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Glimpsing into Jewish Futures at Milken

Since the first Jewish Futures Project conference took place in 2011, students in Milken’s integrated and honors Jewish Thought program have been developing innovative projects that approach problems and challenges for their generation. Working with classmates and teacher-mentors, students develop websites, project goals and descriptions, research plans and lesson designs. The cash prizes, a new addition, are to encourage students in their innovative pursuits.
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April 23, 2015

How do you engage young Jews? Any of today’s Jewish professionals can tell you the broad strokes that sometimes sound like clichés: Meet them where they are; use culture as a gateway to connection.

But maybe all you need is a smartphone.

Three teenagers from Milken Community Schools, careful not to obscure the PowerPoint projected behind them, recently laid out their own vision for helping Jewish college students engage intellectually, spiritually and philosophically. Their proposed phone app, iChai, with features including a map of local Jewish institutions, a calendar of upcoming Jewish events and even an “ethical dilemma of the day,” took first place at the school’s annual Jewish Futures Project conference on March 19.

The goal of the app, according to Sarah Weitzman, Avi Sholkoff and Sam Rosenberg, all seniors at the school, would be to supplement students’ Jewish knowledge and help them think about important topics using both classic Jewish texts and contemporary thought. For example, an ethical dilemma on intimacy and sexuality might call upon original talmudic sources as well as Orthodox, Conservative and Reform perspectives.

For their efforts, the students received a $250 grant, representing seed money for the project and a vote of confidence in their commitment to Jewish renewal and innovation. It is Milken’s intent that all students from the four total projects that won seed money approach Jewish organizations at college next year and solicit further support.

“In the last year, we have begun to really focus the project on the college context and hope to build stronger links to college campuses,” explained Rabbi Gordon Bernat-Kunin, Milken’s rabbinic director. “In addition to generating what I hope will be visionary, pragmatic ideas for building the Jewish future, student presenters will take on active roles in sharing responsibility for shaping the shared fate of the Jewish people, moving from banim, children, to bonim, builders.”

Since the first Jewish Futures Project conference took place in 2011, students in Milken’s integrated and honors Jewish Thought program have been developing innovative projects that approach problems and challenges for their generation. Working with classmates and teacher-mentors, students develop websites, project goals and descriptions, research plans and lesson designs. The cash prizes, a new addition, are to encourage students in their innovative pursuits.

This year’s winning projects were chosen from a group of 20 via a text voting system for parents, alumni, teachers and others attending the event, as well as by three on-site judges: Gary Weisserman, Milken’s head of school; Rhoda Weisman, dean of American Jewish University’s graduate school in nonprofit managemen; and myself.

One of my top picks, after iChai, was Campus Cantations, an interactive website allowing users to discover popular music and culture through a Jewish lens. It ended up winning a $180 seed grant. Bar Mitzvah Box, a mentoring program for college-age youth, and To Listen, Learn, Teach, and Act, an idea for a Jewish learning, social action and interreligious dialogue group, also were high on my list.

“There is a new form of Jewish leadership taking hold,” said Weisman, who has made her career in Jewish professional talent development. “Young people, empowered by knowledge and technology, want to solve complex social and Jewish community challenges using Jewish text as the platform.”

She was particularly taken with Achichah (“your brother” in Hebrew), a plan to connect Jewish college students with foster youth who have aged out of the system.

Weisserman was impressed by Wandering Synagogue, a portable beit midrash (house of study) structure that could be quickly assembled, disassembled and transported. He also enjoyed Sacred Threads, a modern twist on what he called “the personal and private reminders that are part of our daily Jewish life.” Examples included a tallit “that looks like a cool scarf, or a shirt that has a reminder of the 613 mitzvot on it.”

Jessie Mallor, a Milken Jewish studies teacher who worked closely with a number of the students on their projects, said they offer evidence that Judaism is dynamic and constantly evolving. And the timing couldn’t be more important for the students.

“The bridge to college is a critical transition point,” she said. “By seeing themselves as doers, rather than passive receivers, this experience empowers students to rethink their relationship to making Judaism real, and gives them a deep and experiential connection to that reality.”

Weisserman added: “We want our students to graduate with a sense of what’s coming next, and [to] bridge the gap between their Milken experience and their college experiences. Now they’ve had the opportunity to give some thought to life beyond the walls of Milken Jewishly. And that they’re passionate about what they’re doing is a really great thing.”

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