Jewish communal workers from northern and central New Jersey gathered around tables in the social hall at Temple Emanu-El of West Essex in Livingston. They compared notes on satisfactions and frustrations in their workplaces, and mostly agreed that they sometimes needed to charge their spiritual and professional batteries.

“In the Jewish communal field, people who go into a career with certain expectations at some point have a moment of crisis or realization where they question what it all means,” said Etzion Neuer, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s New Jersey region, who cochaired the program with Jeffrey Korbman, UJA Campaign director for the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

“Disappointments come about, whether they are challenges in dealing with the community, whether they are salary issues — people question their career choice.”

According to Neuer, issues concerning Jewish communal leadership were also raised in the Torah.

“The great Abraham and Moses also seemed to struggle. We’d like to think that when you work in the Jewish community there is a kind of higher purpose in your work. There is a thread of the divine that runs through our work, rather than just collecting a paycheck.”

Korbman described similar challenges in his introduction to the morning-long seminar.

“We have doubts. We struggle. We wonder,” he said. “We question what does God mean to us at this moment. It’s hard. It’s very hard because we cannot see God’s face.”

Guest speaker Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz, assistant rabbi at Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport, Conn., said the discussion would use text to reiterate the spiritual dimension of community fund-raising, organizing, and service.

“Because this is Jewish communal work, we are using Jewish texts, and seeing these texts of the Torah as guides for their journeys,” Gurevitz, who is also an associate at CLAL — The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, told NJ Jewish News. “People will highlight for themselves what perhaps in one sense they know is true, but when they are in the midst of the frustrations that come along with all of the work that they do, sometimes they lose sight of that.

“We often start out with very high ideals and hopes and visions of how we can help the community, how we can build the community, and how we can develop.”

Things change, however, as those hopes and visions meet reality.

“Then there are lots of things that get in the way — like funding issues or the personalities of whom we’re working with — such as people above us who are telling us there are different priorities right now. It is not that these are obstacles in the way. They are part of the way. It is not really ‘how do I deal with the obstacles? How do I make them go away?’ The issue is much more ‘how do I continue to feel good about my work? How do I continue to understand what my perspective is?’”

Felice Korman, women’s campaign director at the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, seconded those remarks in her address after the workshop sessions ended.

“It is very important to keep our larger goals and focus in mind in our work,” she said.

“When we think about our own calling and our own Lech Lecha moment and achieving what our goals and hopes and objective are and in facing challenges in the community, I think that we need to remember we have our own goals and visions but it is not all about us. What we are doing we are doing for a greater purpose.” Korman was referring to the Torah portion that can be translated as “Go forth.”

Barbara Weisbart, director of special events at the JCC of Central New Jersey, appreciated the opportunity to study Jewish texts.

“I certainly embrace a lot of Jewish values and serving the community, but I’m not text-oriented. It is interesting for me to hear other people relating to it, but I don’t have a religious background,” she said.

Erik Kessler, development director at Rutgers Hillel in New Brunswick, called the program “really important. Different members of our staff spend a half hour each week learning the Torah. This definitely fits in with what we do.”