Year 1
Circle 1: Me/The Self (Shleimut)
1. Standing Together
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Establish guidelines for themselves to make the space a place for honest conversation
- Feel more connected and comfortable with the rest of the group
- Describe what to expect from these curricular sessions
- Describe more than one aspect of their identities
Jewish Text: Torah
2. A Listening Heart
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Identify the difference between empathy and sympathy
- Identify where empathy is reflected in Jewish values
- Practice reframing sympathetic situations they might encounter with an empathetic response
- Articulate where and why it is important to practice empathy
Jewish Text: Kings
3. Stressed Out? Tune In!
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Learn more about the body’s physical response to stress and brainstorm some de-stressing techniques.
- Discuss how their physical response to stress and stress relief techniques might be informed by gender and gender stereotypes.
- Use Jewish wisdom to help remind them that they can take action to reduce their stress levels.
- Reflect on how they responded to the prolonged stress and uncertainty of the pandemic.
Jewish Text: Jewish Folklore, Talmud
4. Jewish Identity
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will…
- Explore the personal experiences and emotions that are connected to Jewish identity.
- Reflect on the relationship between their Jewish identity and their other identities.
- Support their peers in connecting to Jewish identity.
5. Self-Care Does a Body Good
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Deepen their understanding about the many dimensions of self-care
- Read and reflect on Jewish texts/wisdom to explore the meaning of self-care and its relationship with their body and their community
- Nurture empathy and self-awareness by identifying obstacles to practicing self-care, by sharing self-care strategies they use, and by learning new strategies from their peers
Jewish Text: Pirke Avot & Rav Kook
6. What’s Your Purpose
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Explore the meaning of “purpose” and articulate some ideas of what their life’s purpose might become in the future.
- Consider the components that can guide them as they pursue their life’s purpose.
- Create a visual representation of their purpose.
Jewish Text: Rabbi Zusya
Circle 2: Relationships/Family (Hesed)
1. Risk Taking & Courage
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will…
- Explore the messages that teenagers receive about risks and courage from media, society, and Judaism, including messages about gender norms and risk/courage
- Reflect on their personal relationship with risks
- Reflect on their personal “fallback setting” and how to check in with themselves in a new or stressful social situation in order to make thoughtful, healthy, and safe decisions
Jewish Text: Talmud
2. FOMO & Filters & Facetime, Oh My!
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Inquire into the role that social media plays in students’ own lives
- Understand the pressures that they and their peers feel related to using social media.
- Reflect on ancient Jewish wisdom, and consider how it may speak to the adolescent challenges and experiences related to social media use.
- Create a resource of Jewish wisdom, for self and/or fellow-students, to draw on when considering social media use
Jewish Text: Proverbs
3. Friendship: “I’ll Be There for You!”
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Identify the characteristics of healthy and supportive friendships
- Describe what they value most in friends
- Apply Jewish wisdom to the participants’ understanding of their own friendships
Jewish Text: Torah
4. Conflict Resolution
Objectives : By the end of the session, participants will …
- Reflect on the ways they feel about conflict.
- Identify their personal style when addressing moments of conflict.
- Practice ways to work through conflict in order to create positive relationships.
Jewish Text: Talmud
5. Boundaries
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Practice how to set boundaries and communicate their needs.
- Understand why setting physical, emotional, material, and time boundaries is important to their well-being.
- Identify the importance of boundaries in Judaism.
Jewish Text: Talmud
6. Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Examine their feelings about competition and jealousy.
- Reflect on the drawbacks and benefits of the various competitions (academic, athletic, artistic, etc.) that they are pursuing or might pursue in the future.
- Practice healthy ways of dealing with competition and jealousy.
Jewish Text: Torah
Circle 3: Community/World (Tzedek)
1. Jewish Peoplehood
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Reflect on their own sense of belonging and connection to the Jewish people.
- Explore the plurality of ways that Jews around the world connect to Jewish identity.
- Feel inspired to connect to Jewish peoplehood/Judaism in at least one new way.
