As the ongoing pandemic requires us to protect one another by staying apart, organizations across the Jewish sector are unlocking the secret to engaging meaningfully with young Jews in digital spaces. How? By nourishing hearts first, and minds second.

Great virtual events leave participants feeling happy, relaxed, connected, and twice as likely to attend another event by the same or another organization. Poorly executed or unsatisfying virtual events can have a negative effect on participants, leaving them more tired, disconnected and frustrated, and more than 50% less likely to participate in another event by any organization.

New market research commissioned by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and the Jim Joseph Foundation shows the key to successful virtual events for Jewish young adults is designing virtual gatherings more intentionally for the emotional experience of offerings than they would for in-person gatherings, where content can drive.

What separates successful virtual events from unsuccessful ones is their ability to meet one or more of three key needs: community, fulfillment and fun.

(Full report on the data and findings is here.)

COMMUNITY AND CONNECTION

“Right now, more than learning or growing, just feeling a sense of togetherness seems to be the most important thing.”

Young Jews are looking to connect. Of our respondents, 84% report it’s especially important to connect with other people, 70% feel it is particularly important to connect to something Jewish now, and 63% have participated in something Jewish virtually since the pandemic began. There, young Jews seek belonging, intimacy, personal connection and/or the opportunity to meet new people with whom they share commonalities.

BBYO, a high school youth organization, heard through alumni Facebook groups that their alumni were eager to reconnect. “It was very organic,” says Rebecca Cohen, Director of the Anita M. Perlman Women’s Leadership Initiative. “We said to them, ‘if you want to connect, we want to be that convener for you.’” They supported alumni with planning, experts, technology and communications through a variety of events from socializing to opportunities to mentor teens. Leveraging existing identity, community and culture meant that the gatherings felt “easy and comfortable” as one participant put it.

The Kavana Cooperative in Seattle has created brief, 30-minute community touch-points every Friday evening. Rabbi Rachel creates multiple opportunities for deep connection, including prompts for sharing and space for participants to be intimate and vulnerable with one another: celebrating happy occasions like new babies and birthdays, holding each other as families move through chemo, addiction or loss, and acknowledging all that’s happening in the world around, from COVID to conversations on systemic racism and democracy. Then they conclude by singing Shabbat table blessings together. “Zoom has been a great equalizer,” said Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum. “It has removed any hierarchies or perceived differences between those who know more or sing louder… and thus has become our community’s space for authentic connection regardless of anyone’s usual Shabbat practice.”

Things you might consider:

• As the host, setting culture and structures for connection is even more important online. Humanize experiences by inviting people to bring their full selves and make connections. Invite honesty, vulnerability, humor or needs.
• Create opportunities for participants to connect in small groups, like in breakout rooms, even for five minutes during the event. When in larger groups, encourage the use of hand signals to reduce awkwardness and support equitable virtual discussions.
• Design to build on aspects of relationships, identity and/or a sense of belonging to maximize relevance and connection satisfaction.
• Offer a personal touch by calling people by name. Help people feel “seen” and build a sense of intimacy in the group.

FULFILLMENT

“The event was based on a collection of food and clothing for those affected by the pandemic in my community… I was proud to participate in this cause.”

It has been difficult to remain at home, distanced from many of the activities young Jews turn to for social, emotional and spiritual fulfillment. Many are engaging in more casual, at-home behavior – 75% of respondents said they have spent time on an existing hobby or developed a new hobby in the last few months. Our research showed that successful events support participants in discovering new insights, discussing an issue they care about and leaving the event with meaningful or actionable takeaways.

The Great Big Jewish Food Fest in May, designed to maximize virtual environments while restaurants were closed, leveraged available talent and offered novel experiences, such as a tour of Jewish delis across the country, or famous chefs cooking “together” in their home kitchens in Tel Aviv, Philadelphia and New York City. The combination of entertainment, practical skills and exclusive access drew more than 20,000 people. As one participant said, “It lifted my spirits and provided content that was interesting and informative. The programs inspired me to re-read Jewish recipes and recipes in general that my mom had hand written and passed on to me… It brought me closer to my Jewish roots and identity through food.”

JDC Entwine, known for its impactful global travel and volunteer experiences, has designed virtual programs that will be evolved into a fully blended platform once the pandemic is over. One such opportunity enables young adults to volunteer for an hour per week over three months with isolated JDC-supported elderly and teenagers overseas. Participants receive pre-service training, regular check-ins and support as a cohort, and have flexibility in how and when they connect with their overseas “client” for company, conversation and/or practicing English. “This opportunity truly nourishes the soul in a challenging time in our world…. It is an absolute joy to be able to put my Russian to use and to connect with a teen client in Odessa,” said Shoshana from Ohio.

Things you might consider:

• Design for activities your audience is already doing, or specific needs they have.
• Consider how you want participants to leave the event feeling – happy, relaxed, excited, informed, empowered, connected? How will your design inspire that feeling?
• Keep participants engaged by including active, participatory elements such as writing, drawing, learning in chevruta (with a partner), or sharing back insights with the group through a chat function or discussion.
• Leave participants with a new idea, ritual, skill, recipe or playlist. Include meaningful activities participants can do after the event.

FUN

“It was nice to laugh with a group of people. So much sadness and disease is overtaking the world and so much time and energy is (rightfully) focused on it. It was a much needed break.”

It is harder to find pockets of fun, and yet our research finds that fun is the most significant element to differentiate a worthwhile event from one that felt like a waste of time for young Jews, by a 30+ point margin. ‘Fun’ can be the main purpose of your event, or an embedded element. It can be light and silly, or something that just provides an opportunity to unwind and relax.

