A Once-in-a-lifetime Interview
Yes, today's interview at an ultra-orthodox elementary school or cheder was very special. Verily--I have not used that word since I took an Introduction To Poetry class in 1972--a momentous occasion! First, I travelled to a new town for me, named Ramat Beit Shemesh (Hebrew: level of an enlightened house), located about twenty-eight kilometers north of Jerusalem. The streets were so serpentine that I could have easily missed my designation if I had let up attention for even a moment. Secondly, the structure of the school reminded me of a Druze-Arab Christian high school I taught at in 1978-1978 in Osefia, a Druze-Christian-Arab village on the Carmel Mountain, near Haifa. I entire edifice was fabricated like a collection of caravans. Thirdly, the languages spoken, except to me, were Yiddish and Hebrew. My interview was completely in English because the coordinator was originally from the United States. Whether I get the job will depend on my age, my teaching experience, the pool of other candidates and their specific qualifications, work experience, as well as other unknown variables, such as likeability, personality, health issues, work schedules already determined for this academic year, home or private life issues, and, perhaps, more.
I am absolutely enthralled with the classes and class sizes being offered for this particular job at this school. The classes are all between ages seven-ten years old! I have only once taught a Hebrew class to ten-year-olds in an afternoon Jewish school in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb just north and east of Chicago alongside Lake Michigan. These classes offered at this school in Ramat Beit Shemesh would cover unchartered ground, and the coordinator expressed his concerns. Most of my career I taught either in secondary schools both in Israel or in the Chicago metropolitan area or colleges and universities. If it means anything at this point, I can quite vividly remember when my daughters were passing through those young ages. Oh boy, were there excellent students and oh boy, were they a handful! Both girls were precocious to say the least!
Whatever the verdict is as to whether I receive the job or not, just imagining how I would deal with youngsters ages 7, 8, 9, and 10 at my age--I am almost sixty-eight-- is a whirlwind of a delight! In addition, I would need to be clad in black trousers and white shirts. Now that would be a first for me. Why I was just looking at a long-sleeved blue and white polka-dotted shirt I bought for my trip here! Oh, oh! That shirt may end up getting old and gray in the armoire.