NEW YORK (January 23, 2023)—Avodah is proud to announce that it has partnered with Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) for the second cohort program of the Avodah Institute for Social Change. The 18-month program trains Jewish community professionals to develop their Jewish justice skills.

Avodah established the Institute in response to a growing demand from Jewish organizations for professional development that would help promote greater diversity, equity, and inclusion within their communities. Through retreats, workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, the Institute will provide eighteen Jewish day and overnight camp senior staff with opportunities to learn about social justice, respond to issues that matter to their campers and staff, and develop skills to deepen their camp’s commitment to equity and inclusion.

“The Institute offers powerful resources and guidance to Jewish organizations and their leaders so that they can make true structural changes and ensure that justice remains at the heart of our communal life,” said Sarra Alpert, Director of the Avodah Institute for Social Change. “We’re thrilled that Foundation for Jewish Camp has embraced this opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to justice by bringing this program to camp communities.”

“Camps are laboratories for grappling with challenges and building the foundation for a better world,” says FJC’s CEO, Jeremy Fingerman. “Partnering with the Avodah Institute for Social Change in supporting a camp cohort brings expertise to the leaders of these communities and enables camps to embrace their values in a way that ensures justice is not only an ideal we pursue, but holy work we do.”

The Institute’s January 2023 to April 2024 program builds on the success of its pilot cohort, which included Hillel campus senior staff and staff from Hillel International. The Institute’s faculty includes leaders in the field of Jewish social justice, including Catherine Bell, Caroline Rothstein, Yoshi Silverstein, and Yehudah Webster. Learn more about the faculty team here.

The Avodah Institute for Social Change is generously funded by Crown Family Philanthropies, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Jim Joseph Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Perlin Family Foundation, The Rakin Family, Sally Gottesman, Alisa and Daniel Doctoroff, Martine and Stanley Fleishman, and Ruth Wolman.

Participants of the Leadership for Social Change cohort include:

• Dan Chomstein, JCamp, Westside JCC (California)
• Ben Cohen, URJ Jacobs Camp (Mississippi)
• Sarah Cotler, URJ Camp Coleman (Georgia)
• Haylee Davis, Camp J, Tucson JCC (Arizona)
• Rachel Eilbaum, Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake (New York)
• Abigail Evonuk, BB Day Camps Portland (Oregon)
• Molly Helm, Camp Sabra (Missouri)
• Kathryn Jay, Urban Adamah (California)
• Kachel Kohnhorst, URJ Greene Family Camp (Texas)
• Justin Levy, URJ Camp Coleman (Georgia)
• Adra Lustig, Camp Havaya (Pennsylvania)
• Jayme Mallindine, URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Academy (Massachusetts)
• Eileen Price, In the City Camps (Georgia)
• Joshua Rudman, Camp Sabra (Missouri)
• Ronni Saltzman Guttin, Camp Avoda (Massachusetts)
• Ken Shifman, Camp Avoda (Massachusetts)
• Zachary Weisbrot, Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Camp (New York)
• Cindy Zingher, Camp Kinderland (Massachusetts)

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About Avodah

Founded in 1998, Avodah develops lifelong social justice leaders whose work is informed by Jewish values and who inspire the Jewish community to work toward a more just and equitable world. Avodah’s programming provides leaders working within the Jewish community and beyond with the tools, networks, and spiritual nourishment to fight the root causes of injustice. Its many programmatic offerings include the Jewish Service Corps, the Avodah Justice Fellowship, and the new Avodah Institute for Social Change. To learn more about Avodah visit www.avodah.net and follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Youtube.

About Foundation for Jewish Camp

Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) fosters excellence and accelerates innovation at Jewish camps across North America by developing adaptive talent, deepening immersive learning experiences, and catalyzing field growth. Founded in 1998, FJC elevates Jewish camp on the cultural and philanthropic agenda, creating opportunities to engage even more young people in Jewish camp through groundbreaking programs such as One Happy Camper® and FJC’s Specialty Camps Incubator. FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is a public 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information, please visit: jewishcamp.org.