Jewish Geography Zoom Racing, a playful Zoom-based game similar to ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ in which contestants race through their network to connect to “The Chosen One,” a person about whom contestants only know a few bits of information, has become a weekly event that stirs up social networks and evokes playfulness of Maccabiah at Jewish summer camp among thousands of viewers and dozens of participants. “Everybody is available right now,” says founder Micah Hart, “and the surprise and delight of reconnecting with someone through this game makes people smile and is nourishing for the soul!”

The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan runs Adaptations and Connections, programs for adults with special needs. They regularly design for sensory and social comfort because reducing anxiety helps people “feel safe and relaxed,” says Dorsey Massey, Director of the Center for Special Needs Programs + Inclusion, “and that provides a moment of respite from the rest of the world.”

Things you might consider:

• How can you manifest that personality of your event in every aspect of what you do, from the invitation to the welcome to the content?
• The host of an event serves as a kind of MC that sets the tone. As one respondent described: “The main speaker/host needs to be enthusiastic, friendly, and interesting. It doesn’t matter how great of a program you have if the host’s robotic introduction causes everyone to immediately sign off.”
• While many are starved for a sense of playfulness, small doses can go a long way. Consider adding elements of playfulness in small doses, like an introductory activity (Pictionary) or built into transitions (Who goes next? Rock paper scissors!)

ADDITIONAL TIPS

One of challenges with online events is that we miss so many social cues and social norms that we’d otherwise feel in person. Our research found many events can feel awkward and anxiety provoking because of the lack of attentiveness to establishing these norms. Some tips:

1. The cold start of online events lacks the transitions into the event that help people feel present, ready, and together (like riding the elevator together, seeing people as you walk in, settling into a chair with others are your table). Instead set the tone! For example, “Attire: business casual from the waist up” sets a certain humorous tone even for a somewhat serious event.
2. Designate someone to manage the tech (admitting people in the waiting room, managing break outs, dealing with tech support in the chat, muting people as needed) who is not presenting or running the program.
3. Use the technology tools to your advantage to avoid participants feeling awkward and overwhelmed. For example, utilizebreakout rooms to support discussion on topics with other participants in smaller groups.
4. Design with more structure than you would for in person events. Online gatherings lack the casual, emergent cadence of being in a room together.Include formal introductions, put a list of participants in the chat so everyone is clear about who goes next, or posting discussion questions in the chat before you go into breakout rooms so everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing.

Jewish organizations have done an incredible job transitioning to virtual programming that plays meets the key needs of Jewish young adults right now. Satisfaction is high, as are intentions for repeat engagement. We hope the findings from this research and the focus on connection, fulfillment and fun will help organizations and funders expand on the good work already happening.

We would love to hear examples of how you are designing for and/or experiencing connection, fulfillment and fun in your online events. Please share your stories in the comments.

About the research: Benenson Strategy Group surveyed 1,001 American Jews nationwide, ages 18-40, from June 29 – July 15, 2020. Surveys were conducted via an online panel; respondents have all opted in to do research and receive invitations to the survey through their preferred method of contact. Our survey then screened respondents for self-identification as Jewish. You can review the detailed results here.

Rella Kaplowitz is the Senior Program Officer for Evaluation and Learning at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, making sure the Foundation has the right information to strengthen its work. During the pandemic, Rella and her family are finding community, fulfillment and fun through virtual tot Shabbats and story time with cousins, family art time, Challah baking and dance parties.

Stacie Cherner is the Director of Learning and Evaluation at the Jim Joseph Foundation where she oversees the research and evaluation work of the Foundation. She and her husband are in California, living (with one wifi connection) with a teenager and young adult who are also trying to find community, fulfillment and fun online and offline.

Lisa Narodick Colton is the Founder and President of Darim Online and Darim Consulting, working to help Jewish organizations adapt to the digital, connected age. In addition to her consulting work, she was the Executive Producer of The Great Big Jewish Food Fest in May, an effort which gave her (and hopefully a few others) connection, fulfillment and fun even before this research was conducted.

Source: “Emotion Before Content: Evidence Based Recommendations for Designing Virtual Jewish Engagement,” Rella Kaplowitz, Stacie Cherner, Lisa Narodick Colton, eJewish Philanthropy, September 10, 2020

Jewish day schools were quick to pivot from a traditional in-class setting to online classrooms, and as the academic year winds down, they are taking stock of where they stand, what they have accomplished and how to move ahead in a COVID-19 world.

On a recent June night, 25 people, primarily young children, sat on their couches and watched as a puppeteer explained how he creates his puppets and how they could build their own with materials they have one hand. In another “room,” about a dozen people watched as an artist explained how he uses paints to create depth and design.

Welcome to the annual end-of-year art celebration at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md. Traditionally held in person, this year’s event—like events at schools around the country—took place online with the “rooms” separate live video streams that families could tune into.

Across the country, Jewish day schools were quick to pivot from a traditional in-class setting to online classrooms, and as the academic year winds down, they are taking stock of where they stand, what they have accomplished and how to move ahead in a COVID-19 world.

“Jewish day schools have worked incredibly hard, and as a result, we have been world leaders in providing a virtual education in this period,” said Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.

A New York Times article on May 9 highlighted the success of remote learning at the Chicago Jewish Day School, which provided more than four hours of live, online instruction daily after the coronavirus caused brick-and-mortar schools to close their doors this spring, in comparison to many public schools that provide only limited live, online programming. Other Jewish day schools, similarly, provide multiple hours of online instruction each day.

