Jewish clergy, teachers, and parents agree that one of the most important opportunities we can offer our young people is to engage seriously with the questions shaping the Jewish world around them. That goal requires creating spaces where difficult topics are not avoided, but explored with curiosity, knowledge, courage, and Jewish wisdom.
Congregation Micah has been selected to pilot a groundbreaking new curriculum on antisemitism and antizionism this coming January. Created by acclaimed author Dara Horn and her Tell Institute, the eight-session program will bring together Micah’s teens—eighth grade and older—and their parents for an innovative learning experience designed to help families navigate some of the most challenging issues facing Jews today.
Horn, author of the award-winning People Love Dead Jews, has become one of the most important contemporary voices examining antisemitism and the ways it manifests in both historical and modern contexts. Through the Tell Institute, she and her colleagues are developing new approaches to Jewish education that recognize the complexity of the world our young people inhabit and equip them to engage it thoughtfully. Facilitated by Rabbi Laurie Rice and JLAB teacher Matthew Hibdon, these sessions will not only engage learners but also generate feedback to help shape the program’s development for use in Jewish communities more broadly.
This new curriculum comes at a particularly important moment. Our teenagers are encountering conversations about antisemitism, Israel, and Zionism in classrooms, on social media, in the news, and among their peers. These conversations are often complicated, emotionally charged, and lacking in historical context. Young people need more than talking points. They need intellectual and Jewish tools to understand what they are hearing, ask discerning questions, distinguish between ideas that are related but not synonymous, and develop their own informed perspectives.
The chance to pilot this program reflects Congregation Micah’s commitment to thoughtful and relevant Jewish education. We are excited to help prepare the next generation to encounter the world as knowledgeable, thoughtful, and resilient Jews—and we want parents to have the opportunity to grow alongside them.
In keeping with Congregation Micah’s commitment to innovative Jewish education, we are excited to help prepare the next generation to understand antisemitism, engage thoughtfully with Israel and Zionism, and find their voices as Jews in an increasingly complicated world. This is what Jewish education at Congregation Micah looks like: timely, intellectually engaging, courageous, and deeply connected to the lives of our students and families.
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