Media Contacts

Jennifer Friedlin
Avodah
jfriedlin@avodah.net
(912) 863-6270

Aimee Lerner, Marketing Director
Foundation for Jewish Camp
aimee@jewishcamp.org
(646) 278-4518

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY (November 17, 2022)—Deepening its commitment to supporting the growing complexity of mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health (MESSH) needs of camps, Foundation for Jewish Camp has announced enhanced mental health supports for a third group of thirty Jewish summer camps. Building on the success of two previous cohort of the Yedid Nefesh initiative, FJC will now be extending financial, communal, and educational supports to a total of 99 Jewish day and overnight camps across North America. 

“Camps are already fertile ground for self-discovery and strengthening confidence, interpersonal skills, and resiliency. By creating embedded and sustainable MESSH support systems, we can effect real change in the current childhood and adolescent mental health crisis,” says Jill Goldstein Smith, senior program manager and Yedid Nefesh project lead at FJC. 

The Yedid Nefesh initiative launched in 2019 with a generous investment by The Marcus Foundation. Mental health support has been a priority of Jewish camps even prior to the pandemic, which brought exacerbating mental health needs. During the pilot year of the initiative, FJC received more than three times as many applicants than available grants. Inspired by early signs of success, UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Communal Fund of New York are sponsoring eight of the camps. 

The continued need and demand, combined with the success of the program’s multi-faceted approach, led The Marcus Foundation to make an additional gift to the initiative through 2026. This will support an additional cohort of 30 camps and allow camps in the first two cohorts to sustain their work through another year. 

“Mental Health continues to be a serious issue across our communities. We’re proud of the work we’ve done with FJC through this grant, and the impact it’s already having,” says Bernie Marcus of The Marcus Foundation. “But there is more work to do, more to accomplish, to support the growing mental health needs of our young campers, counselors, and their families.” 

Each camp chosen for the Yedid Nefesh initiative receives up to $36,500 in direct funding over the course of four years. This investment is used by each camp to hire a qualified mental health professional, provide counselor training, establish wellness activities, and develop tools to destigmatize mental health in their broader community. Many of the camps’ mental health professionals will gather for the first time for professional development in person at FJC’s biennial conference, Leaders Assembly, in Atlanta, Georgia, from December 4-6. FJC will also be expanding a fellowship piloted last summer for social work graduate students to receive on-the-job experience at Yedid Nefesh camps this summer, building a pipeline of qualified mental health professionals at Jewish camp.

Thirty camps will comprise the third cohort of Yedid Nefesh, including:

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About Foundation for Jewish Camp

Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) fosters excellence and accelerates innovation at Jewish camps across North America by developing adaptive talent, deepening immersive learning experiences, and driving field growth. FJC supports camps in their effort to provide a lifelong connection to Judaism and elevates Jewish camp on the cultural and philanthropic agenda. For more information, visit jewishcamp.org.   

Media Contact

Aimee Lerner, Marketing Director
aimee@jewishcamp.org
(646) 278-4518 

 

By Joseph Reimer

Many of us are looking forward to gathering this Sukkot with family and friends in the make-shift sukkah that reminds us that, even with our good fortune, we dwell precariously in the presence of the Divine.

A less well-known gathering on Sukkot is called “Hak’hel.” As described in last week’s Torah portion, every seventh year during Sukkot all of Israel is to gather—presumably around the Temple—to hear the reading of the Torah. “Gather the people-men, women, children and the strangers in your communities- that they may hear and so learn to revere the Lord your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching” (Deuteronomy 31: 12). What is striking about Hak’hel is its inclusive nature. The Torah is clear about who has to be involved: all the adults and all the children. Rarely in Torah are the children explicitly included in such public events; perhaps Moses our teacher long ago figured out how to make Hak’hel work so that even the youngest children present could feel addressed and engaged by this particular public performance of Torah. If only we knew the secrets of his powers of engagement.

I am thinking of Hak’hel this Sukkot because it happened every seventh year and this is that moment. I am also thinking about Jewish communal leaders who in our times have creatively engaged varied others in Jewish experiences and ceremonies. I recently completed Making Shabbat, a book (published by Brandeis University Press) about celebrating Shabbat at Jewish summer camps. I realize that the founders of intentional Jewish camps had to rediscover in the early decades of the 20^th century the lost art of Hak’hel. They had to refashion the celebration of Shabbat to make it work for the children who would attend their camps. They seriously confronted the question of “What does it mean to celebrate Shabbat when the primary celebrants are children?” There were few precedents for the design work they undertook, but after several years of experimentation, the founders came up with a design for Shabbat at camp that both honored the Sabbath traditions and spoke to the campers and staff. That design is still with us in the ways that contemporary Jewish camps celebrate Shabbat.

