IYUN: Making Torah Study and Jewish Community More Accessible and Meaningful

How should I care for the people I love?

What’s a good life?

How do we disagree?

How do I face uncertainty?

These are the types of big questions that IYUN helps young Jewish adults explore through Torah study in a cohort setting. The organization trains educators around the country in its distinct approach that combines this study with Jewish community engagement facilitation. After training, educators lead cohort groups of 10-15 people, cultivating communities of depth and substance.

We wanted to share that we have had the most wonderful experience with this IYUN class. From the beginning, it was lively, with active participation and a lot of great ruach! But every week it gets better as people deepen their sense of friendship, understanding, and engagement…Through connecting in this deep and active way with Jewish wisdom, we are strengthening ourselves and our team, but also our families, friends, and community. —Molly Curren Rowles, Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine

In just its first few years, IYUN has trained 256 educators who have engaged 3,327 adults throughout North America. These learners are situated in over 100 communities — from Federation Young Adult Divisions to congregations, from JCCs to Moishe Houses, from Bases to Honeymoon Israel alumni groups, Repair the World Service Corps, and far beyond. IYUN’s distinct approach focuses on:

• Building community and a love of Jewish learning. IYUN carefully curates the members of each cohort with an eye toward deepening social relationships among participants and building long term community, not just “covering material.”  With this approach, participants leave with knowledge, a group of friends, a relationship to a local educator, and a strong feeling of community.
  
• Focusing on Jewish texts because they inform liminal life moments. IYUN groups are often organized around significant life events – birth, death, marriage, building a home, embracing adulthood, conveying values and legacy – and cohort leaders seek out Jewish texts that speak directly to these most human phenomena.  IYUN wants the cohort members to feel that their most profound human questions have been touched by the wisdom of Torah.
• Training local teachers to bring Jewish learning alive for our audience. IYUN offer both outstanding curricular delivery and also training — using the experience of forming and operating a learning circle as real-world practice for learning a set of teaching skills and a holistic community-building approach.

In the midst of raising a community of little kids, it can be really hard to find the time to have these types of conversations. I feel really grateful that I can bring these questions and make space for discussion for the folks in my community. —Dalia Shapiro (runs a Circle for fellow young parents in her living room)

Returning Honeymoon Israel couples gather for an IYUN Circle on “The Home We Build Together” in Cincinnati.

Ninety-four percent of cohort members say that because of their IYUN circle, they want to continue learning Torah and Jewish texts. Many of these people are learners who previously were not reached by adult Jewish education programs. IYUN also partners with Jewish organizations and groups to offer Torah study as part of their regular “staff learning,” dialing up the Jewish confidence and fluency of their professionals. This includes new, unexpected networks like Jewish Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), who look to IYUN to create new curricular resources as they build community in the workplace.

Our vision is to make every community builder an educator, and every educator a community builder. We do this through partnerships where we train Jewish communal leaders in both the art of teaching and—simultaneously—the art of building community, as we have done with PJ Library, the Nachshon Project Graduate Fellowship, Hebrew College, Pardes, Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, and many others. — Erica Frankel, Founder of IYUN

IYUN is excited about a number of emergent projects on the horizon, including the launch of the “Shabbat Hospitality Studio” curriculum this Fall, which will equip local leaders to build a culture of Shabbat home hospitality throughout their communities. And, on November 14th & 21st, the IYUN team will offer a two-part, virtual Masterclass in Relational Recruitment: How to Get the People in the Room — open to Jewish community builders of all experience levels and roles. Learn more and register before spots fill.

Learn about IYUN at iyun.community and reach out to them at [email protected] to explore building a community of meaning—whatever your setting. The Jim Joseph Foundation is a supporter of IYUN.