“As a private school, we had leeway and flexibility to get creative about the way we were teaching and make sure we reaching the whole child’s emotional and social well-being, even if it’s through a screen,” said Ilyssa Greene Frey, director of admissions at The Rashi School in Dedham, Mass., a Jewish elementary school outside Boston.

Part of the that early success came as a result of the pandemic hitting the Jewish community in New Rochelle, N.Y., particularly hard in early March. The Salantar Akiba Riverdale Academy (SAR) was the first Jewish school—and the first school in the nation—to shut down on March 3. It reopened virtually two days later, and within days, was sharing its findings on virtual education in a webinar with other Jewish day schools around the country, facilitated by Prizmah.

Salanter Akiba Riverdale High School on 259th Street in Riverdale, Bronx, N.Y. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Right away, teacher training went into effect on how to utilize a virtual-learning platform with communication to parents about the next steps. Administrators also ensured that all students had access to computers or iPads for class and arranging for electronic devices for those students who did not; in a number of cases, families may have had only one device and the parents were using it, or there were not enough for each child in a family to be online at one time.

That level of detail, along with online instruction that seemed to run circles around what the public schools managed to offer these past few months, has attracted interest from Jewish families that previously had not considered a Jewish day school for their child.

Officials at The Rashi School, which enrolls 250 students in grades kindergarten through eight, began seeing interest from prospective parents relatively soon after its classes went to an online platform on March 18.

“Families are seeing that Rashi is able to provide an education experience for their children that the public schools just cannot, and that is driving some the inquiries we are getting,” said Frey, noting that officially, admission for the 2020-21 school year closed just before the pandemic hit.

She notes that interest from new families has been particularly strong for enrollment in its middle school, where tuition can run upwards of $40,000. (Tuition begins at $29,900 for kindergarten and goes up from there.)

Among the new families joining the school will be the Shilman family, with eldest son Nathaniel starting kindergarten this fall.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain uncertain what the next school will be like; however, our decision is more certain than ever,” said Nathaniel’s mother, Stella Shilman. “Rashi has been great at keeping new students up to date with plans during quarantine and continuous efforts in online learning. From my conversations with other families, Rashi was able to quickly transform to virtual classes and continue to advance academic studies while maintaining connections within their community, beyond walls of the school.”

Those connections, said Shilman, included a virtual “play date” where Nathaniel got to meet some of his new classmates.

Students thank their teachers during an online Zoom class. Source: The Rashi School via Facebook.

The Jewish Community Day School of Greater New Orleans has also seen increasing interest in its program.

“We’ve had a few families that are looking at us more seriously and a few that have already applied not just because of what we’ve done online, but because we are a smaller school and they feel we can take appropriate precautions for in-person learning,” said Brad Philipson, the Oscar J. Tomas head of school chair. The school is also working with a regional hospital system that has developed a safe-return system for when classes reopen in August.

According to Rabbi Mitch Malkus, head of school at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, for those families who could afford to send their children to day schools but “weren’t committed to the value proposition of spending time in a Jewish day school, this has changed the equation for them. They may have felt in the past that the public school was good enough, and now they are seeing it is not good enough.”

At Charles E. Smith, parents who have been impacted by a job loss or furlough because of the pandemic will be eligible for tuition from a special emergency fund so as not to strain the general tuition-assistance fund. “We look at COVID-19 as something that will have a one- or two-year impact on tuition-assistance requests,” said Malkus, “but we wouldn’t be able to sustain this additional level of support in the long run.”

Malkus added that local donors have stepped up, but he’s hoping to secure even more gifts.

“When we were thinking about our emergency fund, we looked back to see what was needed in the great recession of 2008-09, and historically, how many people left the school,” said Malkus. “We are trying to address economic crisis from COVID-19 as best we can. My hope would be that the Jewish day-school field and schools individually are working to address that this time around in ways we didn’t during the great recession.”

“At the end of the day, unfortunately, everyone has limited resources, and there is only so much fundraising that can be done, and the impact of the pandemic is pretty significant,” he added.

Malkus said that prospective families were able to join in the end-of-year, online art program, and that more than a dozen families participated in a recent virtual open house. Like at Rashi, much of the interest for new enrollment is in the upper grades—both the middle and high schools. Currently, there are 920 students over two campuses in the pre-k through 12th-grade school.

The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Financial, enrollment and donor-support challenges

While an uptick in enrollment is good news, especially as the trend was moving in the opposite direction in recent years for non-Orthodox day schools, some 34,000 Jews attended a non-Orthodox day school in 2013, according to a report from the Avi Chai Foundation, down from some 39,500 in 2003. It comes as schools face new financial challenges as they examine how to reopen schools in a few short months.

Finances are always a concern for Jewish day schools, but even more so now as parents have been furloughed or laid off completely, economic downturns have impacted donors’ wealth portfolios, and the costs of doing business will rise to meet the myriad of health and safety guidelines and regulations needed to reopen schools as early as August.

A survey of 110 heads of Jewish day schools conducted by Prizmah recently found that 90 percent of them were expecting at least a 10 percent increase in tuition-aid requests for the upcoming school year, while two-thirds of schools said they anticipate tightening their budgets.

There is precedent for their concern.

The school rabbi of the Jewish Community Day School of Greater New Orleans, Michael Cohen (right) and the head of school, Brad Philipson, putting on a Zoom graduation program, a combination of prerecorded tributes and live participation. Credit: Courtesy.