What my ethnographic research at three veteran Jewish camps reveals is that Shabbat at camp is not simply a joyous festival that campers enjoy but also a carefully designed learning environment that helps campers over time to become increasingly involved in learning and leading the Shabbat rituals. At these camps I was able to describe a three-step learning process that accounts for how staff work closely with campers to help move them along a growth path from being newcomers to becoming insiders to ascending to lead significant parts of the Shabbat ritual. Here are the three steps.

Step one: Guided Participation

When children first arrive at camp, they are not yet campers. They become campers by learning to participate in the activities that camps sponsor. One such set of activities is celebrating Shabbat. Much of Shabbat is new to them. What allows new campers to cross over the threshold and enter into Shabbat is how the staff and older campers guide their participation. Newcomers are not left alone to discover the way. At each step there is a welcoming presence to support newcomers as they take their first steps. Newcomers can also see that their older peers are fully engaged. That is highly motivating for taking the leap into the unfamiliar

Step two: Skill-building

After their initial time at camp, campers begin to realize there are diverse skills they can develop to enhance their participation in celebrating Shabbat. There are songs to sing, hand motions to acquire, dance steps to learn, Hebrew phrases to master, and a choreography to follow in each service and ritual. Camps allow campers a wide berth in building these skills. There is much staff support for actively developing skills, but also many opportunities to learn by observing and participating. Camps allow campers to choose their pace and route to skill-building while also encouraging and rewarding those campers who lead the way. Camp is a place where it is still cool to be Jewishly engaged.

Step three:  Learning to Lead

While in many Jewish communities, teens are scarce after their bnei-mitzvah, these camps have turned to their teen campers to lead significant aspects of the Shabbat ritual. As campers mature, opportunities to lead increase with the prized roles saved for the oldest campers. Asking teens to lead has its hazards as they can be wild and undisciplined. But what amazed me is how eager these adolescents are to lead and set an example for younger campers. Camp leaders realize that teen enthusiasm is contagious, and if staff can support and guide youth leadership, the example set for the younger campers is highly motivating.

What the research reveals is that these camps have an implicit informal curriculum for how to move campers from being newcomers to entering the circle of Shabbat where they can over the next years build their skill base while awaiting their opportunity to lead the camp in celebrating Shabbat. This curriculum is kept hidden so no one will confuse camp with school.  But while hidden, the curriculum works efficiently to prepare campers to engage with Shabbat and become more adept at its celebration.

Every seventh year we are reminded to create an inclusive and engaging learning experience for the entire community. We can look to how our summer camps celebrate Shabbat for inspiration on recovering the lost art of Hak’hel. Imagine what it would mean if we could move all the people from guided participation to skill-building and then to learning to lead. Were Jewish spaces redesigned to truly invite that full participation, perhaps in the next seven years we could create a post-Covid version of Hak’hel.

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Joseph Reimer has recently retired from 36 years as a professor of Jewish education at Brandeis University. Making Shabbat, his third book, is published by Brandeis University Press.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY (August 18, 2022)—Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) has been awarded a three-year expansive research grant from the John Templeton Foundation to explore how the activities and rituals at Jewish overnight camp nurture and promote character development in adolescent campers and camp staff.   

Findings of an earlier landscape survey of current virtue development practices at Jewish camps and a series of interviews with camp professionals identified kindness as the most common virtue camps desire to nurture in their communities. This next phase of in-depth research will focus on understanding how kindness is embedded into the structure of Jewish camp, how character virtues are taught, practiced, and modeled by camp leadership and staff, and how staff and campers are impacted.   

“We want to surface exemplary practices that support young adult camp staff to model and nurture kindness in themselves and others. Our research will allow us to learn with the camps and develop additional resources and practices to elevate emerging and promising character development at camps across North America,” says Nila Rosen, FJC’s Director of Learning and Research. These resources will expand on FJC’s Making Mensches Periodic Table—the resource bank for camp staff and educators to engage in the work of character development whose popularity served as the basis for this inquiry. 

