Moving Traditions is a Jewish non-profit organization that runs educational programs for teenagers. The organization was founded in 2005 and is based in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
Moving Traditions is a Jewish non-profit organization that runs educational programs for teenagers. The organization was founded in 2005 and is based in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
The organization recognizes the disconnect between the social realities that teens face today and the programming offered to them by many organizations in the Jewish Community. The organization researches and develops curricula, trains educators to inspire teens, and assists institutions in weaving the approach into educational models. [1] Because of this approach, Moving Traditions has been named "one of the 50 most innovative Jewish organizations" by Slingshot '16 for the 10th year. [2] [3]
It uses their educational programs as a way to keep Jewish education relevant. Most Jewish teens in the United States do not continue with any form of Jewish education after having a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Sally Gottesman, its cofounder, says that a community should be making Bar and Bat Mitzvah "a rite of passage into something rather than from something." With their educational programs for boys and girls, Moving Traditions encourages participating in the program through 12th grade and focuses on addressing relevant topics that teenage boys and girls are dealing with. [4]
Rosh Hodesh is a Jewish educational program which draws on Jewish themes and principles to help girls in grades 8–12 face the intricacies of adolescent life. [5] The name of the program is derived from the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hodesh, which marks the beginning of every lunar month. It is a hybrid between a youth group and a facilitated discussion. [6] It meets on a monthly basis, and is based on the Jewish tradition of a women's new moon celebtrations. Moving traditions partners with synagogues, schools, and Jewish Community Centers to operate the program. The organization trains adult group leaders to facilitate the Rosh Hodesh groups. They meet and discuss adolescent girls' self-esteem, leadership, competition, body image, Jewish identity and friendships. [7]
Shevet Achim is the male counterpart. The name of the program is derived from the prayer Hine Ma Tov meaning "here's to what's good" from Psalm 133. The program grew out of three years of research conducted by the organization and published in the article Engaging Jewish Teen Boys: A Call to Action. [8] Funders of the campaign for Jewish Boys include the UJA-Federation of New York, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Rose Community Foundation, and the Lasko Family Foundations and the Covenant Foundation. [9] It is a program for eighth- and ninth-grade boys with over 30 groups in 7 cities. Each meeting starts with a cooperative and non competitive game, or with food preparation, the goal of which is to break the ground for deeper conversation. Rabbi Daniel Brenner, director for initiatives for boys and men for Moving Traditions, believes that the program fills a void in the typical adolescent male life. Brenner says that "boys have physical and spiritual lives. If you just ask them 'How are you feeling?' they will say 'duhhh.' So you have to get to a place where they can engage." [10] Moving Traditions trains group leaders to facilitate Shevet Achim. Each meeting focuses on allowing the boys to decompress from stressful lives and balance clowning and horseplay with deep discussions of Judaism and ethics. [11]
Tzelem is a national online group for Jewish teens who identify as transgender, nonbinary, gender fluid, and gender questioning Jewish teens in partnership with Keshet. [12]
The organizations and The National Museum of American Jewish History have collaborated to organize a traveling exhibition, Bat Mitzvah Comes of Age, featuring the story of how, in less than a century, individual girls, their parents and their rabbis challenged communal values to institute this now widely practiced Jewish ritual of the Bat Mitzvah. [13] The exhibition is based on more than 150 responses to the Bat Mitzvah survey and showcases the evolution of the Bat Mitzvah through the stories of women who pioneered the sacred ritual of the Bat Mitzvah. "A couple years ago we wanted to show the evolution of the bat mitzvah" says Deborah Meyer, executive director and cofounder at Moving Traditions. "the ceremony is often taken for granted; now every girl today seems to have a bat mitzvah. In Judaism, for thousands of years, it was men who were on the pulpit and now in the last several decades women have been welcomed to participate in the worship." [14]
The exhibit includes oral history recordings of Bat Mitzvah stories and artifacts across history and Jewish movements and an interactive component in which visitors can share their coming of age stories. The exhibit mentions both everyday people as well as noted women, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and activist Ruth Messinger. [15] Now at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit through March 2013, the exhibit was launched in Manhattan in April 2012 and has since traveled to the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta and Larchmont Temple in Westchester, New York. The exhibit will next travel to the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami Beach and the Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland. [16]
A bar mitzvah (masc.), bat mitzvah (fem.), or b mitzvah, is a coming-of-age ritual in Judaism. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age, they are said to "become" b'nai mitzvah, at which point they begin to be held accountable for their own actions. Traditionally, the father of a bar or bat mitzvah offers thanks to God that he is no longer punished for his child's sins.
