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May 20, 2021 | 9 Sivan 5781
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NEWS & VIEWS Teens Take Action
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The Kids Are All Right
Hebrew College Teen Ambassadors and Fellows Take Action to Help Heal our City and our World
Food insecurity. Homelessness. Health education. These systemic problems have been amplified during this challenging pandemic year, particularly for underserved populations. “We can’t just stand by,” said Rabbi Or Rose, Founding Director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College. “We have to respond to the moment with care and creativity. Who better to step forward than teens, with their energy, idealism, and fresh thinking?”
This year, Hebrew College’s Miller Center quickly launched into action—initiating three new hands-on programs for youth and young adults: The Dignity Project, The COVID Youth Commission, and the COVID-19 Faith in the Vaccine Ambassador Program. “The response has been inspiring,” said Rabbi Rose. “Young leaders throughout Greater Boston are seeking ways to make a tangible difference during a very difficult time.”
Teens chosen for the these highly-selective Hebrew College programs hail from diverse backgrounds, neighborhoods, and faiths, but share a common passion for addressing the challenges of the pandemic and our world today—through education, the arts, direct service, and advocacy, using their creativity and savvy to accomplish their goals. Each program provides teens with mentorship, leadership training, interreligious and cross-cultural collaboration, and connections to new and different people and ideas.
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COVID Youth Commission
The COVID Youth Commission, a partnership between the Miller Center and the Center for Teen Empowerment, is a five-month (spring semester 2021) program for 26 teens from diverse communities and neighborhoods throughout Greater Boston who are committed to addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including some longstanding justice issues that the health crisis has brought to light or exacerbated. Student commissioners work on one of three project teams: Advocacy, Direct Service, or Multimedia, meeting weekly from February through June on Zoom, Slack, and, more recently, in-person with their mentors and peers. (Read about Ariana, above, and other student commissioners in COVID Chronicles.)
“These kids are amazing. It really is the highlight of my week,” said Rafi Ellenson, a Hebrew College first-year rabbinical student and COVID Youth Commission mentor. “There is something special about pluralistic learning opportunities in which ;we are not only encouraged to challenge ourselves individually but to create projects that are immediately relevant to others. Through this program, I have learned to be a mentor to young leaders who are different in many ways from me, not only discovering our common humanity but working to achieve common goals.”
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Faith in the Vaccine Ambassador Program
With Massachusetts vaccine rates rising, there is a pressing shift toward vaccine education and outreach for underserved Boston area neighborhoods where vaccine hesitancy is high. In response, the Miller Center has teamed up with Interfaith Youth Core to pioneer a national program for teen student ambassadors. Interfaith Youth Core is spearheading the project nationally, and Hebrew College is organizing the Greater Boston effort, with help from local partners Turn In Reach Out, We Got Us, and Black Boston COVID Commission. The program will begin in June, picking up where the COVID Youth Commission leaves off and allowing some COVID Youth Commissioners the opportunity to transition into ambassador roles.
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Dignity Project
The Miller Center began planning for The Dignity Project before the COVID outbreak because of a growing need to help teen leaders in our city navigate the diversity of American life during a time of widespread political and cultural polarization. But the pain and isolation of the pandemic and the recent social uprising made the mission of this new project even more urgent and relevant.
The Miller Center launched the project in fall 2020, in the thick of the pandemic, to train an initial cohort of 15 outstanding high schoolers from Greater Boston to serve as interreligious and cross-cultural leaders, with the capacity to engage the diversity of our city (and broader society) with thoughtfulness, skill, and care.
(Above, artwork and podcast by Dignity Project Fellows)
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Summer Community Education Course Registration is Open!
Study online this summer with Hebrew College. We have community courses for all levels, stages, and ages.
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Serving God With and Without WiFi
Parashat Naso (Numbers 4:21–7:89)
By Rabbi Avi Killip `15, VP of Strategy and Programs, Hadar
What holy work can be done through the use of technology, and what must be done in person or by hand?
This is the question being asked today in every prayer community. These questions can feel mundane and perhaps even trivial. We want to focus our energy on creating powerful, emotional moments of prayer and connection. The logistical questions feel like they drag us down. But they are not new, and they are important.
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Hebrew College's "Faith in Isolation Expressed" exhibit runs Mondays through Fridays by appointment through June 6. Read more in The Boston Globe and plan your visit. (Photo by Collin Howell)
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Hebrew College Virtual Events
TONIGHT!
Jessica Woolf Silverberg Cantorial Capstone Recital
May 20 | 7:30 p.m. EST
Watch on YouTube
Teen Beit Midrash Open House
May 23 | 7:30-8:15 p.m.
Learn more & register
Embracing Creative Thinking
Sponsored by Hebrew College's Congregational Education Initiative
May 24 | 11 a.m. EST
Learn more & register
Faith — Here & Now: An Interreligious Exploration (Part 3)
A Program of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning
& Leadership at Hebrew College
May 25 | 1 p.m. EST
Learn more & register
Moving On and Holding On
Breath Lab Workshop with Hebrew College's Rabbi Ebn Leader
May 27 | 4 p.m. EST
Learn more & register
Hebrew College Jewish Teen Foundation of Greater Boston (JTFGB)
Grant Ceremony
June 2 | 6:30 p.m. EST
Learn more
The Queer Jewish Arts Festival
JCC of Greater Baltimore
Co-sponsors: Hebrew College and others
June 1-13 | $40 Pride Pass for all virtual events
Learn more & register
Commencement Ceremony (Livestreamed)
June 6 | 12 p.m. EST
Learn more
Rabbinical and Cantorial Ordination Ceremonies (Livestreamed)
June 6 | Cantorial 1:15 p.m. EST | Rabbinical 3 p.m. EST
Learn more
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SUPPORT LEARNING & LEADERSHIP IN OUR DIVERSE AND INTERCONNECTED WORLD
Please help deepen Hebrew College’s impact on building a community of sacred purpose—a community that draws deeply on our texts and traditions to create a world of greater holiness, justice, and compassion. Make a gift before the close of our fiscal year, June 30, 2021.
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