Jewish Text: Kabbalist Wisdom
2. Antisemitism 1
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Explore the personal experiences and emotions connected to antisemitism.
- Describe what antisemitism is and how it manifests in the wider world along with the Jewish world.
- Reflect about their role in responding to anti-Jewish hatred.
3. Understanding Racial Bias
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Be able to define “learned implicit bias”
- Make connections between historical and current systems of oppression that impact their learned implicit biases
- Begin to explore ways they can address racial bias and think about their responsibility
Jewish Text: Pirke Avot
4. Gender Inclusivity and Transphobia
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Reflect on the Jewish value of Kavod Ha-Briyot, honoring the inherent worth and dignity of every living being, including trans, non-binary, and gender expansive folks.
- Begin to form an understanding of the differences between sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
- Learn and reflect on the fact that a multitude of genders and sexes have existed throughout history, including during the time of the Mishnah.
- Experience a heightened awareness of some of the everyday issues trans and nonbinary people may encounter.
- Become aware of how they can show up as allies.
Jewish Text: Talmud, Torah
5. Dreaming Better Futures
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Imagine the future with hope and optimism.
- Identify obstacles in the way of positive change.
- Choose small changes that can make their own lives happier and closer to their ideals.
6. How Smart is Artificial Intelligence?
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Deepen their understanding of the limits and opportunities of current artificial intelligence technology.
- Explore ethical frameworks for using artificial intelligence in particular cases.
- Connect the ethics of artificial intelligence to traditional and modern Jewish wisdom.
7. Closing Session: The In-Between
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Reflect on the past year including what they’ve learned and how they’ve changed
- Consider the challenges they have faced over the past year individually and as a group
- Explore the concept of liminal spaces using the Israelites as an example
Jewish Text: Torah
Year 2
Circle 1: Me/The Self (Shleimut)
1. Happy Self, Happy Brain
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Describe the meaning and importance of happiness to them.
- Understand the role of happiness in Jewish tradition.
- Apply concepts from the neuroscience of happiness to improving their own lives.
Jewish Text: Likutei Moharan
2. Who Do You Think You Are
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify their personal and social identities.
- Consider how others can make assumptions about us based on our social identities.
- Explore how identity norms can be challenged and can change over time.
Jewish Text: Torah
3. Achieving Balance When So Much Is Wrong
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Identify their own right balance of work and self-care.
- Systematically prioritize work and self-care.
- Break large projects down into small steps in order to make work, particularly change work, more manageable.
Jewish Text: Pirkei Avot
4. Me, Myself, and I: How to Be Alone
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Explore their feelings about being alone.
- Differentiate between aloneness and loneliness.
- Appreciate the Jewish practice of hitbodedut.
- Identify concrete ways they enjoy spending time alone.
Jewish Text: Likutei Moharan
5. Some BODY to Love
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Understand that self-talk creates, strengthens, and perpetuates our perceptions of our bodies.
- Reflect on the ways in which physical appearance is valued in Jewish texts.
- Explore and practice various frameworks for relating to one’s body.
Jewish Text: Torah
6. The Limits of Ability
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will…
- Understand that people have a diverse range of abilities and limitations, and recognize degrees of ability and limitation within themselves.
- Fully welcome and include people with disabilities in their communities, families, and friendships.
- Recognize the advocacy that has been done, and is still being done, for a fully inclusive society.
Jewish Text: Torah, Talmud
Circle 2: Relationships/Family (Hesed)
1. Reinventing Family
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Understand the similarities and differences in different models of family.
- Relate their own family model to others in the diversity of Jewish families.
- Imagine their own ideal future family.
Jewish Text: Torah
2. When Friendship Isn’t Forever
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Evaluate the healthfulness of their friendships
- Consider their current needs in a friendship and how those may have changed over time
- Understand different ways to go about distancing themselves from a friendship that no longer serves them
3. Consent & Communication
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Understand what consent is, in terms of relationships and sexuality.
- Understand and discuss pressures, including gendered pressures, that impact how people communicate about consent.
- Recognize signs of an abusive relationship.
