Dr. Amy Wallk Katz

Rhythms, Dramas
Overland Park, Kansas

Amy Wallk Katz and baby Nina

Dr. Amy Wallk Katz uses a personal touch with her students. She calls them when they are not around, visits them in the hospital and makes it a point to tell them she cares about them. She also makes it a point not be judgmental, respects them for being on the journey and does not tell them how they should behave Jewishly. “I share myself with my students,” says Amy. “I am delighted to open my home to them.” Once a year she has a Melave Malke at her home, and in addition invites many students for a Shabbat Dinner. She also maintains a student e-mail list in order to keep in touch with everyone.

Amy has been teaching at the Mini-School for seven years. She began work there after looking for a position that offered flexible hours which would allow her to spend time with her children, plus she had been looking for something new and different.

She enjoys the students, whom she says are the brightest and most wonderful individuals in her community. “They are committed, earnest and very thoughtful,” says Amy. “They come from all the congregations in our community so I am very fortunate because I have an opportunity to work with a great group of people.” She has the utmost respect for the student’s time and uses it well, always starting classes promptly. “I’m always prepared and relate the material we are studying to contemporary issues,” she adds. She finds that because adult learners have very different backgrounds, there are times when it is rather difficult to create a discussion that is challenging and engaging to everyone.

“In addition to being a talented, student-centered teacher, Rabbi Katz cares about each one of her students,” says Alan Edelman, Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, the sponsoring agency. “She calls when they miss a session. She also invites feedback which means she is constantly working to improve the program.”

One wish she would like granted is to have all the students know Hebrew so they could study texts in Hebrew. She feels it would add a rich dimension to their discussions and would allow all of her students to feel stronger connections to their sacred texts. Advice she gives to other Mini-School teachers is to remember the curriculum is made to be enacted – the only way to enact the curriculum is to adapt it to suit your setting, your students and your strengths.

Amy has a BA in Jewish Studies, a Masters in Journalism, Jewish Education, and Jewish History, a Rabbinical Ordination, and a Doctorate in Education. She was the person who initiated the idea of videoconferencing FMAMS classes in the satellite site Wichita, Kansas, which has been a huge success.

She met her husband through an ad in the paper, and has three children, Tamar Yonina, eight, Gabriel Ari, four, and Nina Ruth, 20 months. In her spare time Amy enjoys biking, cooking, reading, weight training and is very involved in her local community. She is President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, serves on the board of her local agencies, studies Hebrew literature weekly, oversees other adult education programs and is also the Director of the Kansas City Mini-School.

Dr. Amy Wallk Katz can be reached by e-mail at amywkatz@alum.barnard.edu.

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