rabbi Schuster said, “we become a very important part of their lives.”
In the short time the rabbi has been with KU Hillel, he said he has developed many personal relationships with the students. So his heart feels a little tug as the seniors prepare to venture out on their own.
“It’s kind of sad to see them go but it’s also very exciting to see them going off to somewhere to do something.”
The Story of the Talmud’
Four classes taught by Rabbi Neal Schuster will be held from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. on Mondays, May 16 and 23 and June 6 and 13. Register online by visiting www.jcckc.org or call Gail Odgers at (913) 327-8002. Those interested in receiving e-mails regarding the Department of Adult Jewish Learning should also contact Odgers.