This weekend I’ll begin teaching Hebrew school in a sixth grade classroom, Sunday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. I’ve been a pulpit rabbi in an older congregation for quite some time, and I haven’t taught kids in years. I’m nervous, but I’m also looking forward to it.

A recent phone conversation with a woman I barely know took me by surprise. I had mentioned my new position in passing and was changing the subject when she interrupted me.

“Wait a minute,” said the woman. “Weren’t you a rabbi?”

“I still am a rabbi. And now also a Hebrew school teacher,” I replied.

“Why?” the woman asked.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re a rabbi.”

Days later, the conversation still troubles me. What’s wrong with a rabbi teaching Hebrew school?

I retired from my pulpit at the end of 2022. Not ready for full retirement, I took a position as interim part-time rabbi at a local synagogue.

I’ve also been tutoring b’nai mitzvah students for another synagogue, so when they asked me to teach their sixth grade class this fall, I said yes.

The woman on the phone seemed to think that it’s beneath a rabbi to take a “lowly teaching position.” But I don’t feel any less of a rabbi when I’m teaching 12-year-olds. Quite the opposite.

A rabbi is a spiritual leader in a community. But at its most basic, the word rabbi means teacher. If I never lead a service again, I will always be a rabbi.

If I’m lucky enough to make even a small difference in these young people’s lives, they will be learning to be joyously Jewish. I want to help them discover the beauty and power of Jewish prayer and the Hebrew language. I want them to learn that Judaism isn’t the synagogue, it’s the way they think and behave. That they can carry it with them wherever they go, whoever they become.

Yes, I’m nervous. And I’m also grateful for this opportunity. What could be more important??