Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences: Mixing the Personal and Collective to Make Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences

The Jim Joseph Foundation has prioritized investment in Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences (PJLE) in its effort to enable “all Jews, their families, and their friends to lead connected, meaningful, purpose-filled lives and to make positive contributions to their communities and the world.” This commitment is advanced by signature grantees—BBYO, Foundation for Jewish Camp, Hillel, Birthright Israel, and Moishe House—that provide powerful educational experiences to young people.

Over the last few years, the Foundation has partnered with the team at Rosov Consulting to bring a consistent research lens to the experiences provided by these various organizations. The goal of this partnership has been: (1) to identify both the distinct and common contributions made by each organization to participants at different stages of their young lives, and (2) to identify the components of the experiences they provide that make them so powerful. Researchers set out to learn what special ingredients animate powerful Jewish learning experiences within the context of Jewish youth-serving organizations, Jewish overnight camps, Jewish student organizations at college, Israel experiences, and self-directed settings for emergent Jewish adults. And researchers tried to identify what outcomes such experiences produce.

Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences: Mixing the Personal and Collective to Make Powerful Jewish Learning Experiences, Rosov Consulting, September 2024

Read more insights on this cross-portfolio evaluation by Stacie Cherner, the Foundation’s Director of Research and Learning.