By Alisha Pedowitz, Jewish LearningWorks’ Senior Educator
Write Them Upon the Doorposts of Your House, and Upon Your Gates:
Reflecting on Year 1 of the Bay Area Jewish Youth Resilience Roundtable.
Throughout the 2024-2025 program year, Jewish LearningWorks convened a group of 36 educators representing 13 Bay Area organizations that work with Jewish adolescents. We met monthly to explore what it means to sit at the intersection of adolescent wellbeing and Jewish education.
Over the course of 9 months, our Bay Area Jewish Youth Resilience Roundtable became a pivotal place of reflective practice for those of us who wish to give our students Jewish wisdom, community, life, and practice as internal guideposts (or, in the language of adolescent development and psychology experts – “protective factors”) as they navigate an increasingly complicated world. It is sacred work, and I have been grateful to do it while cultivating relationships with colleagues and experts.
The questions we grapple with are: how can our wisdom and practice as Jewish educators add value to the important work of supporting and cultivating wellbeing and resilience in adolescents?
What can we learn from content experts in adolescent development and psychology as they reflect on issues that directly impact today’s teenagers? And how can we weave these learnings into the spaces and programs we provide?
Our monthly meetings were filled with ideas and insights. Together we discussed how the following intersect with Jewish wisdom and education:
- Intergenerational Stories & Resilience
- Hope, Purpose, and Resilience
- Democracy & Resilience
- Supporting LGBTQ+ Teens (with member organization Keshet)
- From Crisis to Opportunity – Israel Education post October 7
- Creating Space for Hard Conversations
- Cultivating Courage & Authenticity
- Navigating Risks & Possibilities of Social Media
We also welcomed and learned from experts during three community-wide workshops on the following:
- Anchors and/or Armors: Helping Jewish Adolescents Cultivate Steadiness in Times of Unsteadiness (with trauma- and grief- informed educator Leora Wolf-Prusan, EdD)
- Shamati: Building Resilience for Jewish Adolescents Amidst the Climate Crisis (with Adamah)
- The Well-Balanced Student: How Jewish Educators Can Help Adolescents Thrive Through the Pressures of Achievement Culture (with Challenge Success)
In reflecting on all we learned and discussed together, I believe the intersection of these wise words perfectly encapsulates what the Resilience Roundtable is about:
V’ahavta –
“Teach them diligently to your children; speak of them when you’re sitting in your house, when you are on your way, when you are lying down, and you are rising up.
You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be a symbol between your eyes. Write them on the doorposts of your house, and upon your gates.”
– And –
“I have been thinking a lot about how I can intentionally amplify and weave protective factors through our work – creating space for authentic expression, building relationships with trusted adults, nurturing spirituality.”
Resilience Roundtable Member, reflecting on takeaways from year 1
The fundamental premise of Jewish education comes from the V’ahavta – teaching our children through an immersive practice of heart, mind, and soul, of actions alongside beliefs, what it means to love God, and by extension, themselves and one another. And that love expressed and experienced in all of these ways becomes a guidepost as we walk through a complicated world as Jews.This is how we build and contribute to community, and society. And this is what it means to sit at the intersection of adolescent wellbeing and Jewish education, and I am grateful to all of the educators who engage in this endeavor.
Learn More & Join Us
Jewish LearningWorks is convening the Bay Area Jewish Youth Resilience Roundtable for a second year. Learn more and join us!
