Next Step; Next Stop
Title
Next Step; Next Stop
Identifier
Next_Step
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"What happens after the excitement passes?"
Date
2015-08
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Text
Next Step; Next Stop
What happens after the excitement passes? The challenge has been met. The battle has been won. The decision has been made. We get caught up in the race. And the race is over. The prize is in your hand.
Reality sets in. Now what? This has been the fourth or fifth time. Or more.
How far back do we want to go? Applying for the Bronfman Fellowship. Applying to college. Applying to the Religious Action Center. Applying to the Vilna Yiddish Program. Applying to the Yiddish Book Center. Applying to UM Graduate School. Applying to Hebrew College Rabbinical School. Applying to the Wexner Fellowship. The one that got away. The rest, he got.
David is standing on the threshold of a new life. There was New York, Washington DC, Ann Arbor, West Roxbury, and now Pittsburgh.
Career-wise, there was whatever one could do with a PhD in history; then the Rabbinate. Now, the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives (which David is referring to as the Rauh History Program and Archives), a part of the Heinz History Center, in association with the Smithsonian Institution. It was once the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Archives.
What is he feeling? Is this what he really wants? A few years ago, the rabbinate is what he really wanted. A few years before that, a doctorate in American Jewish History was what he really wanted. Then a doctorate in contemporary American history, and a dissertation on domed stadiums. People have a right to change their minds. Is the salary appropriate to the position? Who will be his counterparts in the archival, academic, Jewish communities?
Right now, David is involved in winding up his life in Boston, thinking about his new job (his first professional position). How will he spend his days? What does a director of an archive do? He will have to learn what the director before him did, and what the job requires, and to what extent he will have freedom to innovate. He will have to learn the players and what they want. He will have to get familiar with the collection, how to add to it, how to make it attractive to a viewing public, determine who your audience is, find out where similar archives are located, how to tie into the latest technology.
Then there is the personal. Finding a place to live. The right community. A rental apartment; furnished or unfurnished; a condominium; Advice from people he has gotten to know at the Center; from people he has met who know Pittsburgh. Finding friends. Pittsburgh seems like an interesting city—a small big city 350,000. In transition. Lots of culture, and lots of sports teams. Not a high cost of living.
8-15
What happens after the excitement passes? The challenge has been met. The battle has been won. The decision has been made. We get caught up in the race. And the race is over. The prize is in your hand.
Reality sets in. Now what? This has been the fourth or fifth time. Or more.
How far back do we want to go? Applying for the Bronfman Fellowship. Applying to college. Applying to the Religious Action Center. Applying to the Vilna Yiddish Program. Applying to the Yiddish Book Center. Applying to UM Graduate School. Applying to Hebrew College Rabbinical School. Applying to the Wexner Fellowship. The one that got away. The rest, he got.
David is standing on the threshold of a new life. There was New York, Washington DC, Ann Arbor, West Roxbury, and now Pittsburgh.
Career-wise, there was whatever one could do with a PhD in history; then the Rabbinate. Now, the director of the Rauh Jewish Archives (which David is referring to as the Rauh History Program and Archives), a part of the Heinz History Center, in association with the Smithsonian Institution. It was once the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Archives.
What is he feeling? Is this what he really wants? A few years ago, the rabbinate is what he really wanted. A few years before that, a doctorate in American Jewish History was what he really wanted. Then a doctorate in contemporary American history, and a dissertation on domed stadiums. People have a right to change their minds. Is the salary appropriate to the position? Who will be his counterparts in the archival, academic, Jewish communities?
Right now, David is involved in winding up his life in Boston, thinking about his new job (his first professional position). How will he spend his days? What does a director of an archive do? He will have to learn what the director before him did, and what the job requires, and to what extent he will have freedom to innovate. He will have to learn the players and what they want. He will have to get familiar with the collection, how to add to it, how to make it attractive to a viewing public, determine who your audience is, find out where similar archives are located, how to tie into the latest technology.
Then there is the personal. Finding a place to live. The right community. A rental apartment; furnished or unfurnished; a condominium; Advice from people he has gotten to know at the Center; from people he has met who know Pittsburgh. Finding friends. Pittsburgh seems like an interesting city—a small big city 350,000. In transition. Lots of culture, and lots of sports teams. Not a high cost of living.
8-15
Original Format
application/msword
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Next Step; Next Stop,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 22, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/340.