Learning

Programming provides the skill-building, leadership training, and consistent reflective practice that strengthen all effective activists and provide the foundation for a future in social change work. You’ll meet with local social change leaders, engage in personal and communal reflection on the year’s unfolding challenges and accomplishments, create space to debate ideas and methods of social change, and participate in trainings on the skills you need to successfully pursue justice work and sustain yourself in the long-term.

The programs are also a setting to engage with your Jewish identity as it relates to your activism, and with the ways that your political and social beliefs and struggles can inform your Jewish practice. You and your fellow Corps Members will meet with rabbis, teachers, and Jewish activists throughout the year to explore Jewish texts, history, and justice-oriented approaches to Jewish holidays and rituals.

By the end of the year, you’ll have developed a sustaining relationship between your social justice and your Jewishness, a nuanced analysis on poverty and oppression, a diverse set of skills, and a powerful communal network, all of which will help you locate your future career path and engagement in movements for justice.

What program commitments are required?

There are anywhere from 4-6 evening programs in any given month. You’ll also participate in three weekend retreats and three day-long seminars, and visit other Corps Members’ work sites at least once a month. These opportunities will help you explore different approaches to social change and expose you to issues that you may not see in your own work.

Who plans the programming?

Our staff team is composed of leaders with backgrounds in both social justice and Jewish education, and they’re guided by a curriculum that we’ve been perfecting for over  20 years. This includes both our Program Directors and our Ruach Avodah team, our Rabbis-in-residence who are there to both provide deep Jewish learning and ritual as well as individual pastoral care. But we believe deeply in participant leadership, so every Corps Member steps up throughout the year to help plan everything from site visits to Shabbat celebrations to leadership development programs. Your Program Director will also bring in local activists, educators, trainers, clergy members, alumni, and more to diversify and deepen your learning.