Teens Archives

COVID’s Ripple Effects on Youth

Jewish Atlanta is responding to the mental health fallout of the pandemic on today’s youth, from specialized services and counselors to programs to help parents and camps.

Annie Fortnow, said helping parents “ultimately supports the family unit.”

Like the grieving period following a death, when the mourner is expected to eventually return to full engagement in life again, today’s youth are struggling to cope after a pandemic that left them socially isolated, seriously dependent on technology, and with tremendous emotional scars from the traumatic change and loss.

For many young people, the pandemic hit at a time in their lives when so much rides on identity and social connection, leading to significant psychological and emotional challenges, as seen in new community programs in Jewish Atlanta focused on mental health.

With May being national Mental Health Awareness Month, the AJT spoke with Jewish Atlanta’s community leaders and those who work with youth about how the psychological and emotional needs of children post-COVID are being met and how to address the ripple effects expected to continue for some time.

The community’s response to the pandemic has evolved with its growing mental health needs, according to Rich Walter, vice president of program and grant making for the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. At the start of the pandemic, the community response focused on funding to meet immediate needs, including food, health and safety, and making sure Jewish organizations were financially stable, with broad strokes in terms of mental health needs, Walter said. More recently, the community’s attention has shifted to mental health as more community members sought help, he said. “A large percentage allocated from the [COVID-19] emergency fund is dedicated to mental health. … As the pandemic lags on more and more, the mental health challenge comes to the forefront.”

Percent change from January-November 2019 to January-November 2020 in mental health claim lines and all medical claim lines. Ages 13 to 18
Source: FAIR Health: “The Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Mental Health.”

Percent change from January-November 2019 to January-November 2020 in mental health claim lines and all medical claim lines. Ages 19 to 22

Source: FAIR Health: “The Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Mental Health

The COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, announced in April 2020, raised $4.3 million for relief efforts with $3.4 million in grants allocated so far, according to the Federation website.

Earlier this year, the Federation conducted a mental health community survey with Jewish Family & Career Services to assess the needs and what the next action steps should be to address those needs. A total of 515 respondents were polled about stress, coping strategies and what programs they wished existed. The Federation will analyze the results over the next few months “to craft a response and identify the right partners and how to move forward,” Walter said.

Among the findings, the youngest age groups, including those under 25, experienced the most stress across all stress factors. The top stressor of the under-25 set was self-care, 64 percent, followed by isolation, 61 percent, and a high-risk family member, 54 percent.

Top resources requested: activities they can do as a family, virtual exercise classes, and support for virtual learning.

The takeaway from the survey, “Supporting Self Care to Promote Mental Health Resilience” was that even though it looks like the community is reentering life as before the pandemic, many are dealing with trauma and loss, Walter said. “People may have been trying to cope through self-help mechanisms, but as long as this goes on, the challenges become more astute in the community. We try to predict what will happen and direct resources to experts who are able to deal with it.” He said the community has definitely seen an uptick in clinical requests in the last few months.

Meanwhile, some of the newest community initiatives involving mental health include:

Working with camps: JF&CS will connect with Jewish camps to meet mental health needs as they arise over the summer, Walter said.

Synagogue outreach: A $25,000 emergency fund grant JF&CS received last year was renewed to continue to fund synagogue outreach, as some of the needs of the community come through the synagogues, not directly to social service agencies, he said.

Hiring more clinicians: Another $75,000 emergency fund grant will help JF&CS hire more clinicians to meet the backlog of those seeking clinical services, Walter said.

Helping teen parents: JumpSpark teen engagement program offered six sessions with a facilitator called the PhD in Parenting April 14 to May 21, providing parent education for raising tweens and teens in today’s world. It offered parents tools and strategies for identifying mental health challenges and teaching coping skills.

“The relationship between parents and teens is so essential,” said Annie Fortnow, JumpSpark engagement manager. “We feel if we support parents’ mental health, it ultimately supports the family unit.”

Paul Root Wolpe said some kids haven’t been around their peers because of the pandemic.

Another program JumpSpark offers for parents of teens is Project Launch, which began May 2 and will run through June 6. It helps parents of high schoolers “launch their seniors to the next step, whether that be college or a gap year,” Fortnow said. The program will help parents build resilience and form small supportive community groups in the fall in partnership with the Federation and area synagogues, she said.

Peer support: JumpSpark also is trying to increase its “community within a community,” Fortnow said. “We need to double down on teen mental health and resiliency and prioritize relationships teens have with each other.”

For instance, JumpSpark is piloting a new Jewish teen boys’ program in which they mentor each other, she said.

