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August 6, 2004/Av 19 5763, Vol. 55, No. 46
Rabbi brings wealth of experience to Beth El
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Beth El Congregation has hired an education director.
Rabbi Barb Moskow most recently worked at Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn., for six years as youth and education director. After visiting friends who live in the Valley several times, she decided she'd like to relocate here.
"It seemed like a good time to make a move and I decided that Phoenix was the place I wanted to be," she said.
Moskow began at Beth El last month, and her responsibilities include religious school, adult education and congregational family education.
Despite her short time in the Valley, Moskow has many plans in the works for Beth El's education department, including field trips and informal learning to appeal to a variety of children.
"A good Jewish education really uses a variety of techniques and learning styles," she said. "There's no one right way to teach or wrong way to teach - you really need a combination of everything. What appeals to one student won't work for another. ... That's why we need to provide a lot of experiences."
She also plans to incorporate a retreat program for the synagogue's third through seventh graders.
"Spending Shabbat going on a retreat gives them an opportunity to learn in a different way through socialization with other Jewish kids, and seeing how together they can create Shabbat or a Jewish experience for themselves," she explained.
Other plans include a van tour of historic Jewish Phoenix, a series of lifecycle field trips, and a children's learning minyan on Saturday mornings.
"We're really going to do some things that we can rely on people in the community and experiential things to go along with book learning," she said.
Moskow has been working in Jewish education since she was 15, she said, starting with teaching religious school. She has a bachelor's degree in religion and sociology from Webster University in St. Louis, and a master's degree in Jewish education from the University of Judaism. She attended The Academy for Jewish Teligion in New York and was privately ordained.
She said she's never had an interest in being a pulpit rabbi.
"I went to rabbinical school because I was interested in learning and studying and I think it's important for people in education to continue to educate themselves," she said.
Moskow will reside in Phoenix in a house she recently purchased, with plenty of extra space for her hobby - collecting wind-up toys. Her collection numbers close to 5,000 pieces, and although they're currently in storage, she plans to construct custom shelves to display them.
"I have toys from as far back as 1910," she said. "I have toys from all over the world - France, Germany, Russia, Thailand, Mexico - anywhere that they've made them, I try to collect something."
Moskow can be reached at Beth El at 602-944-3359, ext. 223.
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