Karen Hafter’s connection to Society Hill Synagogue spans her entire life, as she first stepped into the shul at just eight days old for her naming ceremony.
Being a third-generation member of the congregation, Hafter’s recent appointment as the director of youth and family education holds profound significance for her.
“Society Hill has always been home to me,” she expressed.
“I love education, I love teaching. It has been my entire world, and getting a chance to come back here to Society Hill Synagogue … it felt kismet.”
After spending time teaching in schools throughout the Philadelphia area, Hafter returned to Society Hill this spring.
Her journey included three years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she participated in the Teach for America program, which aims to provide educational opportunities in low-income communities.
“When I moved back to Philly, it was to be with family and to find my community again,” Hafter shared.
She described the Jewish community in Tulsa as small but powerful, yet it lacked the sense of belonging she deeply valued.
Having studied at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, Hafter experienced other locations during her college years.
However, after exploring various places, she realized that her true home was always Philadelphia.
“I loved Tulsa and I loved Skidmore College, but there has never been another place that has the feeling of family and community and acceptance and joy and communal struggle the way that Philadelphia has always had for me,” she reflected.
Interestingly, Hafter’s career path was not something she had been certain about from the start.
In fact, her realization about teaching emerged during her senior year at Skidmore when she was with her parents, feeling uncertain about her future.
She recounted a pivotal moment when her mother asked her what she loved to do and she mentioned tutoring.
Intrigued, her mother suggested she consider teaching.
Hafter was initially hesitant, viewing teaching as a challenging profession often undervalued in society.
Yet, upon contemplation, she recognized the vital importance of the work.
“It does not matter what the world thinks and how the world values and cares about teaching,” she said.
“What matters is how much you value it and how much you care about it.”
This moment was transformative for Hafter, as she came to understand the lasting impact her own teachers had on her life, which fueled her desire to influence the next generation.
Drawing from her experiences in the Lower Merion School District, Hafter recalled how her teachers went beyond just delivering lessons; they supported her emotionally and helped her navigate her feelings.
Her first exposure to teaching came during her time at Society Hill Synagogue, where she worked as a madricha.
Although she enjoyed this role, her experience with Teach for America profoundly shaped her teaching philosophy.
“It taught me to leave my bubble,” Hafter stated, reflecting on her experiences in Tulsa that challenged her values.
“Joining Teach for America and going out to Tulsa for the first time, I was forced to really confront what my values were and if they worked outside of my tiny little community.
What I found was that the core of who I was — passionate, caring, a true educator — that worked.”
Teach for America also helped her focus on what truly matters in education.
“Some of the outside things, like the concern with material issues, and the status of coming from the East Coast, that got in the way, and TFA really had me look at myself and say, ‘If what matters to me is teaching, then that needs to be the guiding focus at all times,'” she explained.
Now back at her childhood synagogue, Hafter envisions strengthening Society Hill’s connections with the broader Jewish community.
Her plans include organizing field trips, joint events, and fostering collaborations.
“It is through coalition that we find community and safety and learning and where we are pushed beyond what we know,” Hafter stated.
She also aims to design a curriculum that leads children towards internships and learning opportunities beyond the synagogue setting.
In the future, Hafter hopes that her role could inspire a former student to take the position one day.
“Eventually, long term, I would love to have this job go to a former student who once again thinks that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come back home,” she revealed.
Last year, Society Hill’s Hebrew school enrolled 105 students, and Hafter is committed to increasing that number.
“We have room for more. This family is ever expanding, and there is room for every kind of Jewish person here,” she emphasized.
For Hafter, there is truly no other place she would rather be.
“There’s a phrase that got tossed around when I was a kid — that Philadelphia is ‘sticky,’” she said.
“To everyone who is reading this after the heat wave, it is quite literally sometimes horribly sticky, but it is also figuratively a place that you just have to come back to.
I have been and will remain a lover of history and of learning about how this city and this country came to be.
When I think about Philadelphia, I think about origins.
It is the origin of our country, and it is the origin of me.”
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