For Paul Root Wolpe, director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University, the community priorities should be:

1 – Sensitivity and understanding that youth are still grieving

They may ask: “Why does it have to be my senior year? Why do I have to miss out on parties? These are personal losses they never really get back. People are sad about it. It leads to a greater increase in depression in youth, a spike in suicides.

“We lost a half-million people.,” he said. Some of the students may have lost peers, grandparents, siblings or others. “It’s a time of deep loss. They are grieving not just lost opportunities, but lost people.” And grief counselors may discover the immediacy of those losses may not be fully realized until the students return to their typical routines, he said.

2 – Recognizing that social interactions may be different post-pandemic

“One of the real challenges of the very young, people under 5, is that they had very little social contact” during the pandemic, Wolpe said. “There are 2- to 3-year- olds who never, ever played with other children,” Wolpe explained. “Or even if they are just at the beginning of school, being in the presence of others … sharing, and controlling your anger, you don’t learn on Zoom.”

Educators will need to have “a little more understanding and tolerance, even among kids who should know better” in terms of appropriate behavior.

Jaime Stepansky believes social media can be used to promote mental health.

For older students, being in the presence of a potential romantic partner “is different than interactions on Zoom.” Technology may have enhanced their verbal negotiations, but it may impair their understanding of normal body cues, body language and inappropriate touching, Wolpe said.

Jaime Stepansky, a JF&CS child adolescent therapist, believes Jewish Atlanta’s adults should:

1 – Validate the struggles of teens to develop their own identities
For some, the limited in-person socializing last year may have increased their social anxiety, Stepansky added.

Youth “try to differentiate their identities through social responses. They are constantly navigating the waters” to determine how they are unique and how they fit in, she said. “Having young people at home with their parents so much may have thwarted that a little. … Parents inform them the direction they want them to go but they really need to find their own way. It’s like parents give them a MapQuest and they say, ‘No thanks. I’ll use my iPhone to get there.’”

2 – Understand the impact of technology as an addiction

During the pandemic, Stepansky found that many parents loosened their restrictions on their kids’ technology time. Students “get off Zoom and then they get on their own devices. At school at least they would police and monitor it.”

Stepansky said eight to 16 hours a day of technology use is average for teens she counsels. “It takes them two to four hours of social media or TV on their phone to fall asleep at night.” When she asks about supplements such as melatonin, they say they don’t want to get addicted. “It’s creating a kind of inability to sit with just thoughts and feelings. We were never meant for our attention to be split in so many ways. It’s the antithesis of healthy engagement.”

Youth “need to feel engaged and that they matter” and technology offers that, Stepanksy said. Like alcohol or drugs, it also numbs from boredom, isolation, grief, the change in life, and the lack of control, she said.

Because technology isn’t going away any time soon, Stepansky believes the best method to curb its overuse is through a harm-reduction model and an “if you can’t beat them, join them” response. “What can we do to reach them through technology that would be more beneficial to mental health?”

Her solutions include:

Using social platforms such as TikTok with entertaining videos to teach teens about mental health. Teens can also make TikTok projects around mental health, she said. JF&CS also has an Instagram, @jfcsclinical, and is presenting “Real Talk” June 10, including teen mental health post-pandemic.
Encouraging technology use in the home or in social settings be reduced. Set boundaries. Sit and talk, be present and engaged, not dividing attention between interactions and technology. Parents should model this behavior too.

Rich Walter said Federation polled the community about their mental health wish list.

3 – Provide more camp and camp-like activities that are more accessible and affordable.

Stepansky believes camps can bridge the socialization void of the pandemic before students return to the classroom full-time next fall.

“The first couple of days of camp is a detox from technology.” It allows children to engage with others, explore their interests, “be themselves. It strips away the social pressures of school and regular life.”

She said she expects there may be many calls home this summer, but children will be able to work through their anxiety before returning to the physical classroom and in-person socialization.

Not everyone can afford summer camp, so she also encourages other camp-like activities, such as outdoor movies or team building. “If you show a movie, every kid will be on their phone, but if you remove phones or engage young people in playing a game … they’ll talk to each other.”

4 – Consider modifying the school day to allow for more downtime

“Schools realized [during COVID] they could modify the schedule” of school without setbacks. For instance, some schools didn’t have classes on Wednesdays so students could catch up on schoolwork and enjoy a break from virtual classes. Some Jewish schools reduced hours, Stepansky said. Years before schools thought they had to fit more in the day, but COVID taught them otherwise.

The children on sports leagues found that even an hour a week outside to practice during COVID was exhilarating.