During the economic crash of 2008-09, Jewish day schools across the country were hit hard. Parents who were facing  financial challenges pulled their children from Jewish day schools because they could no longer afford them. A number of school even shut their doors for good, unable to keep up with the declining enrollment and fiscal shortfalls.

The 2020 landscape, say experts, is quite different.

“We’re not hearing there is a big re-enrollment crisis, but we are hearing a lot of need for tuition from families that are struggling, particularly in families where one of both parents may have lost jobs or been furloughed,” said Bernstein.

To help ease that burden, Prizmah recently announced that it will be launching two new tuition-assistance funds for families impacted by the pandemic. One will be general tuition-aid fund, and the other is specifically for those parents who work in the Jewish communal sphere.

Both grants are being supported by the Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund, an $80 million fund that was established to help a variety of Jewish organizations and institutions weather the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. JCRIF is being backed by the Aviv Foundation; the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation; the Jim Joseph Foundation; Maimonides Fund; the Paul E. Singer Foundation; and the Wilf Family Foundation.

Schools are also trying to encourage local donors to step up.

In New Orleans, for instance, school officials had hoped to raise $15,000 during the Give NOLA Day, a citywide, annual charity event. When the pandemic began and the event was postponed until June, school officials were concerned people wouldn’t be able to give so they lowered their initial benchmark to $10,000.

They wound up raising $27,000 through the campaign. (People were able to give as early as May, even though the actual “day” was pushed back.)

“The community really stepped up,” said Philipson. “We don’t have the kind of money in New Orleans that bigger cities do, but we have a lot of philanthropists who are very dedicated to the Jewish community.”

At Charles E. Smith, parents who have been impacted by a job loss or furlough because of the pandemic will be eligible for tuition from a special emergency fund so as not to strain the general tuition-assistance fund. “We look at it as something that will have a one- or two-year impact,” said Malkus, “but we wouldn’t be able to sustain it in the long run.”

Malkus added that local donors have stepped, but he’s hoping to secure even more gifts.

A teacher at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., celebrates a drive-through graduation in June 2020. Source: Charles E. Smith via Facebook.

Even with assistance for parents, fiscal challenges hover above potential openings this fall.

Laurence Kutler, head of school at the Tucson Hebrew Academy in Arizona, estimates that reopening his school in early August with all the necessary health guidelines in place will cost a minimum of $40,000, including hiring an additional employee to help with sanitizing the school between classes.

That dollar amount, however, does not include the purchase earlier this year of Chromebooks for students who didn’t have access to one at home. Funds for those computers came from a private donor. The kindergarten through eighth-grade school is attended by 122 students.

“We have 38 pages of protocols from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the governor’s office, including hygiene-sanitizing equipment, social distancing in classrooms and teacher-student ratios,” said Kutler, adding that they are saving some funds by bundling their supplies with the local Jewish community center and Jewish federation to keep costs on masks, gloves and hand sanitizer down.

Said Malkus, “When we were thinking about our emergency fund, we looked back to see what was needed in the great recession of 2008-09, and historically, how many people left the school. We are trying to address that as best we can. My hope would be that the Jewish day-school field and schools individually are working to address that this time around in ways we didn’t the first time.

“At the end of the day, unfortunately, everyone has limited resources, and there is only so much fundraising that can be done and the impact is pretty significant,” added Malkus.

Incorporating scenarios for social distancing, eating, recess

With so much uncertainty regarding COVID-19—and concerns of a second or third wave of the coronavirus expected come winter—nearly every school JNS spoke with is preparing various scenarios for running the 2020-21 academic year. Saying anything is certain remains … uncertain.

“We have a variety of scenarios planned,” said Wendy Leberman, director of admission and marketing at the Jewish Day School in Bellevue, Wash., the city now known for the overwhelming large number of elderly who died in nursing homes. “We have large campus and small class sizes, so if we are limited to 10 kids a classroom, we’ve looked at how we can do that. We’ve also planned how we can can go back to campus at a 100 percent [normal], how we can do remote learning in the fall or a hybrid of the two.”

Leberman said one idea is how to have teachers educate multiple classes without risking exposure from different sets of students. One solution: having an educator remain in one room to teach classes live to be broadcasted virtually to students in other classrooms.

Some schools, particularly those with large campuses or in suburban areas, are talking about taking lessons outside, at least on good weather days, with virtual classes during cold or inclement weather. Other institutions are anticipating having a group of students in class some days, with others working virtually, and then switching either weekly or every other day. (Israel began a similar policy upon first opening its schools.) Most school concede that class sizes will be kept to a minimum per state guidelines to allow ample distancing between children.

Lunch and recess are also being reimagined. Many schools said they will focus on eating in classrooms. Some added that children and teachers will be responsible for wiping down desktops before and afterwards. Because class sizes will be significant smaller—the current best estimate is 10 to 12 students per classroom—with one teacher and perhaps an aide, adults will be better able to watch that students don’t share meals or snacks.

Recess will likely be staggered so that classes aren’t mixing on the playground or ball fields. Educators will also be looking at how camps running this summer handle their sports and free time for ideas for games and athletic activities that can be done with little contact.

Also, the school day may be shortened in some areas to allow for staggered shifts and more cleaning times, which would affect recess.

Whatever it looks like, 2020 will be like 2008—a “pivot point” for Jewish education, suggested Bernstein. “The question is: How do we pivot to have good things happen? And if that means there will be some consolidation among schools in a particular area, that’s a real possibility.