- Develop skills for communicating about consent.
- Learn about Jewish wisdom about consent and communication in relationships.
Jewish Text: Various Historical Texts
4. Disagreement For the Sake of Heaven
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Fluently use the skills of “Disagreements for the Sake of Heaven.”
- Engage in dialogue with others whose beliefs differ from their own.
- Develop a plan for talking with members of their community about a topic of personal importance.
Jewish Text: Torah, Hillel & Shammai
5. Desire: Do You Know What You Want?
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Reflect on what they might want and not want in romantic relationships.
- Reflect on their own boundaries within potential or actual romantic relationships.
- Understand and discuss pressures, including gendered pressures, on how people should behave in relationships.
- Learn Jewish wisdom about boundaries and relationships.
Jewish Text: Torah, Talmud
6. The Pressure to Be Perfect
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Discuss achievement culture and its effect on teens’ mental health.
- Examine approaches to perfectionism from religious and psychological sources.
- Brainstorm about how to respond to the pressures associated with achievement culture.
Jewish Text: Reshit Hokhma
Circle 3: Community/World (Tzedek)
1. Home/Land: Exploring Israel Through the Theme of Home
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Explore the idea of home: Where is home for you? What or who connects you to home? .
- Reflect on what it means to call America home, and like other Jews from all over the world, what it means to have a “home” in Israel.
- Describe the concepts of am, eretz and medinat Israel.
2. Climate Justice/Vent Diagrams
Coming Soon
3. I’ve Got the Power
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will…
- Explore a definition of power.
- Consider hierarchies of power and how it operates in their lives.
- Differentiate between individual and collective power and consider how to wield each of these powers in the future.
Jewish Text: Megillat Esther
4. Media: Can You Believe It?
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Develop and apply strategies for discerning truth and bias in media.
- Reflect on how they come to believe things are true and the extent to which this depends on the opinions of others.
- Practice applying their critical thinking skills to real world media.
Jewish Text: Talmud, Sefer Halkkarim, Prophets
5. Antisemitism 2
Coming Soon
6. Touchy Subjects
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Discuss sensitive topics in a safe and supportive space.
- Understand new perspectives on difficult subjects.
- Model approaches to discussing controversial and/or emotional topics in the future.
7. Closing Session-Mapping the Journey
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will …
- Reflect on the past year and describe what they’ve learned and how they may have changed.
- Consider the challenges they’ve faced over the past year individually and as a group.
- Develop a plan for how to use their Kulam learning going forward in their lives.
Jewish Text: Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl
Parent Sessions
Risky Business: How Parents Can Help Teens Make Good Choices
In this session, we explore messages teens receive about risks and courage from media, society, and Judaism, as well as the developmental and evolutionary aspects of taking risk. Parents consider where they want to draw the line between acceptable or unacceptable risk-taking behaviors and reflect on how they might help their teens make thoughtful, healthy, and safe decisions.
Demystifying Teen Language on Gender
The program aims to educate parents about the significance of language in affirming teen identities. It provides tools for parents to initiate meaningful conversations about identity with their teens, including sensitive topics. The program also explores the connection between Jewish and gender identity, a core aspect of their teen education approach, emphasizing personal growth, connections, and social justice. Additionally, it connects parents with resources and experts in LGBTQ+ advocacy and mental health support, highlighting partner organizations in this field.
Antisemitism and Teen Wellbeing
Parents will explore their own feelings and experiences so they can be more available and prepared for discussions with teens. We introduce a social and emotional approach to helping teens respond to antisemitism as a component of wellbeing. We will help parents understand a few core different approaches to antisemitism and provide tools to support teens in being able to do this for themselves. Finally, parents will be equipped to talk about and identify four of the most common false and destructive antisemitic tropes.
Knowing Your Limits: How to Talk to Your Teens About Boundaries & Consent
Parents will explore the concept of personal space and reflect on how that plays out with their teens. They will practice navigating the basic elements of positive, physical connection. Parents will reflect on their roles and experiences to better help their teens in setting boundaries while they practice communicating and setting boundaries.