“I have bunch of kids who are seniors at Dunwoody [High School]. During senior week, they had to go to school and be outside. They said it was their best week in months. There was free food. They could grab food and see their friends. Sometimes we overthink things. … Give them food and they will come.”

What the Future Holds

In September, the Federation’s Atlanta Jewish Foundation began a series of scenario-planning sessions with 150 Jewish professionals and lay leaders to determine the long-term needs of the community as a result of the pandemic, including in the area of mental health. A report on the findings and funding options aren’t expected for at least two months, said Jori Mendel, the Foundation’s deputy director.

Walter said the Federation intentionally held money back from “the community funds to meet the needs into the next year as we begin to emerge out of this.” Increased staffing to deal with mental health is among the priorities. Engaging in the “new normal” may have to change, he said. For instance, programming may involve neighborhood groups or smaller initiatives.

While traumatic in the short term, the jury is still out on the long-term mental health implications of the pandemic on youth, said Wolpe, the Emory ethicist. “I don’t think in 10 to 15 years, there’ll be a significant difference between 2- to 3-years-olds who went through COVID and ones who did not.” Time will tell, he said. “We are going to see the influence a few years into the future.”

This article was originally published in the Atlanta Jewish Times.

For more information, visit The Blue Dove Foundation https://thebluedovefoundation.org, JF&CS Clinical Services, www.jfcsatl.org/clinical, or the CDC’s resource guide, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/parental-resource-kit/index.html

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

Atlanta and Yoqne’am Illit Local Guide

Since Atlanta and Yoqne’am Illit and Megiddo are partnership cities, Yonatan and Stella have created local guides for their hometowns. We hope you enjoy getting to know the cities better from the perspective of high school Jewish teenagers! By Yonatan Cohen & Stella Mackler, May Amplifying Israel Teen Fellows

Everything to do and see in Atlanta!

Atlanta is an incredible city. It has a rich and complicated history which is evident throughout the city. In this guide, you will find great sight-seeing spots, delicious restaurants, historic neighborhoods and so much more!

Dining

Where to find that necessary cup of coffee: One of my favorite cafes in Atlanta is Apotheos Roastery, formerly known as San Francisco Coffee. They have two locations, and one of them happens to be super close to where I live! They roast, brew, and bag their own beans and offer classic drinks like lattes and cappuccinos alongside a rotating seasonal menu. They also serve pastries fresh out of the oven and offer breakfast toast, sandwiches, and other local products like King of Pops.

Lunchtime bite: Take a quick but filling stop for lunch at Mediterranean Grill (aka Med Grill). They are 100% Halal (except for the gyros) and serve many familiar favorites like hummus, pita wraps, lentil soup, and so much more. The greek potatoes are a particular standout. Its a common site to see people walking around with takeout containers filled with just that. Med Grill is perfectly located across the street from Piedmont Park and the Beltline, making it a convenient spot for your day of exploring.

Dinner: For the last meal of the day, make your way to Doc Cheys, somewhat of a hidden gem in the neighborhood of Morningside. They serve a wide array of pan-Asian fare with ever-changing weekly specials. I have grown up spending Saturday nights with the grandparents and friends here, and it’s not just because of the food. The sense of community the restaurant welcomes you with is impossible to miss. The waiters there are the same ones that have been there since I was seven years old and the takeout guy and I are on a first name basis. Some notable dishes include the thai peanut salad and the mongolian stir fry. Doc Cheys is vegetarian/vegan friendly and most dishes can be served with tofu.

Sightseeing/touristy spots

The Beltline: The Beltline is “a sustainable redevelopment” project that will ultimately connect 45 intown neighborhoods via a 22-mile loop of multi-use trails, modern streetcar, and parks – all based on railroad corridors that formerly encircled Atlanta. The Eastside trail is my recommended starting place. It is covered with murals and other forms of public art. There is a skate park, playground, and it often hosts festivals, like the lantern parade.

Ponce City Market: Ponce City Market is a multi-use building with shopping, fitness, and a dining hall all in one. It is located inside a former Sears factory and is conveniently right off the Beltline. There are some great shops, like Citizen Supply and Modern Mystic, and places to grab a bite, like St.Germain Bakery. There is also an amusement park and restaurant on the roof, with very pretty views at night.

Piedmont Park: Of all the places to see on this list, Piedmont Park is the one you absolutely cannot skip. The greenspace is the perfect place for a walk by the lake, a picnic, an exercise day, or just plain old people watching. It stretches from tenth street into the heart of midtown and is the site of the Music Midtown festival in the fall. There is a farmers market there every Saturday morning, and festivals are a common occurrence in the summer.

