Ilissa Nelsen has been an educator for 37 years. And she’s just taken on a new position as the director of education and youth engagement at Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia. In July, she replaced former education director Louis Nagel, who retired in June.
Nelsen has spent years as a youth group leader, b’nai mitzvah tutor and preschool teacher, formerly working at Temple Beth El, a Conservative synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida, as well as teaching at a few synagogues in California and serving as the Florida region director for the online learning platform Edjewcation Station.
Growing up in Plymouth, Minnesota, Nelsen was immersed in Jewish life from a young age. With an Orthodox father and Conservative mother, she has fond memories of spending Sabbaths and Jewish holidays with her family.
“We had Shabbat dinners at home, and were very observant during the holidays,” she recalled. “We would do things like ripping pieces of toilet paper beforehand [because the act of “tearing” is forbidden on Shabbat] and leaving on lights that needed to be on before sundown. Things like that.”
Despite this, Nelsen was not originally planning to go into Jewish education. She initially pursued a career in psychology, getting her master’s in the subject, but found that she had an interest in education and started working at religious schools instead. Notably, she started college at only 16 years old.
Nelsen’s previous position at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton saw her starting out as the rabbi’s assistant, but she quickly became an educator and then its director of educational programming. During her tenure at the synagogue, she focused on growing its Hebrew school and young professionals group — the latter reaching over 100 members in her time there, and continuing to grow.
While coming from Florida to Maryland is a big change, Nelsen said that it felt like the natural next step for her career. She moved to Baltimore only two weeks after getting the job offer.
“They have a large number of families with children [at Beth Shalom], and I felt that I would really be able to use my experience in my education here to help grow their religious school and grow their youth programming,” she noted. “And the synagogue I worked at in Florida was an older, Conservative congregation. In Florida, Conservative congregations are sadly dying off, so this felt like the next step.”
Part of what attracted her to Beth Shalom was its variety of educational offerings. Nelsen specifically cited the synagogue’s Hebrew High School, which is largely based on seminar electives and lets students take classes on Judaism-related topics that appeal to them. It’s a more hands-on approach that she said she would like to expand to the elementary and middle school programs.
“You really try to have an interactive classroom, so there’s a lot of discussion and activities, and the kids aren’t just being lectured at with material coming from a book,” she added.
Nelsen started her work at Beth Shalom about a month ago, but she has already begun to make big changes to the synagogue’s educational programming. She found that they were lacking some vital youth programs, such as Tot Shabbat, and has been working to implement them.
“Nelsen has been an awesome addition to the Beth Shalom team. She comes with lots of ideas for revitalizing youth activities and learning beyond the classroom, and the enthusiasm and experience to make the ideas happen,” said Rabbi Jenni Greenspan, Beth Shalom’s senior rabbi. “In her first few weeks here, she has already begun adding opportunities for teens to come together, for families to learn together and for students to pray together.”
Notably, Nelsen recently embarked on a mission trip to Israel, which has made her passionate about educating people on the relations between Israel and the rest of the Middle East, dispelling myths and providing context.
She hopes to one day make aliyah when her children are older and her work at Beth Shalom is done.
“[The mission trip to Israel] was such an emotional experience, and it really impacted me. When I went back to Florida, I spoke about it at several presentations,” Nelsen said. “It made me want to teach more about Israel, make people aware of the background of the Arab-Israeli crisis and what’s real and what’s fabricated. I found it very moving.”
