Caldwell educator earns her field's 'Oscar'
Covenant Award recognizes talents, innovative programs
, NJJN Staff Writer | 06.12.08

When Melanie Genkin of North Caldwell told Susan Werk that she always felt like a "foreigner" in synagogue, Werk answered, "I can teach you." But Genkin, a mother and attorney, could not make the educator's regular classes. So Werk rearranged her schedule around Genkin's and took her on one-on-one. Two years later, they're still learning on Genkin's schedule, and two other adult students have joined the class.

	Susan Werk, educational director at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, has won the 2008 Covenant Award.

It's just the way Susan Werk sees her job. "It's a calling," she said. "I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I think I tapped into whatever gift we all have."

Those who know Werk, educational director at Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex in Caldwell, will also tell you that it wouldn't occur to her not to rearrange her life for other people.

Just after Shavuot, the Covenant Foundation has announced that Werk is one of three 2008 Covenant Foundation Award recipients. Winners each receive $36,000 plus $5,000 for their host institution. Werk is among just a handful of synagogue education directors to receive the prestigious award in its 18-year history. The foundation presents the award annually to three people in the world of Jewish education it considers "exceptional educators."

This year's other recipients were Diana Ganger, program director at the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative in Glen Elyn, Ill.; and Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, dean of Yeshiva Darchei Noam in Monsey, NY.

Rabbi Alan Silverstein of Agudath Israel called it the "Academy Award" for Jewish education. "It's an amazing award. For a synagogue educator to get this award is an unbelievable recognition by peers," he said. "It's an extraordinary award for which she could not be more deserving — and we couldn't be more proud."

Harlene Winnick Appelman, executive director of The Covenant Foundation and 1991 award recipient, said the winners, possessing "energy and intelligence and vision," are educators "whose deep love for the Jewish people, whose generosity, and whose passion for teaching enrich the lives of everyone around them."

"Susan, Yakov, and Diana honor us by the work they do, and we are proud to celebrate them," she said in a prepared statement.

Werk, 46, said she was "overwhelmed" by the news. She spoke with NJJN in a classroom at the Justus Buick site in West Caldwell, where synagogue activities have taken place during the major renovation of its building.

Since she arrived at Agudath Israel in 1990, Werk's responsibilities have expanded from religious school principal to educational director to synagogue educator. She has created a vast array of projects and programs that allow everyone at the synagogue to find their own portal into Judaism. Her signature programs, according to Silverstein, revolve around Shabbat. They also happen to be her favorite.

"Shabbat is a big day here," she said. "Shabbat is the center of Jewish time, and having programming that reflects that is something I'm proud of." Her Shabbat model offers something "for every stage and every age," offering parallel services and experiences for all age groups.

A close second for her is the monthly women's Rosh Hodesh group and its annual women's seder. But the more Werk thought about it, the more programs she listed, with a tone in her voice underscoring her deep attachment to them all, not as programs — but as vehicles to bring out the best from Agudath Israel members, herself, and everyone she teaches. Why does she love the Rosh Hodesh group, for example? "For the women. I really like the women. They're so smart. I love the conversations that come out of it," she said.

Werk is constantly experimenting and innovating. In typical Werk style, before she would even discuss her approach, she insisted on giving credit to someone else — in this case, the congregation's lay leaders and clergy. Because they give the educator the means to try new things, she said, "I can experiment in a nonjudgmental way. So my vision is all over the map: If this doesn't work, I'll try that; if that doesn't work, I'll try this."

Currently, she said, she has embraced a philosophy calling for multiple entry points to bring people into Judaism. "We really are trying to reach out to people where they are and bring them in and show them there's a place for them here," Werk said. "If cultural Judaism is where people are at, provide cultural Judaism; if it's text study, let's sit and study text; if it's drinking coffee and shmoozing, find ways to do that. People are really departmentalized today, but Judaism is not departmentalized; it's in every fiber, and you show them how it can be at the gym, in medical ethics, in business," she said.

Werk admitted with a blush and a smile that she is still at her first job. She met Silverstein when his son was a camper at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and she was his rosh edah, or division head. Silverstein, who said he immediately saw her potential, "wooed me to Caldwell," said Werk.

She was still a student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she would eventually earn a master's degree in Jewish education. As soon as she finished, she came to Caldwell. And, she said, since then, "I'm a rosh edah every day."

Over the years, many of the innovative programs that have come to agencies of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ and area synagogues have had her handprints on them. These have included designing and creating the leadership institute, a religious school principals' mentoring project with the Jewish Education Service of North America; and writing a pre-bar/bar mitzva manual for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Joan Bronspiegel Dickman, director of Early Childhood Initiatives at the Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life in Whippany, who has worked with Werk for 18 years, called her "a leader, pioneer, mentor, role model, and friend," to those she works with in the community and beyond, and "an educational pied piper to all age groups."

The programs Werk develops are most often hands-on and incorporate an informal component, something she internalized at Camp Ramah. These include, for students, Hebrew immersion classes, peer tutoring, and a mother-daughter book group.

Under her guidance, preteen and teen programs at the synagogue have flourished. The Kadima and USY chapters, the Chai Prozdor high school program, and NOAM peer group are just some of the activities that have attracted hundreds of the congregation's youth.

The adults in the congregation are not neglected; Werk offers a wide-ranging series of classes for them as well, including God and Spirituality, weekly parsha instruction, Jewish parenting courses, and — one of her favorites — If You Pray for Rain, Do You Have to Carry an Umbrella?

Every summer since 1994, she has led a successful family trip to Israel — a total of more than 100 families to date.

Werk has sought challenges beyond the congregation, teaching at the Melton School, a Hebrew University-developed program that offers serious learning to adults; serving on the board of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ Women's Department; studying at Yad Vashem; teaching on missions to Cherkassy, Ukraine; and speaking at synagogues across the community.

The seeds of her career were sown as a child, she said, when the synagogue was her second home in Spring Valley, NY. Her father was gabbai, her mother was president of the sisterhood, and, she said, it didn't hurt that she developed "a huge crush" on an educator when she was a teenager. She started teaching in a religious school while she was still in college, she said, finding her calling.

Though her passion for what she does oozes out of every fiber of her being, she said the biggest challenge she faces is apathy — from students, teachers, everyone — and the kind of intimidation Genkin felt before taking classes with Werk. "People view synagogue like I view the gym. I don't know what to wear; I'm not sure I know the right steps. I'm not sure I know the language. I'll push it off until tomorrow."

It's that same fear of not fitting in and feeling comfortable in synagogue that keeps people away and that she aims to conquer. And, she said, Judaism is always there, "and it's for your soul. It's not the gym."

In typical Susan Werk fashion, although she isn't sure what precisely she will do with the award money, she said she is certain it will be used "to further the vision of Jewish education that I have embraced" throughout the Agudath Israel community.

Meanwhile, Ben Roth, a 16-year-old at Agudath Israel and a Ramah camper, expressed his enthusiasm for Werk recently by telling her, "You know, Susan, you could be a rosh edah."

Local stories posted courtesy of the New Jersey Jewish News