Historic Neighborhoods

Virginia Highlands (VaHi): Named after the intersection of Virginal Avenue and North Highland Avenue, the VaHi neighborhood is famous for its historic houses built between the 1910s-1930s.

Old Fourth Ward (O4W): O4W is located just east of downtown and is the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.America’s best known civil rights leaders. It is also home to a giant park, Historic Fourth Ward Park, which includes a skate park, splash pad, and outdoor theater. Many of the best restaurants in Atlanta are located within O4W.

Sweet Auburn: This area is a historic African American neighborhood and was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1976. The first Black newspaper in the US, the Atlanta Daily World, began in Sweet Auburn. The neighborhood is also home to 4 prominent Black churches, the Civil Right Walk of Fame, and the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History.

What Can You Do in Yoqne’am Illit?

Yoqneam is a small city in northern Israel. It’s about 20 kilometers from the city of Haifa and about 80 kilometers from Tel-Aviv. The city is located alongside Israel’s main highways – highway 70 and highway 6, enabling you to reach the center of Israel and its northern areas quickly. Yoqneam is known as “Israel’s Startup Village,” because its’ hi-tech hub is surrounded by forest and small communities. Yoqneam was founded in 1950 and became a city in 2007. Yoqneam is an attractive city to many young families who seek to live in a small and quiet, village-like place, yet enjoy all the things a city can offer, as described below.

Shopping in Yoqneam

Yoqneam has several shopping centers that include a mall and an open shopping domain where you can find famous clothing shops, supermarkets, homeware, hardware shops and more. All of them offer free parking, which shoppers find very convenient.

Dining in Yoqneam

Yoqneam has a few well-known restaurants, coffee shops and food and beverage counters you can enjoy. One of the most popular restaurants in the city is “BBB,” which is an exclusive burger diner where people from all over Israel come to eat.

Sport in Yoqneam ⚽

If you’re looking to keep in shape while in Yoqneam, you have come to the right place. Yoqneam offers a big country club where you can go to the gym, train at different sport classes, such as: Pilates, Yoga, Zumba and more, and swim in an outdoor or an indoor pool. Aside of the country club, you can find a big gym at the mall and a smaller one at the industrial area.

Culture in Yoqneam

If you’re fond of shows and plays, you can come to Yoqneam theatre. This theatre hosts popular shows and actors from all over Israel. There is a miniatures museum and a winery.

Since Yoqneam is mentioned in the Bible, there is archeological evidence that the area exists for 3,500 years. In the new archeological visitors center, you can find items aged thousands of years which tell the story of the city with its rich past.

Nature in Yoqneam

Yoqneam was built on a hill in the middle of nature, therefore, nature surrounds all its areas. There are wide parks where you can take a walk or just sit by the pond and relax. There is a stream that runs through the city where you can walk beside it. There is a big forest and a spacious field area where you can hike and ride a bike.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

Being an Israeli Shelach

I was born in Israel and have been living in Israel my whole life. As an Israeli teen, I am required to take part in a volunteering activity at school, and there are different kinds of volunteering activities to choose from. I chose to be a young “Shelach” guide. “Shelach” stands for “Field Nationality Society”. Being a young “Shelach” guide means to learn about Israel – its history, places, and society through touring the country.

Throughout the “Shelach” activities I experienced camp life, including: Building tents, cooking in the field and lighting a fire. We also get a taste of life in the army as we practice discipline, basic training, and work as a member of a team to accomplish tasks. We are also being trained on different subjects, and as we grow older, we may become trainers ourselves.

We are also very much involved in community life, where we support and assist our community whenever needed.

I am proud to be a young “Shelach” guide being able to contribute to my country. Whenever I achieve a goal or finish a mission, I feel proud of myself and my team. I enjoy the activities and the tours we have very much, and I feel satisfied that I can train younger teens, strengthen their connection to Israel and teach them to love the country and the Israeli life.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

My Typical School Day As An American Teen

It’s Monday morning. My alarm goes off at 6:15 am, which is too early. Way too early. But for me, this is just the start of a normal day. I like to run in the mornings, so I have to get up this early to make sure I have enough time to be in the car on the way to school by 8:10. I roll out of bed and get ready to go, passing the mezuzah on my bedroom door frame, then my front door, taking off down the street as the run begins to peek through the clouds. I love running in the morning. It’s a stress reliever, a break, a time all to myself. Sometimes I listen to podcasts, or music, or nothing at all. I pass the same people each morning, the walking mom in the bright colored tank top, the men who run together, the man waiting for the Marta bus on the corner. My morning runs are one of the only constants in my life, and they bring me a great sense of peace.

