Overview
sixth&i is seeking a full-time Rabbi, reporting to the Senior Rabbi, Executive Director of Jewish Life, to join our Jewish Life team to creatively, thoughtfully, and authentically contribute to our wide array of programs and community-building endeavors designed for those in their 20s and 30s.
This position offers a flexible schedule with some remote work but must be located in the Washington, DC area to facilitate two in-office days per week, plus on-site events and pastoral work as needed.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Education:
- Teach two nights per week utilizing a combination of existing Sixth & I curricula and new classes of your choosing that use Jewish wisdom to promote personal growth, community building, and a better world.
- Manage Sixth & I’s annual Jewish Welcome Workshop cohort and subsequent conversions.
Shabbat and Holiday programming:
- Create and lead meaningful, accessible prayer experiences for one Friday night Shabbat service per month.
- Create and lead a non-prayer-based shabbat experience one Friday night per month.
- Collaborate with Jewish Life Team to create innovative holiday programming.
- Design and lead High Holiday services for Erev Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre, Yom Kippur, and Neilah.
- Lead holiday programs for Jewish holidays (such as Chanukah, Tu B’Shvat, and Passover), as determined by Jewish Life Team planning.
- Co-lead Simchat Torah, Purim, and Shavuot programming with Sixth & I’s Senior Rabbi.
Community-building:
- Connect newcomers to Judaism–including those converting to Judaism, non-Jewish partners of Jews, and Jews not actively practicing–and to each other.
- Help build a connected and caring community for Sixth & I regulars.
- Officiate lifecycle events for community members as needed.
Pastoral care:
- Meet with students enrolled in Sixth & I’s range of intensive and introductory-level classes, as well as other spiritual seekers in need of rabbinic support and guidance.
WHO YOU ARE
- Experienced. You have at least four years of relevant post-seminary work experience and have a demonstrated record of turning ideas into reality by engaging others to support your vision.
- A self-starter. You demonstrate initiative and have a record of creating programs from scratch, proactively solving problems as they arise, and being communicative with others along the way.
- Radically welcoming. You create a safe space for a diversity of views and lived experiences. Though we encourage candidates from all denominations, you must permit mixed-sex seating in prayer services, accept Sixth & I conversions that are not performed under the auspices of a formal denomination, and be willing to officiate weddings for LGBTQIA+ and interfaith couples who are committed to building a Jewish household.
- A lifelong learner. You demonstrate fluency in Jewish texts, a deep love of teaching Torah, and a penchant for innovative learning modalities. You operate with a growth mindset and seek to understand different perspectives.
- Adaptable. You’re dynamic and engaging to a crowd on the bimah and approachable and compassionate one on one with community members seeking support. You’re both vulnerable and prophetic at Yom Kippur and silly and risqué at Purim.
- A team player. You are receptive to feedback and demonstrate care and concern for Sixth & I’s organizational reputation in your approach to work. You thrive in collaborative, team-oriented environments and know how to engage others to work together towards a common goal.
Sixth & I has a competitive benefits package that includes Parsonage, Health, Vision and Dental Insurance, Paid Vacation and Sick Leave, Retirement Savings w/ Matching Program, Pre-tax Transit Benefit, Paid Holidays, Parental Leave, Sabbatical Leave, and more. In addition to regular vacation time and summer Fridays, our office is closed the week of July 4th and between Christmas and New Year’s, as well as for select Jewish holidays.
HOW TO APPLY
We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis. To apply, please submit the following materials to jobs@sixthandi.org with your name and “Rabbi” in the subject line. No phone calls or emails please.
• Resume and cover letter
• Summary of your two favorite classes you have taught, plus any accompanying videos, class outlines, and text studies for each of them,
• Video of you giving a sermon (previously live recording in front of people preferred)
• Video or voice recording of you singing a niggun or tune you would teach to a group of newer-to-Judaism folks in their 20s and 30s
Anticipated hiring timeline:
• Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until Friday, March 21.
• Candidates will be contacted if there is an opportunity to be interviewed by Wednesday, March 26.
• There will be three rounds of interviews for this position:
o First round virtual interviews
o Second round virtual interviews
o Finalist in-person site visits at Sixth & I to participate in interviews and teach classes for staff and select community members
Sixth & I is an equal employment opportunity employer. Systemic inequities in hiring have caused many women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. If you don’t have all of the qualifications listed but are extremely organized, passionate about our mission, and believe you have applicable and transferable skills from other industries, we encourage you to apply for this job.
About Sixth & I
Sixth & I is a center for arts, entertainment, ideas, and Jewish life in Washington, DC. We inspire more meaningful and fulfilling lives through an unexpected mix of experiences that embrace the multi-faceted identities of those we serve. Housed within a revitalized historic synagogue dating back to 1908 in the heart of the Nation’s Capital, Sixth & I reimagines how culture, community, and Jewish life can enhance people’s everyday lives. Across wide-ranging, thought-provoking, and accessible experiences, we celebrate the unexpected intersections between culture and spirituality and, in so doing, expand our sense of what’s sacred.
Our Jewish programming offers dynamic ways for those in their 20s and 30s to explore life’s big questions through a Jewish framework and engage with Jewish values, ideas, and traditions on their own terms and without judgment. As a multi-denominational, non-membership, and radically welcoming spiritual home, Sixth & I works to foster community among people at a similar stage of life, figuring out what matters to them and who they want to be. Unlike a traditional synagogue, the role we play in people’s lives is both temporary—in that we serve them at one phase of their lives, as they’re commonly shaping their post-college and pre-parenthood identities—and also long-lasting in that we plant seeds for living Jewishly and in community in ways that we hope will stick with them long after their time at Sixth & I.