First published by the Atlanta Jewish Times ›
With the objective of transforming the way Jewish teens can engage each other, an exciting new program launched in Atlanta called the Atlanta Kesher Teen Engagement Fellowship.
With the objective of transforming the way Jewish teens can engage each other in the Jewish community, an exciting new program launched in Atlanta called the Atlanta Kesher Teen Engagement Fellowship. The program is run by the Union for Reform Judaism and funded in part by a JumpSpark grant through the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.
The fellowship is based on the peer-to-peer engagement method that began in the Northeast and has been scaled to the Atlanta community. It emphasizes the impact Jewish teens can have on each other through face-to-face interaction.
“I think this program is a great example of having an inner circle of teens that are getting a huge amount of leadership training and mentorship and strengthening their own Jewish identities, and then impacting a much wider circle of teens throughout the community,” said Adam Griff, Kesher Teen Engagement Fellowship director. “They’re being empowered to co-create with their network these new events.”
The teens will develop social and leadership skills and receive mentoring from experts in peer-to-peer engagement. The program is designed to allow busy teens to participate by managing their own time and at the end, each fellow receives a $200 stipend.
“This model is unique in the Jewish teen landscape,” Bobby Harris, director of URJ Camp Coleman said in a press release. “The teen fellows are creating experiences that are fun and meaningful for them and their friends, instead of just trying to bring them to large-scale programming. Like the chavurah or ‘small circle’ model, this is about friends connecting to friends and building circles of peers living Jewish lives.”
The teens chosen through the application process range from 12 different high schools and six synagogues across metro Atlanta. The fellowship chose applicants who already have a strong Jewish identity and are involved and engaged in Jewish youth groups such as BBYO and NFTY or other high school clubs. “Not only do they represent a diverse range of Atlanta congregations, schools and neighborhoods, they are smart, passionate, and excited to be part of this endeavor,” Griff said in the release. “We know that building relationships is the key to increasing engagement. I feel confident that this group of teens will help us push the needle and reach teens that until now have stayed on the sidelines of Jewish life.”
The fellows are required to execute three pop-up events throughout the program that involve Jewish content, but the teens have some room to get creative. “This fellowship gives these teens the opportunity to think outside of the box; they are planning really unique programs for teens all around the metro Atlanta area,” said Jessie Schwartzman, Kesher Teen Fellowship engagement coordinator. She described one fellow who planned a Chanukah party at which the students made Chanukah cookies together. “We want their Jewish identity to translate on unengaged teens in Atlanta,” Schwartzman said. “We’re just really looking for ways to connect with teens on a different level.”
The program is having a positive impact on the teens involved, according to Schwartzman. “The fellows themselves who are part of this experience have really started to learn the value of leading a program – how to delegate tasks, what it means to share their Jewish story with others,” she said. “This type of training is not common in this generation; they’re so used to using their phones. [The fellows are] really learning the value of face-to-face communication.” This extends to a wider circle of Jewish teens who are being engaged by the fellows and growing in their Jewish connection.
The fellowship kickoff was Nov. 17. “I am excited to be a Kesher Fellow because I believe Jewish Atlanta is relying on today’s Jewish teens to ensure a strong Jewish Atlanta in the future,” Sophie Kieffer from Temple Sinai said in the release.
Schwartzman said that Atlanta is one of the few cities around the United States that’s participating in peer-to-peer training and they hope to expand their reach across the city. There are a growing number of organizations, such as OneTable, that are promoting this form of engagement with young adults, but it’s fairly new with teens, Griff said. “I think it’s exciting that Atlanta’s on the forefront of this.”
In response to the tragic mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue last fall, and the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents both in the southeast and nationally, the summit examined the reality of anti-Semitism and how to communicate and advocate for the world we want to see.
In groups by grade, teens gained awareness of their personal experiences with anti-Semitism, discussed how anti-Semitism exists in their lives, and developed skills to respond to anti-Semitism throw role-playing exercises.
With nearly 200 parents and teens participating in the event held at Temple Sinai, summit organizers had no idea the demand was so high for such an event. Kelly Cohen, JumpSpark Director, said, “As we see from the large crowd that came to the summit, when we create programs and opportunities that speak authentically to the needs of our community, people come!” 
When finishing her empowering story of bravery and transition, Dr. Joy Ladin prompted me and my peers with a question: “What was your experience of growing up as a girl?” To my surprise, the majority of responses to the question, including mine, were negative. We discussed in our conversation the topics that us, as teenage girls in the modern world, face, most of which were feelings of adversity and fear. A few examples included memories of my peers’ parents telling them to change because they were “showing too much”, them getting dress code violations for their bra straps and thighs showing, and their constant fear of slut shaming.
Joy started off this conversation with the topic of gender versus sexuality. She explained to us that these two things do not need to go hand in hand, nor do they have the same connotation to every individual. Once again, this was something I had never thought about before, so my mindset was transformed. I realized that all of those negative memories of growing up a girl made up who we had become. With further discussion, I was inspired that gender and sexuality are not as simple as I thought, and that two people with totally different experiences of being a women could still be defined as one.