When I get back to my house after about an hour, it’s time to get ready for the day. I grab some breakfast, which normally consists of oatmeal with a banana, and of course a cup of coffee. I call out to my brother, who is perpetually late, that I am leaving whether he is ready or not. He normally makes it to the car door before I’m out of the driveway. Then we are off to school. It’s about a 10 minute drive to my high school.I go to an inner city school so it’s a pretty diverse place, but there aren’t that many Jews, maybe me and about 5 or 6 other people in my grade. This means I often have to deal with tests on high holidays and pointed stares whenever we study the Holocaust. Even so, my school remains one of the most accepting environments I’ve ever found myself in. I feel lucky when I say I’ve never felt like an outsider or unwelcome in any way because of my Judaism.

I am a junior and my brother Meyer is a freshman. We don’t see each other much during the day, but then again, I don’t see many people during my school day. Because of the pandemic, classes were all online for the majority of this school year. When school reopened in February, only about 15% of students chose to come back. Out of my four classes, the biggest one has four people aside from me. Everyone else is at home.

At the beginning of every class I log on to Zoom. Even though I am back in school, due to the fact that the majority of students are not, we still conduct classes all online. We have an hour-long break for lunch, which is nice. I spend that in my photography class. I’m the only one in that class who went back to school in person. There used to be one other boy there with me, but he was a senior and he graduated so now it is just me and my teacher. I’m fine with that though, I like my teacher and I enjoy the time I get to spend talking with her. My youngest brother’s bar mitzvah was during the first week of May, so I’ve been telling her all about that. I read Torah and I didn’t mess up! My family was super lucky because we actually were allowed to invite guests to the service (we had 50 people).

At the end of the school day, which is at 3:30, I walk out to the parking lot and wait for Meyer to meet me in my car. Sometimes I have to bring some of his friends home too, a lot of them live in our neighborhood. I like to drive with the windows down, especially since it’s gotten warmer out. There is this really pretty street that we drive down on the way home, it’s lined with cute houses and there is a park too, but my favorite part is all the trees that flower in the spring.

Once we get home, I start on my homework, or mock trial, or my school newspaper article, or anything else that needs to get done. Friday nights are different though. On Friday nights (on the rare chance that all five of my family members are home for dinner) we gather around the table over my mom’s homemade challah. We do the brachah over the candles, the wine, the children, and of course the delicious bread. Then we sit down to a home cooked meal made by my mom and myself, and we enjoy our time together.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

EMBRACING OUR UNIQUE MENTAL HEALTH STORIES WITH PAMELA SCHULLER

Alexa Freedman and Julia Harris, Strong Women Fellows, co-authored this article originally published in VOXATL.

As anyone who struggles with mental illness knows, it is hard to love your brain and appreciate your mind, when you know that in some cases it is the root of your issues. However, Pamela Schuller, an internationally known disability and mental health advocate and professional standup comedian, has learned to love her brain and embrace what makes her different.

In March, JumpSpark’s Strong Women Fellowship got to hear from Schuller. She has an incredibly interesting story and used hilarious anecdotes to tell it. When she was young, Pamela had the worst diagnosed case of Tourette Syndrome in the country. Pamela says she loves Tourettes; it’s the best neurological disorder she could have asked for, she told us.

How, you may ask, did she make it to this point? It was a long journey of self-discovery, personal growth, and unfortunately, pain. For a long time, Pamela said, she believed she was a waste of space; she struggled with being an outsider and with her disability defining her. When asked to write something she loved about herself, she was unable. Throughout the years, however, with help from therapists, friends, and community, Pamela has learned that she is more than her diagnosis and has so much to give to the world.

Throughout our session, Pamela shared many funny stories from her childhood experiences, but each one taught a lesson. She certainly faced many hardships growing up, including having a broken neck and several broken bones due to her tics, but she chose not to focus on those when telling her story. For example, she shared how one night, she was barking (this happens when she is excited), and a neighbor complained about her having a dog in their no-pet complex. Pamela said she absolutely mortified the landlord, who had come to explain the rule, when she said the barking was her. The landlord promised to never come to her if anyone else complained again, and according to Pamela, she went out and got a dog right after. This funny story really stuck with me, since instead of being upset Pamela really made the most out of the situation.

She was once told that her case of Tourette’s Syndrome was one of the worst, but today she uses her own story in hopes of inspiring others. Pamela taught a very important lesson to the Strong Women Fellowship: Every person has struggles, but every person still adds so much value to the world. If allowed, a perceived disability or illness can add wonderful things to a person’s life. It is possible to balance struggling and loving oneself at the same time.

