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The job of the shaliach can be very lonely. There are many expectations and sometimes great pressure on the shaliach. He may be asked to speak in public, to write publications, and to handle a great number of jobs for which he may or may not have been trained appropriately. He may be able to contact the home office and ask for guidance, but they too may not have all of the answers and they may not be able to help him deal with the things in the best possible way.
The Shaliach group is intended to help these people so that the job can be done in the best possible way. It is for the serious shaliach to work with other serious shlichim and this mutual assistance will make the job better for all.
There are many different types of schlichut.
In every case, people are sent to distant locations in order to represent the Jewish nation in an important issue, such as Aliyah, Kiruv, or education.
Each organization that sends shlichim (or shluchim) stays in touch with its representatives. Our Shaliach group networks all kinds of shlichim, past, present, and future, in all locations.
Many organizations and quasi-governmental bodies send out shlichim to target audiences in order to serve different and varied purposes. Some of these shlichim teach Jewish or Hebrew subjects, others encourage people to come on aliyah and then handle their aliyah arrangements or assist in handling the aliyah arrangements. Still others deal with Jewish issues or issues of a particular Jewish group.
Shlichim do not have to be adults. High schoolers are sent to some Jewish camps in order to help the counselors with Jewish education, Jewish history, love of Eretz Yisrael, and aliyah promotion. Some of them bring Judaism to unaffiliated camps.
The Shaliach group deals with all of these possible issues and people.
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A shaliach's position is different from most other positions. In our series of Jewish Groups, we have forums for many different professions and professionals. These are people who have usually selected a way of life and this is their specialty for life.
A shaliach is different by his very nature. It's supposed to be a temporary job, usually one to three years, sometimes even less than one year. He has not had the experience that develops through a lifetime of doing this kind of work.
As such, a shaliach needs much more of a support group to be able to help deal with issues.
Yes, there is training, just as there is training for any other profession. But in other professions people gain experience over the course of time. After gaining that experience, they know how to deal with the profession better. The more experience they have, the better they are in most cases.
With the shaliach's job by its nature he is not expected to get more than three years of experience and often less.
How does he deal with the complex issues that arise without being able to have this experience and help? How can he function in the most satisfactory way?
This is where the Shaliach forum comes in and we are here as a support group to give him the answers that he needs.
We can't give him the experience that he needs, but possibly together with our joint experience we can help each other.
Find out more about the Shaliach Forum
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