Becoming B’Mitzvah* is the start of the rest of your Jewish life! At TBZ, we’ve got a number of ways for teens to stay engaged in Jewish community and if none of them are a match, we can help you create your own!
JLiT Jewish Leaders in Training
JLiT is a program for TBZ 8th graders by TBZ 8th graders. Started in 2020, 8th graders spend the prior spring and summer planning a year of learning for themselves. With the support of a madrich, a guide, participants explore issues that are Jewishly meaningful to them, discover what it means to belong to the wider Jewish community and find their own unique ways to make our world more sustainable.
The Tent @ Temple Israel
The Tent: A Jewish Learning Community for Greater Boston Teens at Temple Israel, is a pluralistic learning community comprising many Boston area congregations, including TBZ. Under the “Tent”, teens make new friends, experience new synagogue cultures, and learn from incredible clergy and faculty from the Brookline area. Learn more.
Prozdor @ Hebrew College
Teens in the Jewish community of Boston and southern New England have been studying Judaic and Hebrew studies together at Prozdor since the 1920s graduating more than 5000 students. Today, Prozdor remains a central hub for teen learning and engagement in the Greater Boston area. We offer a variety of programs that allow teens to incorporate Jewish learning into their busy lives — Sunday morning learning, service learning, international travel, teen philanthropy, leadership fellowships, a gap year program in Jerusalem, and more. Central to Prozdor’s mission are:
Jewish Teen Foundation
JTFGB provides Jewish teens within the greater Boston area the opportunity to put their Jewish values (such as tikkun olam and tzedakah) into practice in a group setting and instills within its participants the skills that should set a life-long pattern of activism and philanthropy. The program participants engage in an in-depth examination of social justice issues and profound discussions while viewing different things through a Jewish lens. Learn more.
Teen Beit Midrash
Boston’s Teen Beit Midrash is a Jewish learning space for curious teens, serious in its approach to study and informal in atmosphere. A beit midrash (literally, “house of study”) is a place where Jews come together to learn. Like at school, there are students and teachers, and books to read. However, unlike most schools, a Beit Midrash is a highly collaborative space, based around a unique learning model: chavruta, a pair of learners. The teachers are learners too, and the students also teach. In the Teen Beit Midrash there will be three components of the program: community, chavruta and shiur. The community time is set aside so we can get to know each other and what is going on in our lives, because Torah study is most meaningful when it is connected to our real life experiences. Chavruta time is when partners work together on the text. Shiur is when we come together for discussion and teaching. Learn more.
HaZamir and HaZaPrep (for 7th and 8th graders)
HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir is a Jewish musical youth movement of 38 choral chapters across the U.S. and Israel. Now entering its 26th year, HaZamir engages hundreds of Jewish teens annually who meet weekly to rehearse high-level Jewish choral music and create a pluralistic peer community. HaZamir prepares the next generation of Jewish choral singers, composers and conductors, builds an inclusive peer community across denominations, and provides a platform for contemporary and classic Jewish choral music. Learn more.
JewishBostonTeens.com
Check out JewishBostonTeens.com, a directory/calendar of all Teen events happening in the Boston area. Curious about what the Jewish teen community has to offer? It’s all right here. Whether it’s leadership, traveling, volunteering or just trying something new, explore and customize your options with three quick questions.
*B’Mitzvah-a gender-neutral expression of bar or bat mitzvah, literally meaning “of the commandment”