Alexa’s takeaway: As someone who has struggled with mental illness her whole life, it was so empowering for me to hear Pamela talk about all the ways she has embraced her diagnoses and let them enrich her life, instead of taking away from it. It gave me a lot of hope to see Pamela thriving and having so much self-love because of the way she has transformed her diagnoses into blessings instead of burdens. Pamela’s journey is proof that with help and hard work, it is possible to break down defining barriers and rewrite who you are and how you want to live.

Julia’s takeaway: Pamela taught us so many valuable lessons and made me feel nothing but proud of who I am and what makes me different. I learned the importance of celebrating our differences, and her unique outlook really spoke to me. I also recognized how impactful it is to advocate for others who cannot do so for themselves, or else the pointing and laughing will continue. Sometimes I refrain from doing things that will make me stand out in fear of being judged, but I now realize that standing out is really special, and that there is no point in only considering others and not myself. It was so reassuring to know how much greatness came out of Pamela’s tough situation, and this made me think with a much more positive outlook. I now know that what might seem like an unbearable situation for me has to have some upsides; it just may take a little digging. Pamela Schuller — a Jewish, 4-foot 6-inch woman with Tourette’s (or, as she calls it, “the trifecta”), taught me so much from the little time spent with her. I will certainly be passing on her story and using her advice in my daily life.

Alexa Freedman is an 11th grader at The Galloway School, and Julia Harris is a 10th grader at Dunwoody High School. Both are second-year Fellows and Peer Leaders for the JumpSpark Strong Women Fellowship.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

JumpSpark Amplifying Israel Pop Culture Phrases

When compiling the list, we enjoyed learning more about each other’s cultures and we hope you enjoy reading our list of pop culture phrases too!

This list has been compiled by our April Amplifying Israel Teen Fellows: Rian Gordon, Atlanta and Noa Boguslavsky and Tamir Shaginyan, Yokneam, Israel.

Hebrew Phrases:

“Al hapanim” – על הפנים- when something is really bad and not fun.

Example- I’m really bored… this concert is “al hapanim.”

“Sababa” – סבבה – okay or “cool”

Example- “sababa”, I’ll be there tonight.

“Chai beseret” – חי בסרט – something you call someone when he is “dreaming” or not connect to reality (in free translation it is- living in a movie).

“Met al ze”- מת על זה- when you wanna say you really love something (in free translation- “im dying on it”). Example- this food is great! “Ani met al ze”!

“Para para” – פרה פרה – very similar to- “one step at a time” (a bit weird, but in free translation it means- “cow cow”).

Nadir-נדיר “awesome”

Sahi -סאחי “someone boring and simple”

Ani Pipi-אני פיפי “It’s so funny, I can pee out of laughter.״

English Phrases:

“That slaps” – when something is excellent or amazing!

Example: That song slaps!

“Break a leg”- A way to wish someone good luck before a performance of some kind.

“She’s so sweet, she told me to break a leg on stage tonight.”

“I’m down”- I agree or am interested.

“Wanna go to the movies?” “Ya I’m down.”

YOLO- “You only live once”

“I know I shouldnt eat the whole pizza by myself but YOLO.”

“For real” – to speak honestly

“That was scary for real.”

Drip- extreme coolness, style

“You got some nice drip.”

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

‘Jewish geography’ contest on Zoom draws thousands

‘Who Knows One?’ sees its post-pandemic life in fundraising — and maybe matchmaking

The pandemic’s restrictions on social life have inspired new ways of connecting, from virtual birthday parties to Zoom speed-dating to digital simchas. In the Jewish community, they’ve given rise to a gamified version of “Jewish geography,” a favorite pastime of youth group alums, campers and others who have been active in Jewish social circles. Created by Micah Hart, “Who Knows One?” is named for the Passover Seder song of the same name, and was inspired by an ESPN show Hart watched in which the hosts competed to see who could get the most famous person to join a Zoom call. “It just sort of dawned on me. We were all at home, we had nothing else to do,” he told eJewishPhilanthropy.

A resident of Atlanta, Hart is the son of Macy Hart, a longtime director of the Henry S. Jacobs Camp, a Union for Reform Judaism camp in Utica, Miss., and the founder of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute for Southern Jewish Life. He had lost his job as head of social media for the restaurant franchise Buffalo Wild Wings early in the pandemic, and as a lifelong fan of Jewish geography, in which at least two people identify who they know in common, he realized that it could be enjoyable as a filmed contest. He also felt he had the skills to try to make it happen due to his professional background as a creator of digital content. Now, “Who Knows One?” is Hart’s full time job.