The haftara or haftorah "parting," "taking leave", is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im ("Prophets") of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice. The haftara reading follows the Torah reading on each Sabbath and on Jewish festivals and fast days. Typically, the haftara is thematically linked to the parashah that precedes it. The haftara is sung in a chant. Related blessings precede and follow the haftara reading.
The Nine Days of Av are a time of commemoration and spiritual observance in Judaism during the first nine days of the Jewish month of Av. The Nine Days begin on Rosh Chodesh Av and culminates on the public fast day of Tisha B'Av.
Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with nearly 300,000 members in the United States. Hadassah fundraises for community programs and health initiatives in Israel, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, two leading research hospitals in Jerusalem. In the US, the organization advocates on behalf of women's rights, religious autonomy and US–Israel diplomacy. In Israel, Hadassah supports health education and research, women's initiatives, schools and programs for underprivileged youth.
Young Judaea is a peer-led Zionist youth movement that runs programs throughout the United States for Jewish youth in grades 2–12. In Hebrew, Young Judaea is called Yehuda Hatzair or is sometimes referred to as Hashachar (השחר), lit. "the dawn". Founded in 1909, it is the oldest Zionist youth movement in the United States.
United Synagogue Youth (USY) is the youth movement of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ). It was founded in 1951, under the auspices of the Youth Commission of what was then the United Synagogue of America.
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) is a Jewish seminary in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. It is the only seminary affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. RRC has an enrollment of approximately 80 students in rabbinic and other graduate programs.
Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning their Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Hebrew school is usually taught in dedicated classrooms at a synagogue, under the instruction of a Hebrew teacher, and often receives support from the cantor for learning the ancient chanting of their Torah portion, and from the rabbi during their ceremony since they must read from a Torah scroll, which has no Hebrew vowels, and very close together text and minimal line spacing; making it very challenging for almost anyone to read from.
Torah Umesorah – National Society for Hebrew Day Schools is an Orthodox Jewish educational charity based in the United States that promotes Torah-based Jewish religious education in North America by supporting and developing a loosely affiliated network independent private Jewish day schools.
Colel Chabad was founded in 1788 and is the oldest continuously operating charity in Israel. The institution runs a network of soup kitchens and food banks, dental and medical clinics, daycare centers, widow and orphan support, and immigrant assistance programs. It also provides interest-free loans, camp scholarships, career training and job placement, subsidized weddings for the poor, and many other social-welfare projects.
Chai Lifeline is a chesed organization founded in 1987 by Rabbi Simcha Scholar to help families with "children battling a deadly disease."
Bais Chana Women International is a Chabad non-profit organization that works to provide an environment for Jewish girls and women, ages 15 and up and from all backgrounds, to explore Jewish teachings and traditions.
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that mobilizes the Jewish community of the region to advance racial and economic justice. JCUA partners with diverse community groups across the city and state to combat racism, antisemitism, poverty and other forms of systemic oppression, through grassroots community organizing, youth education programs, and community development.
Rosh Hashanah L'Ma'sar Behemah or Rosh Hashanah LaBehemah is one of the four New Year's day festivals in the Jewish calendar as indicated in the Mishnah. During the time of the Temple, this was a day on which shepherds determined which of their mature animals were to be tithed. The day coincides with Rosh Chodesh Elul, the New Moon for the month of Elul, exactly one month before Rosh Hashanah.
Daniel S. Brenner is an American rabbi. Brenner is chief of Education and Program at Moving Traditions. Brenner was the founding executive director of Birthright Israel NEXT and he directed graduate-level training programs at Auburn Theological Seminary and at CLAL- the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, both in New York City. In 2009, he was named by Newsweek Magazine as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America.
Sally Gottesman is the founder and president of The Eleemosynary Group, consultants to non-profit organizations based in New York City.
An adult bar/bat mitzvah is a bar or bat mitzvah of a person older than the customary age. Traditionally, a bar or bat mitzvah occurs at age 13 for boys and 12 for girls. Many adult Jews who have never had a bar or bat mitzvah, however, may choose to have one later in life, and many who have had one at the traditional age choose to have a second. An adult bar or bat mitzvah can be held at any age after adulthood is reached and can be performed in a variety of ways.
Women's Spirit: Financial Independence - for Women Victims of Violence is an Israeli Amruta that offers women victims of domestic violence the tools and support with which to become financially independent. The organization seeks to raise awareness of violence against women and provide women with the tools and skills to become personally and financially independent.
Oraynu Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, founded in 1969, is Canada's first Humanistic Jewish congregation. It is based in Toronto, Ontario and is affiliated with the Society for Humanistic Judaism.
Bat mitzvah, a Jewish coming of age ritual for girls.