“We aren’t just talking about schools closing, but of schools coming together and making something that is stronger than their individual parts,” he continued. “ … There are even opportunities between schools to share the virtual platform, which can be cost-saving. There are lots of creative ideas ahead.”

Source: “Amid the pandemic, Jewish day schools survive (and even thrive),” Faygie Holt, Jewish News Syndicate, June 19, 2020

The Jewish Service Alliance (JSA), a new coalition of organizations, today launched “Serve the Moment” to engage Jewish young adults and college students in 100,000 acts of meaningful service and learning addressing the COVID-19 crisis, its economic fallout, and the movement for racial justice. The initiative will mobilize tens of thousands in virtual volunteering, in-person service, and national service campaigns around specific issues during the year. Full-time stipended fellows, known as “Serve the Moment Corps Members,” will serve at nonprofit partners in cities across the country.

“The Jewish community is facing an extraordinary moment as we see unprecedented need in our communities and a great awakening to the fact that Black Americans and People of Color are being disproportionately impacted,” says Cindy Greenberg, President and CEO of Repair the World, which mobilizes Jewish young adults and their communities to serve, and is leading Serve the Moment nationally. “We must step up boldly and in alignment with our Jewish values to support our community and our neighbors. Serve the Moment will galvanize the Jewish community to meet pressing local needs, strengthening our country while building bridges across lines of difference. I want us to look back on this unprecedented chapter knowing that we lived our values, showed up, and made an impact.”

Powered by Repair the World, Serve the Moment is in partnership with Amplifier, Avodah, Base Hillel, Be’chol Lashon, Birthright Israel, The Bronfman Youth Fellowship, Foundation for Jewish Camp, Challah for Hunger, Hillel International, IsraAID, JCC Association, JDC Entwine, M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, Moishe House, Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies, OneTable, Religious Action Center, Tivnu, Union for Reform Judaism, Congregation Emanu-El (San Francisco), Jewish Federations of North America and Jewish Volunteer Centers, Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, Jewish Volunteer Connection Baltimore, Righteous Persons Foundation; and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation, and Maimonides Fund through the Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund.

“The Jewish Service Alliance is an ambitious, exciting and important endeavor with the power to influence countless lives, both those serving and those being served,” adds Michael Brown, Co-founder and Senior Advisor of City Year, who is advising Serve the Moment. “Ultimately, it is the collective service of all of us, from all backgrounds, life experiences and beliefs, which empowers change, builds unity and shared purpose, and allows us to dream of a better life – and work together to achieve it. I’m honored to be a part of the Jewish community’s effort to rise to meet this moment.”

Beginning with a summer of service from July 8 – August 7, Serve the Moment will mobilize 100 Jewish young adults and college students through a four-week stipended Corps Member program, which will grow to bring on more Corps Members in the fall and spring. The Corps Members will volunteer in-person and virtually while also learning and reflecting with their peers. The initiative also will mobilize the Jewish community around specific issues, such as food insecurity, learning loss, and unemployment related to COVID-19 and racial justice, through four national campaigns during the year. In total, Serve the Moment will engage tens of thousands of young adults and college students in 100,000 acts of service and learning.

The initiative’s leaders hope their collaborative approach is a model for other Jewish organizations to work together to engage Jewish young adults in meaningful ways.

“Mobilizing a national service movement for Jewish young adults can play a critical role in helping Jewish life to persist and flourish through these uncertain and challenging times,” said Adam Lehman, President and CEO of Hillel International. “Just as important, this initiative will inspire a new generation of Jewish young adults to translate their Jewish values into serious commitments to service on behalf of the broader community, now and into the future.”

Following an intense period of evaluation and planning, Serve the Moment is responding to an unprecedented need, as vulnerable populations are experiencing loss of life, financial insecurity, and challenges accessing basic necessities and care. Additionally, as Jewish camps, communal organizations, nonprofits, and other pillars of Jewish life are disrupted, the Jewish community can invest in innovative efforts that engage young Jews in meaningful ways around a common purpose.

Volunteers can connect with Serve the Moment in the following ways:

• Full-time Corps Members will engage in immersive, in-person (with social distancing as needed) and virtual service with carefully vetted local partners who are following CDC guidelines. For example, Serve the Moment Corps Members will support vital food and supply delivery and packaging at food pantries.

• Volunteers will engage in virtual and in-person service episodically through Serve the Moment’s robust menu of projects, such as online tutoring for low-income children who have fallen behind because of school closings, calls and welfare assessments with isolated seniors, food delivery, and home seed starting for urban farms that provide fresh produce to low-income families who would not otherwise have access. Volunteers can also provide pro bono skilled volunteering for frontline nonprofits such as website development, logo design, and fundraising support.

• Time-bound national volunteering campaigns offer opportunities to engage thousands of young Jews in episodic service and learning. This volunteering is centered around key issue areas (e.g. food, education, social isolation/mental health) and holidays (e.g. High Holidays, Purim, MLK Day), inspiring and galvanizing the Jewish community nationwide to serve. Campaigns will incorporate both in-person service and digital engagement to educate participants about pressing social needs and support individuals in finding service opportunities to meet needs in their communities.

For more information, contact Jordan Fruchtman, Senior Director of the Jewish Service Alliance at [email protected].

Repair the World (Repair) mobilizes Jews and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, igniting a lifelong commitment to service. Repair believes service in support of social change is vital to a flourishing Jewish community and an inspired Jewish life.

