For Jessica Krasnick, it doesn’t get much better than working with young people and celebrating her Judaism. The Anne Arundel County Public Schools Virtual Academy math teacher works with students over the internet and with congregants in person at her synagogue, Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation, where she serves as co-chair of the religious school committee.
She’s led four separate Birthright Israel trips, too, and said that her love for her culture and also education have been a part of her for a long time. The first inkling she had of future life came at OSRUI, a Jewish summer camp in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, as a child.
“It’s really a wonderful place that instilled a love for Jewish people, Jewish values [and our] language. I did a Hebrew immersion program for seven weeks there one summer,” Krasnick said.
She also did a semester abroad in Israel in high school, which she said only furthered her love for Israel, Judaism and teaching.
“I really fell in love with learning the history, the language, and I really loved education, so I went that route to further my Hebrew knowledge, my Jewish knowledge, and my pedagogical education knowledge,” she said.
While teaching was always the goal, Krasnick wasn’t sure what exactly that would look like. She got her undergraduate degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before moving to another acclaimed university in Johns Hopkins for graduate school. At Johns Hopkins, she was placed in a middle school and then elementary school math internship, and decided that middle school was for her.
“I entered in Anne Arundel County and was subsequently offered a job there, so I got kind of lucky in the sense that it worked out once I had the internship and got to stay in the same district and work in a public setting,” she said.
But it’s not just in standard education where Krasnick finds fulfillment. With the Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom community, she ‘s part of a team that comes up with methods to get kids excited to learn about their heritage and culture.
“Our religious school is really a wonderful place. It is so filled with joy and different experiences, and it’s really a very great atmosphere,” she said. “I am supporting our religious school director and assistant director [as a] thought partner, with almost like a think tank and a sounding board for them to help support them in making sure that it continues to stay thriving.”
Krasnick said that she has fond memories of attending Shabbat services with her mother and grandmother when she was a child, and that those nights at shul are a large reason why Judaism is so important to her today. Now, she works hard to help lead her own kids down that same path.
“As I got older and had my own children, I really wanted to instill that same connection and community for them as well, and really make sure that I am modeling that support for the communities that we are a part of by being involved and helping and showing that we can find joy in these spaces,” she said.
Living in White Marsh, Maryland, helping her kids live a Jewish life is not as easy as it would be in Pikesville or Owings Mills. However, there are benefits to living where she does, too, as she doesn’t want her kids to be confined to learning about their own culture.
“Where we live is very diverse, and I love that. I find that to be really important too,” she said.
In fact, Krasnick’s family is very rich in terms of the cultural diversity they get to experience: In the summers, they pack into an RV and drive around the country, learning about all that America has to offer.
No matter what she’s doing or where she is, though, Krasnick is proudly Jewish, and she plans to stay that way in the classroom, in Israel and at home with her loved ones.
