JDC Entwine

More and more young adults engage in Jewish life through volunteer service and leadership opportunities in which they create change and help others in ways personally meaningful to them. As the demand for these opportunities has grown, so too has Entwine, JDC’s initiative for young Jewish leaders, influencers, and advocates who want to make an impact on global Jewish needs and international humanitarian challenges.

Each year, Entwine engages more than 12,000 young Jewish adults through an increasingly large platform of service, educational, and leadership opportunities in global Jewish issues. By blending these experiences with deep Jewish learning, young adults explore their Jewish identities and shape their own vision of what it means to live a joyful Jewish life. Along with its international service experiences, Entwine’s Learning Networks in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, and London create volunteer-led events that feature peer-to-peer education, combined with socializing and networking. These experiences are bringing many young adults back into Jewish life in new and meaningful ways.

As one example, San Diegan Mike Spear had distanced himself from Jewish life post-Bar Mitzvah. However, he was attracted to exploring Jewish India with his local Entwine San Diego Network trip. After Shabbat at a synagogue in Mumbai, Mike said: “We were told that our visits were breathing life into these isolated communities. Today, I realized that this trip, this community, is breathing life into me and my Jewish self.”

Having returned from India, Mike continues to be active with his San Diegan Entwine peers. As a group, they are active service members in their local community—volunteering at the San Diego Jewish old age home, hosting Shabbat dinners for their local community, and, on behalf of Entwine, developing a formal local service initiative for the San Diegan Jewish Community.

Jessica Nysenbaum of Washington, DC also has re-engaged in Jewish life as a result of Entwine. She says:

“Until I discovered JDC Entwine, I wasn’t involved in the Washington, DC Jewish community….Through JDC Entwine, my Judaism has once again become a central part of my life. Learning about JDC’s international work, and making friends through Entwine with a diverse group of young Jews in my local community and around the world, makes me excited and proud of my Jewish heritage. I’m currently the Co-Chair of Entwine’s DC network, a role that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Entwine started me down a path of re-engaging with my Judaism that has led me to the incredibly opportunity to now help lead and teach my peers about the Jewish world.”

JDC Entwine is poised to expand and deepen its offerings for both new participants and alumni. As it does, Entwine will continue to catalyze a generation of young Jews to connect to each other and to live a life of action, with global Jewish responsibility at the core.

The Jim Joseph Foundation’s December 2014 grant to JDC Entwine was for $3 million over three years. The grant has a matching element that aims to leverage this investment to attract even more philanthropic investment in Entwine.