Source: eJewish Philanthropy

Families face multiple challenges as they shelter in place together for months and the busy lives of adolescent children are put on hold indefinitely

Sophie Riegel has started pulling her hair out again. The stress of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a reversion to some unhealthy habits for the college freshman who suffers from trichotillomania and three other anxiety disorders.

Riegel, the author of two books on anxiety, was informed while home in New York for spring break that her university would be closed. She and her father immediately drove down to North Carolina and packed up her belongings with just hours to spare before the dorms were locked.

“I had no idea how long the wait would be until I could return to campus, and I didn’t have enough underwear,” explained Riegel about the determination to retrieve her things.

Riegel has been busy with online classes and virtual speaking engagements, but a planned lecture tour of summer camps has been cancelled.

Sophie Riegel (Courtesy)

“None of us can make plans. Everyone is uncertain about the future, and uncertainty is the root of anxiety,” she said.

Adolescents are angsty and moody in the best of times, and the pandemic and its restrictions have either caused or exacerbated genuine mental health challenges. Professionals in the Jewish community were quick to identify that teenagers and their parents needed extra support during this difficult period.

Local teen-focused Jewish organizations and programs have swung into action to provide guidance, and the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative launched a multifaceted, interactive online resource for Mental Health Awareness Month in May.  The collaborative is a philanthropic experiment sponsored by a variety of local and national funders anchored by the Jim Joseph Foundation, and involves 10  communities. Through its “Collective Compassion” initiative, it is offering 23 different virtual workshops, discussions, and hands-on activities for teens, parents and professionals.

“Although this monthlong series of events is new this year, well-being of teens has been a concern for us since our inception in 2013,” said the collaborative’s executive director Sara Allen.

“We had always wanted to do something for Mental Health Month, and COVID amplified the need for it now, and for it to be virtual,” she said.

Illustrative: Boston Jewish community teens. (Courtesy of Jewish Teen Initiative of Boston)

According to the collaborative’s wellness coordinator, licensed independent clinical social worker Margie Bogdanow, it was critical to include parents in the equation.

“There can be more friction between teens and parents now because of everyone being home together all the time. And in general, there isn’t a lot out there in terms of support for parents of teens. It’s important to provide this support to parents before their teens are in crisis,” Bogdanow noted.

The new non-taboo

Erica Hruby, executive director of the Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Network (JTEEN), started a virtual support group for parents and teens in late March. Once a week, parents from different parts of the United States come together to share their struggles and successes.

Chicago Jewish teens participate in Springboard School Break Program Ski and Snowboard Adventure (Courtesy of Springboard)

“These parents look forward to our conversations and appreciate hearing that others are experiencing similar challenges. They look to each other for guidance and as a non-judgmental shoulder to lean on,” Hruby said.

Accustomed to overloaded academic and extracurricular schedules, daily face-to-face interaction with their friends, and burgeoning independence, teens sense that their lives are on pause — with no definite restart point in sight.

It is no longer taboo to talk about mental health

This uncertainty takes its toll on many young people, especially those with clinical anxiety or depression diagnoses. Fortunately, many members of Generation Z and their parents do not regard coping struggles as a sign of weakness, and are willing to seek help.

“It is no longer taboo to talk about mental health,” said Gail New, a mother of three — including 16-year-old twins — who sits on a key committee at her children’s school in Marblehead, Massachusetts. “The subject comes up at every meeting we have.”

Ryann Bloom (Paradise Photo & Video)

“My generation is so great about trying to break the stigma surrounding mental health,” said Ryann Bloom, an 18-year-old high school senior in Natick, Massachusetts, who has seen an uptick in anxiety and depression among her friends since the beginning of the pandemic.

Bloom finds going out into the world scary these days, afraid she could catch the virus. “I went to Target with my sister. She was okay, but I freaked out,” she said.

According to retired psychologist and adjunct lecturer at Hebrew Union College Betsy Stone, the best thing adults can do for teens is listen to them vent about how hard it is for them right now. She cautions that trying to impart perspective and reassurance to teens will backfire.

“They’ll perceive that as you not really wanting to listen to them,” she said. “Just listening to them express themselves is a huge act of love and holiness.”

Stuck together

There are definite downsides to families being cooped up at home for months at a time. Conflict should be expected as a result of this unprecedented forced intimacy, with a perceived lack of privacy and personal space.

However, Stone pointed out that this is a perfect opportunity for parents to help their teens build character and work on who they want to be as members of their family and individuals. Part of this involves insisting that teens do chores to help keep the household going. Stone suggests giving teens choice in terms of which jobs they take on so they maintain some control.

Ben Suffel (courtesy)

“Parallel play” is also important as a way of spending quality time together as a family, and as a way for parents to be emotionally there for their children.

“Watch TV and movies together. Do puzzles. Play board games. Do stuff your teens like to do even if you don’t like it,” Stone said.

Ben Suffel, a high school junior in Owings Mills, Maryland, has enjoyed eating dinner every night with his parents and twin brother. The 17-year-old has also liked running with his dad and just hanging out on the front porch.

He misses seeing his track teammates and friends from his synagogue youth group, but he has found that keeping in regular touch with them online has been a good second-best alternative.

It’s been harder for Bloom, who has struggled with the forced social distancing from her friends.

“I’m a social person and crave in-person connection. I like physical contact and hugging as part of showing emotional ties to people,” said Bloom, who is a leader in the Boston Jewish teen community.

Spending so much time in her room has gotten Bloom a bit down. She has found herself hanging out on social media just to pass the time and quell her boredom. “I’ll be scrolling through TikTok for hours,” she said.

