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Berkeley-Oakland Midrasha creates experiences for Jewish teens to practice Jewish community, engage in Jewish learning, and form their identities. Todays teenagers face unprecedented levels of social pressure, academic competition, and anxiety. Midrashas weekly program and retreats give a much needed antidote to all thata powerful dose of spiritual nourishment, connection, and authenticity.
When Pirkei Avot talks about two who study together, the word chevruta is used. That doesnt really translate cleanly into English, so its usually translated as two who study, but really, technically, literally, the word is a friendship. So just like there could be a herd of cattle, or a flock of birds, there is a friendship of scholars. That is certainly the case at Midrasha. Almost all of my closest friendships are from here. And Midrasha has been where Ive truly found community. -Rafael Wirtschafter, Midrasha Class of 2019
Our teens voices and the community itself are integral to the content of what is learned and taught at Midrasha. The diversity of our student body animates our Jewish learning. We serve teens from 9 local synagogues and 15% of current students at our weekly program come from families unaffiliated with any synagogue. Last year 31% of our teens received some amount of financial aid. Midrasha classes cover a broad range of Jewish subjects and use every learning modality available to us. We teach core Jewish literacy in ethics, peoplehood, and identity as well as offering deep dives into a grab bag of other Jewish subjects such as theology, improv, self-care, cooking, social justice, music, and game design, just to name a few.
But we cannot do it without the support of our community. We need your support in order to ensure all families can participate, regardless of need.
Please help us continue to evolve to meet the needs of our communitys teens by making a donation to Midrasha today.
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