Jewish educator Debbie Bram will join the staff of Congregation Shaare Emeth in July as Director of Jewish Life and Learning, the congregation announced.

“The Director of Jewish Life and Learning is a brand-new and completely different position at Shaare Emeth, following the best practices of our day,” Shaare Emeth Rabbi Jim Bennett said. “Debbie will work closely with the rabbis, cantor and all of our department directors to connect the ‘silos’ of Jewish life at the congregation and help us become an even more engaged and Jewishly committed community.”

As Shaare Emeth opens services and most programs to the greater Jewish community, Bram will serve as a resource to many in St. Louis, not just those at Shaare Emeth.

“Debbie is already known to many in St. Louis because of her past time in our community,” Bennett said. “Debbie is a connector, and I look forward to her imagining and implementing new and collaborative ways for the Jewish community to come together in celebration and learning.”

Bram has 20 years of experience in Jewish education. She is currently enrolled in the executive master’s program of Jewish education through Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and will graduate May 2013.

Most recently in Ohio, where she served as the Director of Life Long Learning at Temple-Kol Ami, Bram now returns to St. Louis. She moved to St. Louis in 1985 when her husband, the late Rabbi Eric Bram, began his rabbinic career at Temple Israel. 

“I began my ‘official’ Jewish educational career when I was the Religious School Director at Temple Israel from 1992-1994,” said Bram. “St. Louis was our home for close to 10 years. For me, returning to St. Louis is going home.”