Teenage girls from the Atlanta Jewish community. (Courtesy of JumpSpark)

Riegel warned against overdoing the social media exposure and following the news excessively.

“Not everything circulated is accurate, nor are statistics necessarily relevant to where you live. You really have to contextualize so you don’t catastrophize,” Riegel said.

An opportunity for independence

Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, associate director of adolescent initiatives for the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, has discovered that the COVID crisis has helped many teens become more independent and responsible about managing their time.

I’m seeing teens develop their own coping skills and new levels of self-awareness

“I’m seeing teens develop their own coping skills and new levels of self-awareness. I’m hearing teens describe going for daily runs, getting full nights of sleep because they’re able to set the agenda of the day according to their own rhythms, and realizing when their screens aren’t a substitute for the longing for human connection,” Vinokor-Meinrath said.

Boston Jewish community teens work on staying healthy. (Courtesy of Jewish Teen Initiative of Boston)

Suffel agreed about the benefit of setting his own schedule. He has been less stressed doing his school work at home, because he can do it at his own pace and not be distracted by the school environment.

The recent announcement by Jewish summer camps that they will not operate this summer has been a hard pill for teens to swallow. New’s twins’ trip to Israel with their Jewish camp has been cancelled.

“They’ve been commiserating with their friends, but I think they are still in a bit of a state of denial,” New said.

Bloom, who is set to begin studying criminal justice, criminology and psychology at the University of Maryland in the fall, feels robbed of her final semester of high school. There are tentative plans to hold her school’s graduation ceremony in August.

Boston Jewish teens participate in a community service project. (Courtesy of Jewish Teen Initiative of Boston)

For some teens, being introspective can help. Aaron Henne, artistic director of Theater Dybbuk in Los Angeles, is offering a “Storytelling for Sanity” workshop as part of “Collective Compassion.” Henne believes in the power of creative expression and the arts to help people navigate difficulty. For the workshop, he will focus on storytelling as a vehicle for connection, understanding, and healing, particularly in the Jewish tradition.

“The intended primary audience of my workshop is teens who are open to connecting with their own inner voices at this time. They’ll have the chance to write their own story so that they can keep it and refer to it in the future,” Henne said.

Sammy Ginsberg (courtesy)

It is also important for teens to look forward to things they can return to when it is safe to do so. If his plans to work at a local JCC day camp fall through due to COVID-19, Suffel is committed to being as active and busy as possible this summer. Bloom has already lined up a college roommate and has been coordinating with her about décor.

Allen has found that teens who have shown agency, turning to action, purpose and meaning, have exhibited resiliency. For instance, Houston brothers Matthew and Jeremy Jason took on a major project making protective face masks from kippahs for the homeless.

Toronto teen Sammy Ginsberg intends to grow his blossoming baking business this summer. The 15-year-old self-taught baker has seen the number of orders for his creatively decorated confections soar since mid-March. Sheltering at home with his parents and sister, Ginsberg has focused solely on his school work and his baking.

“I’ve been fulfilling an average of eight orders a week, and I have had to turn down a lot of orders,” he said.

A selection of cakes from Sam’s Sweet Creations. (courtesy of Sammy Ginsberg)

Ginsberg has been leading free instructional baking sessions over Zoom, and gives 20 percent of the profits from his cakes, which range for $55 to $300, to the Frontline Fund. He even lined up two matching donors to triple the impact of his gift.

Ginsberg’s baking has kept boredom at bay and helped him stay motivated toward the end of this usual school year.

“Most of all, it’s kept my mind off the scariness of this worldwide pandemic,” he said.

Source: “Virtual initiative promotes teen well-being, mental health in COVID-19 crisis,” Renee Ghert-Zand, Times of Israel, May 26, 2020

Makayla Wigder, a high school senior from Houston, had been looking forward to the prom, graduation and one last summer with her friends before leaving for college.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic. Now those plans appear highly unlikely to materialize.

“It’s just devastating,” Wigder lamented. “Graduation is something we’ve worked toward for the past 12 years. Finishing without a sense of closure is just really disappointing.”

With much of America under lockdown, the struggles of the sick, the elderly and those tasked with helping them are front and center. But even those with seemingly less urgent needs — such as teens, many of whom struggle with anxiety or depression in ordinary times — are also at greater risk of struggle during this epidemic, experts say.

“It was hard to be a teenager even before all of this, but COVID-19 is amplifying the most painful parts about adolescence,” said Sara Allen, executive director of Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Funder Collaborative, a partnership between local federations and the Jim Joseph Foundation.

Allen is planning a webinar in May to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Month for a network of 800 Jewish professionals who work with teens.

Many teens are feeling a real sense of grief at the loss of the traditional rituals that close out high school, Allen said, but they don’t necessarily recognize the emotion as such.

“They feel they were robbed. But it doesn’t trigger as grief, so that makes it harder for them to move through the stages,” she said. “We’re trying to help them with the language, and perhaps some kind of Jewish ritual over this loss, so they can feel a sense of agency over it.”

At Jewish federations across the country, adults who work on teen programs are recasting what they do to reach out to teens and make sure they’re OK, help them build resilience and cope with the coronavirus crisis, and even engage them in projects to help the wider community during these extraordinary times.

In Texas, Katelyn Bleiweiss, the mental health programs coordinator at Jewish Family Service of Greater Houston, a federation partner, recently led a Zoom workshop with some 40 teens to talk about resilience. It was adapted to the pandemic from a suicide prevention program, Sources of Strength, that Jewish Family Service brought to the Jewish community in Texas.

