Teen Engagement
At Congregation Or Atid, we take the Jewish teen educational experience to the next level where students can explore their values and develop leadership skills through active participation. We help teens understand how to address the difficult questions they face every day by providing varied opportunities for engagement. Our strong collaborations with area synagogues and agencies have led many of our young adults to varied experiences in Israel, tikkun olam projects through regional service trips, and multiple educational and leadership opportunities in Fellowships.
Our high school students are encouraged and invited to take advantage of different programs offered by J-LOFT (Jewish Learning Opportunities for Teens), MetroWest’s collaborative high school initiative, of which Congregation Or Atid is a founding member. In J-LOFT, our students participate in classes and activities together with teens from 6 other local congregations – expanding their Jewish and social horizons.
Examples for J-LOFT course/activities include Religious Action Center seminar in Washington D.C.; Love, Gender in Relationship in Jewish Text, and hands-on service projects.
HiBur
HiBuR is an innovative and immersive exchange program that fosters connections between Jewish teens from the MetroWest area and Beit Sefer Hugim, a public high school in Haifa, Israel. The program is one of the CJP’s Boston-Haifa Connection programs. Through HiBuR, teens develop person to person connections, learn about each other’s Jewish cultures and identities and develop a sense of Jewish Peoplehood that extends beyond local and national boundaries.
The program includes two mifgashim (meetings) in which teens visit each other’s families and communities, an extensive curriculum for MetroWest participants as well as a year-long joint curriculum with the Hugim school. The Boston mifgash begins with a joint weekend at New York and continues for a week of hosting in the MetroWest area. During the Israel mifgash, the teens spend a week with their hosts in Haifa and end the visit by spending a weekend together in Jerusalem. See blog entries, photos and videos with our HiBuR students!
In addition, we encourage our teens to maintain their Jewish connection through participation in one of the many local teen opportunities in our community. Many Or Atid teens choose to engage in one or more of the following area programs:
- Prozdor at Hebrew College – grades 8-12
- Jewish Teen Initiative – grades 10-12
- Jewish Teen Foundation of Greater Boston – grades 9-12
- Gateways Teen Volunteer Initiative - grades 10-12
- Diller Teen Fellowship – grades 10 & 11
To learn about additional teen opportunities, visit Jewish Boston Teens
