When Tori Luecking was 16, an anonymous member at Congregation Shaare Emeth paid for her to visit Israel for the first time. She was fascinated with the country ever since she began Hebrew school, and her first trip to Israel changed the course of her life.

“Someone from Shaare Emeth believed in me and Shaare Emeth’s ability to send me on my first trip to Israel is something that changed my life forever,” she said. “[Israel is] a place where I made my Jewish adulthood my priority … I never want to take that for granted.”

Luecking, now 24, has since devoted her career to helping others connect to Judaism as well. In July, she will be returning to the congregation that changed her life as its director of communications. 

But she is not the only native St. Louisan returning to work at a familiar congregation this summer. Sarah Shulman, 26, will be the new director of youth and camp at Congregation B’nai Amoona and Laura Rosenberg, 26, will be the new director of elementary education and engagement at United Hebrew Congregation.

Together, these adults have something in common: they want to use their love for their congregation to improve it for current members and future generations to come.

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A career of connections

As director of communications at Shaare Emeth, Luecking will be in charge of the synagogue’s newsletters, social media and blog posts. She studied communication and humanities at the University of Kansas, and it was there where she began her career serving the Jewish community at KU Hillel.

She worked at KU Hillel during her undergraduate years as a student intern. After graduating, she knew she wanted to pursue a career helping others connect to Judaism.

“When I was looking for my first job out of college, I thought how cool would it be to continue working in the Jewish community and help others find their connection to Judaism in whatever way they find meaningful to them,” she said. 

She now works as their engagement associate, in which she acts as a liaison for students looking to get involved with Jewish life on campus. 

Luecking said her experience in helping find people’s “best fit” for Judaism will help her as director of communications at Shaare Emeth.

“I’m able to say ‘OK, what are our communication needs? Who is our audience? What do they need to know? What do we need to convey? How do we reach different ages and demographics?’ It’s like a puzzle and I’m excited to do it,” she said.

Luecking said she hopes to use her experience with college youth at Shaare Emeth through revitalizing its College Connection program. In her new position, she also plans to increase Shaare Emeth’s social media presence.

Luecking grew up going to Shaare Emeth. She celebrated her bat mitzvah, was confirmed and was involved in National Federation of Temple Youth through the synagogue. She said her goal as director of communications is to use her love for Shaare 

Emeth to make Jewish life “enjoyable and engaging” to the community in “St. Louis and beyond.”

“It helps to have that first-hand experience and see the impact Shaare Emeth has on people. It’s a congregation that raised me, so anything I can do to show other people how amazing the organization is is my privilege to do so,” she said.

Luecking starts at Shaare Emeth on July 2.

An unexpected path

Sarah Shulman didn’t expect to work professionally in the Jewish community. For her undergraduate studies, she went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she took classes from different departments to create her own major: music therapy.

She said her love of music and psychology motivated her to take such a creative educational path, and her next step was graduate school. She studied at Maryville University but wanted to get involved at her home congregation of B’nai Amoona at the same time.

Shulman attended religious school at B’nai Amoona, was involved in its United Synagogue Youth chapter, sang in the Zamarim choir and worked as a counselor at its summer youth program, Camp Ramot Amoona.

“Growing up in the congregation, it was a place that made me feel very comfortable, happy and welcome. And I grew a lot in terms of my Judaism,” she said.

While completing graduate school, Shulman worked at B’nai Amoona as a teacher and music specialist in its religious school. During that time, she fell in love with working with the youth.

“I love their excitement for learning new things,” she said. “I love looking at things through their eyes because so much to them is a new experience.”

After completing graduate school, she began working as a music therapist, but she could not resist returning to B’nai Amoona. When she received an email announcing an open position for director of youth and camp in the spring, she sent in her resume as soon as she could.

Now hired as director of youth and camp, Shulman is in charge of Camp Ramot Amoona and the youth and high school programs during the school year. She said she will use her experience as a therapist to help provide B’nai 

Amoona young people with what they need to grow in their Judaism.

“It’s really important for me to hear from them, the kids and teens, what it is that they want to do, what they love about Judaism, what interests them and then plan events that mean something to them,” she said. “I can take what they want and help them turn it into reality.”  

Shulman said she is excited to “contribute to the magic” of B’nai Amoona, which she described as her “home outside her home.”

Shulman starts at B’nai Amoona on July 1.

Feeling the love of a community

Laura Rosenberg’s first job in education after graduating from the University of Missouri in 2014 was at United Hebrew Congregation. She accepted a position as a preschool teacher, but her degree in elementary education didn’t exactly prepare her to work with three and four-year-olds.

Fortunately, Rosenberg’s first year at United Hebrew was “incredible” because of the “family connection” she found at UH.

“I really noticed after I started working [at UH] how close everybody was and how much everybody really cares about you and wants you to succeed,” she said. “[It was] something that I didn’t have in my other schools that I taught at [as a college student], but when I came to UH, I really saw that it was something that I fell in love with and couldn’t leave.”

This family connection helped her find immense love for teaching preschool children.

“I worked with a teacher who had been teaching at UH for about 15 or so years, and I learned so much from her about Jewish curriculum and teaching three-year-olds,” she said. “That year was a whole new learning experience, and it was something I grew really comfortable with.”

Rosenberg taught preschool at UH for three years before accepting a position in special education in the Ladue school district. But Rosenberg said she missed working at UH.

“I missed the Jewish community and the Jewish school,” she said. “It’s something that’s really important to me.”

So this spring, Rosenberg applied for and accepted a position at UH as director of elementary education and engagement. She said her prior experience at UH has prepared her for the position.

“I know what being a teacher is like in a classroom

for a group of kids, so if a teacher is struggling, I can help them with what they need and if they have questions, they can always come to me,” she said.

As director of elementary education and engagement, Rosenberg will be in charge of the Sunday and religious school classes for kindergarteners through fifth graders as well as additional bonding events for the children. Rosenberg said she wants to strengthen the school community at UH so its students always feel welcome.

Rosenberg said her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, is hugely responsible for her career path in Jewish education. She grew up attending services at Shaare Zedek and observing Shabbat every week with him.

“He’s always bestowed on us how important being Jewish is and to be proud to be Jewish,” she said. “Another big reason I love being in the Jewish community is because he loves it and I love getting to see him smile,” she said. 

“Him being able to say my granddaughter works in the Jewish community is so rewarding to me to know he’s so proud.”

Rosenberg officially begins her new position at United Hebrew on July 1.