The show, which runs on Wednesday and Saturday nights on Facebook Live, premiered last April 25; it has taken several forms in 150 showings since then, including a March Madness-type tournament called “Elijah’s Cup” that ran through Passover, but the basic premise remains the same: The hosts announce the name of a Jewish person unknown to the competitors, and the contestants or (or in some cases, teams of contestants) work to locate that person and bring him or her onto the Zoom call by building a chain of connections using only clues from the hosts — no help from the internet allowed. When the game ends quickly, Hart and his co-hosts bring in a second individual. “There’s a lot of improv in the show,” Hart said. “We know where we’re starting and ending but nothing about the middle, and the more off the rails it goes, the more entertaining it is.” Hart can’t estimate the total number of people who have been exposed to the show because audience numbers vary widely, but a regular Wednesday or Saturday night show can attract up to 4,000 viewers, split about equally between those who watch live and those who tune in later.

The regular shows occasionally generate revenue in the form of sponsorships, but the bulk of the business is what Hart calls “community games.” Those can take the form of a “fun-raiser,” in which a group pays him to host a show as a fun way for them to spend time together online, or a “fundraiser.” Organizations from the World Union for of Progressive Judaism to a slew of summer camps to the Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning have all raised money on “Who Knows One?” and Hart, for his part, charges a flat fee, although upgrade packages are also available. One Jewish group — JumpSpark, a source of Jewish programming for teens in Atlanta — used the show as both a fundraiser and an educational experience. Four teens competed on a JumpSpark-sponsored show, which raised more than $3,000, said a spokeswoman. The students each chose an individual cause to support, and friends and family contributed to a pool of funds. All four causes — Project Merry Mitzvah, Camp Jenny, the Anti-Defamation League and Repair the World — received donations from that pool, although Repair the World received the most, as its sponsor won the game. “I appreciated the platform it provided me to reconnect with other teens and family friends I hadn’t spoken to in a while,” said Abby Limor of Temple Beth Tikvah, one of the participants.

As Hart has gained experience in hosting the fundraisers, he’s devised additional ways to raise money; the audience can “buy” extra clues for the contestant they support, for example. He has a brain trust with whom he bounces ideas around, and audience suggestions have also helped shape the show — the name of the show was a viewer’s idea, he said. But he’s also worked for the Atlanta Hawks and the NBA, and his professional background helps, too, as he turns the project into more of a business. “Most of my life was about figuring out how to make money from digital content in a way that’s not intrusive for an audience,” he said.

Hart aims for an unpretentious vibe he calls “soul-nourishing” — the whole enterprise leans heavily into the come-as-you-are aesthetic of pandemic-era Zoom. Recommended attire is loungewear, although some contestants sport “Who Knows One?”-branded swag in the form of red headbands. The show also tries to be inclusive and to avoid assuming that every American Jew is Ashkenazi and fair-skinned, Hart said. He replaced a tie-breaker round that depended on finding someone with a “typically” Jewish name, for example, with one that focuses on occupations and home addresses.

As people get vaccinated and are able to safely gather again in person, demand for “Who Knows One?” could drop, Hart said. In that case, he will consider cutting the Saturday night show. However, he believes that the communal need for connection satisfied by the show predated coronavirus, although the pandemic exacerbated it. “We’re all isolated from each other, and that’s true in the pandemic era, but it already existed,” he said. “We accumulate people throughout our lives that we care about — from camp, school, college, previous jobs — as we get older, the ability to spend time with those people just melts.”

He’s considering several possible mechanisms to grow the show, including more community games. He’s toying with the idea of taking the show live, in the style of NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” and has developed some customers outside the Jewish community, such as the American College of Emergency Physicians. “Desi Chain,” which plays on a Hindi term for people of Indian origin or descent, is a “sister show” to “Who Knows One?” Another possibility: a dating show, which Hart says someone asks him to do at least once a week. “I know the interest is there,” he said. “I have not figured out how to do that. People are still pretty isolated. But I think it’s possible, coming out of the pandemic, that some sparks could potentially fly.”

This article was originally published in eJewishPhilanthropy.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

A Little Taste Of Life: How Tradition Kitchens Changed Atlanta For The Better

Rachel Binderman and Rebecca Kann, Strong Women Fellows, co-authored this article originally published in VOXATL.

Food brings people together — families, friends, and strangers alike. Food brings together communities from all backgrounds and has the ability to bond people over a home-cooked dish. Some of our fondest memories are around meals, and food engages some of our strongest senses: smell, and taste.

