While we were still in Hawaii the Navy Times published a story about military spouses and careers. The study looked at how easily are military spouses able to maintain jobs and careers. According to this study, for each year of post-high school education the likelihood of the military spouse being able to find and/or maintain a job drops 10%.
For me, with 10 years of education (4 at Brandeis, 6 in seminary), I have no hope. Still, there are positives.
I needed to leave my position at United Synagogue to support Sean's deployment. The job required travel and long hours, often in the evening. It was not a possibility while acting as the single parent on site. While difficult to leave, it left me open to take a position that was opening just now.
I am now the Executive Director of MERCAZ-Canada and the Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism. The positions offers me an opportunity to remain connected to the movement. I believe in Conservative/Masorti Judaism. I believe in the message that Masorti has to offer, that there is no one, absolute way to do Judaism. We must maintain our ties to Israel, but also to work to keep Israel a place for all. This is now my job, and an opportunity opened, perhaps, through the difficulty of a deployment.