“We talked about the strengths that we had before COVID-19 — like cooking or playing with your dog or playing soccer, and how can we modify these things for the present reality?” Bleiweiss said.

For example, if a soccer player can’t play with her team, she can still practice her technique at home, Bleiwiss said, focusing on a skill or something they enjoyed before can help reduce anxiety now.

In normal times, the Jewish Family Service of Greater Houston holds in-person resilience workshops for Jewish teens. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been happening over Zoom. (Courtesy of JFS Houston)

“The primary focus is finding strength in your life by looking at true norms,” she said. “While there are a lot of negative stories in the media about the coronavirus, the majority of the population are healthy and most who get it actually recover, especially among young people. Resiliency to it is the true norm.”

Many Jewish community professionals who work with teens say that the crucial element of their work now isn’t so much the content of one particular program or another but connecting with teens during this time of social isolation.

Marna Meyer runs the Teen Israel Ambassador program through the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. In ordinary circumstances, the program helps teens prepare for college and learn tools for college activism around Israel. But right now, she said, simply connecting with each other socially has become the highest priority.

“They’re feeling lonely and isolated,” said Meyer, a therapist by training. “All the phone calls, texting and Zooming isn’t the same as being with each other.”

“We’ve been really conscientious in looking for red flags,” said Rabbi Dena Shaffer, executive director of 4Front, a program run by The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, which serves as a gathering place for Baltimore’s Jewish teens to explore their Jewish identities and the issues that matter to them.

Shaffer and Meyer both said if they notice teens dropping off from programming, they make an extra effort to reach out to them.

The Big Apple Adventure is a trip to New York for teens from the Midwest Region of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth. The last such trip was in February 2020, right before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago)

Some teens have had a difficult time adjusting to living their lives almost completely online, said Margie Bogdanow, a Boston-based consultant who works as wellness coordinator for the Jewish Teen Education & Engagement Funder Collaborative.

The trauma of this experience should not be understated, Bogdanow warned.

“This is a trauma for everybody and a trauma for the teens,” she said. “Often when people are in a trauma, they don’t express it in that moment. You see it much later.”

At the same time, many of those who work with teens say they’ve been impressed with how quickly Jewish teens have adapted to this new reality.

Across the country, teens who are part of Diller Teen Fellows, an international program with 32 global communities, including one in Chicago, created a series of “fellow spotlights” where they present or lead an online conversation on a topic they are passionate about and engage their peers in discussion.

In Chicago, an April 30 event honoring 18 teens in a Jewish leadership program called 18 Under 18 was canceled. But the teens took their Jewish leadership initiatives online, or continued already existing remote collaborations, including projects on Holocaust education in public schools, the diversity of Jewish experiences and religious pluralism.

“We have some amazing leaders who are trying to figure out ways to give back, even if they can’t do so in person,” said Sarina Gerson, assistant vice president for community outreach and engagement at the Jewish United Fund of Chicago. “Many teens want to continue their involvement in volunteer projects and social action, even if it has to happen in their own homes. They’re looking for an outlet to channel their energy in productive ways.”

Gerson said the teens she works with who have leadership qualities see the pandemic as an opportunity to make a difference in the community.

“For Jewish Teens Struggling in the Coronavirus Era, Jewish Groups Extend a Lifeline,” Alix Wall, JTA, March 4, 2020

The challenges have affected every sector of Jewish communal life, including organizational closures, staff layoffs, canceled programs, a pivot to online education and an increase in financial-aid needs.

Seven Jewish foundations joined together to announce on Monday the launch of the Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund (JCRIF), which will provide more than $80 million in interest-free loans and grants as thousands of Jewish nonprofit organizations are experiencing unprecedented needs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The challenges have affected every sector of Jewish communal life, including organizational closures, staff layoffs, canceled programs, a pivot to online education, an anticipated increase in financial-aid needs, a decrease in fundraising and and other operational interruptions.

“We recognize the dire health and economic needs that the pandemic has created and applaud the heroic efforts by so many to address them. We have also seen firsthand the acute challenges Jewish organizations across the country are facing,” said JCRIF’s funders, which include the Aviv Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, the Jim Joseph Foundation, Maimonides Fund, the Paul E. Singer Foundation and the Wilf Family Foundation.

“While this fund alone cannot address all of those challenges, we believe that investing together in these vital pillars of Jewish life will help ensure a stronger future for American Jewry in the months and years to come,” they said.

JCRIF includes two components: a loan program and an aligned grant program. The loan program will provide short-term unsecured loans to alleviate cash flow challenges and to enable organizations to maintain services and/or make payroll in the coming three to six months.

The loan program will be based at the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), which will act as the loan fund administrator and lender of record. It will also partner with the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), which will source and recommend loan applications. Shira Hutt, JFNA Chief of Staff and an experienced nonprofit and philanthropic professional, is serving as JFNA’s liaison to the program. JFNA will work with key national Jewish networks, including members of the National Emergency Coalition, as well as independent Jewish nonprofits, to source loan applicants.

The aligned grant program will provide a combination of emergency funding for immediate needs and strategic funding to address organizational and sector-wide shifts catalyzed by the crisis. The program seeks to provide an efficient, simplified and accelerated application and reporting system for both applicants and grant recipients. It will supplement each foundation’s current grantmaking to Jewish organizations.

To create an efficient process that ensures quick turnaround and deployment of resources, both programs will proactively source funding opportunities rather than accept unsolicited proposals. The fund welcomes additional investors.

Source: Jewish News Syndicate, April 20, 2020