For Rachel, food has always been a huge part of her family and Jewish identity. For as long as she can remember, her family sat around our dinner table every Friday night, sang the prayers, lit the candles, and ate Mom’s delicious challah. As she got older, this tradition became less frequent until COVID hit. If you ask her mom, that was the upside to COVID, having the whole family home every Friday night. Since last March they have had dinner together every Friday night. As teenagers, we often would rather hang out with our friends on Friday nights, but her family’s weekly Friday night dinners allow us to spend one special night together.

We continued to have these conversations about our family’s traditions when Julia Levy spoke with JumpSpark’s Strong Women Fellowship this spring. By day, Julia Levy leads internal communications at a startup, and pursues her side projects passions at night. She co-founded a podcast with her father called Peach and Prosperity, which discusses stories around economics, and cultural and historical stories about the Atlanta area. Julia recently spoke at TedXEmory about her various projects and how she manages to keep up with her passions, including Tradition Kitchens which she began with her mother, making kitchens into a learning space around Judaism and other cultures.

During the meeting, Julia and her Kitchen Ambassadors — Ruby, Brianna, and Lauren — talked about their experiences with the community that has been built through Tradition Kitchens. Tradition Kitchens’ classes originally took place in people’s homes throughout the Atlanta area. However, due to the pandemic, that all changed. Tradition Kitchens now has online classes you can stream or watch the recordings. They also go farther than just discussing food; they talk about the significance around the food and the history behind it. For example, for Black History month, Karon, a friend of Julia’s, made fried chicken tenders with biscuits while talking about restaurants with stories from the Civil Rights Movement. The best thing about the program is that it is volunteer-based, so anybody is able to partake as either a student ready to learn more about different cuisines or as a teacher sharing your favorite recipes. Food is a way for people to bond and gives people the opportunity to learn more about other cultures. In cities such as Atlanta there is a wide variety of people that eat different foods. There is a great opportunity for learning and laughter at Tradition Kitchens.

Rachel Binderman is an 11th grader at The Weber School, and Rebecca Kann is an 11th grader at Pace Academy. Both are Peer Leaders for JumpSpark’s Strong Women Fellowship.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

A Day in the Life of Virtual School in America

The 2020-2021 school year has not been the easiest for anyone. Around the world, students have had to adapt to learning virtually. Many students have yet to go back to their school building since March of 2020, including me.

Every day I wake up at 7:20 am and get myself dressed and my parents drive me to my friend’s house. We go to her basement where we have two tables set up across the room from each other. We each sit at our own table. We log on to class every morning at 8:20 and have four 70 minute classes. We make lunch and eat outside so get some fresh air.

For lunch we keep kosher and we usually log on to our Jewish Culture Club meetings. At these meetings we have a rabbi teach us about each weeks torah portion. The torah portions bring up many interesting conversations. We usually have some music playing to make it a little more fun as we sit and listen to our classes.

Usually during the day I also talk to some of my camp friends. I attend a Jewish summer camp in the mountains of Georgia. Last summer was supposed to be our last summer as campers but Covid cancelled camp. So our unit has stayed connected virtually and are really looking forward to Israel this summer.

Doing school with a friend has caused less anxiety and stress by giving us some social interaction. Virtual school is not easy but I have adapted and made myself successful.

Charlie Render In JumpSpark

A Typical Day For Me As An Israeli Teen

Each day for me starts when I take my dog for a walk. Because of the pandemic I study some days though Zoom and some in school. So, I wake up every morning according to the way I study that day. Today I’ll tell you about my typical Sundays. American teens may not realize it, but Israelis go to school on Sunday! Our weekend is on Friday and Saturday because Shabbat is part of our culture and Sunday is just a regular day!

School on Sundays starts at 7:45 a.m. so I wake up at 6:20 and take my dog for a walk. When we get back, I quickly get ready for school, eat something and go out. I usually go to school on foot because it’s close to my house. My first class is English literature. English is a language I really like, so I enjoy studying it. After the English class I have a free period that I usually use to finish homework that I didn’t have time to do, eat or just sit and talk to friends. Next I have a two-hour math class and three hours of physics. I study the Bible in school, but other than that, I am not a very religious person. I enjoy hearing different interpretations of the Bible stories since some of these solutions make more sense.

I finish school at 2:50 p.m. When I get back home I eat lunch and watch Netflix or read a book until 4-5 p.m., do my homework if I have any, and after that I usually hang out with friends or go back to watch Netflix. Because of the Coronavirus I don’t have a lot of options for activities after school so my week is usually the same. At about 8:00 p.m. I have dinner with my family, then at 11/12 at night I go to bed. Sunday is a relatively free day for me, so in addition on Tuesdays for example I have an entrepreneurship and computer science course, and on Fridays I usually go to the sea to surf.