FJC has selected five camps that are intentional in their construction and cultivation of a culture of kindness in their community. These camps will conduct a thorough exploration of how that shows up in their staff selection and training, relationship building, camp rituals, peer-to-peer support, professional development, branding materials, camp artifacts, signage, or explicit language used by leadership teams. 

The camps involved in this research are: 

• Camp Ramah Wisconsin (Conover, WI) 
• Camp Laurelwood (Madison, CT) 
• Emma Kaufman Camp (Morgantown, WV) 
• URJ 6 Points Sports Academy (Greensboro, NC) 
• URJ Crane Lake Camp (West Stockbridge, MA) 

Richard Bollinger, PhD, Senior Program Officer of Character Virtue Development at the John Templeton Foundation adds, “We are excited about the potential impact of this project because spreading kindness within a community can create ripples of a ‘pay-it-forward’ nature that extend far beyond the initial kind actions. Along with the hundreds of thousands of campers, families, and staff who participate in 300+ Jewish camps across North America each year, we are eager to share and learn with FJC and the field.”  

This December, FJC will gather the first cohort of camps participating in this research phase along with multi-disciplinary advisors who sit at the nexus of Judaism and character development as a community of practice at their biennial conference, Leaders Assembly in Atlanta, GA. Together, they will develop ways to measure the intersections of character, kindness, and community within Jewish camps and undercover practices that allow camps to cultivate individuals with a deepened sense of humanity, justice, and transcendence.  

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About Foundation for Jewish Camp  

Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) fosters excellence and accelerates innovation at Jewish camps across North America by developing adaptive talent, deepening immersive learning experiences, and catalyzing field growth. Founded in 1998, FJC elevates Jewish camp on the cultural and philanthropic agenda, creating opportunities to engage even more young people in Jewish camp through groundbreaking programs such as One Happy Camper® and FJC’s Specialty Camps Incubator.  FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and young staff each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is a public 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information, please visit: jewishcamp.org.   

Media Contact

Aimee Lerner, Marketing Director
aimee@jewishcamp.org
(646) 278-4518

By Stacy Seltzer

Twenty years ago, in 2002, we met at Camp Ramah in the Poconos. Kelly Clarkson became the first American Idol winner, introducing, “A Moment Like This” into our lives. A Walk to Remember, Catch me if you Can, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding were popular movies. And everyone loved playing “snake” on their Nokia cell phones.

Stacy had just graduated from high school and was headed to Muhlenberg College that fall. Before college, she was excited to head back to Ramah, her home away from home, to be on staff at the same place where she had spent almost every summer since she was ten.

Matt had just completed his freshman year at the University of Maryland and was returning staff. Though he didn’t grow up at Ramah, many of his cousins were there and camp was becoming part of his story.

Little did they know that this summer at Ramah would change the trajectory of their lives.

Camp is a special place. Hours feel like days and days feel like weeks. The time spent there is magical. You are unplugged from the hustle bustle of daily life, surrounded by picturesque scenery and integrated into a beautiful community full of fun, energy and spirit.

When we met, we thought we would date ‘just for the summer’ and go our separate ways… and we almost did! We officially ‘broke up’ as Stacy headed off to school. But somehow, our hearts knew there was more to this relationship. Shortly after arriving back at school, we decided to give long distance dating a try. We dated through college and got engaged right after.

Ramah not only set the stage for us to meet, but it also continues to influence our observance and love for Judaism. We got married in 2007 and knew we wanted to have a family. Our goal was (and still is!) to raise our kids in a Jewish home filled with the same energy and excitement for Judaism that Ramah instilled in us.

Our oldest daughter was born in 2013. Last summer she told us, “I’m ready for Ramah!” At the start of the summer, we packed her bags and sent her off to create her own experiences. There were tears as her bus drove away but those tears quickly turned into smiles as real experiences replaced her (and our!) imagination! Watching her love camp in her own way has been one of the best parts of parenthood. Watching her live independently for four weeks, growing as an individual, is incredible! The icing on the cake were the tears that flowed upon her return home. Yes, she was thrilled to be home and happy to be with her family but even more so, she missed her new home away from home. She declared herself “camp sick!” She is already counting down the days until next summer and her siblings can’t wait to join her in a few years.

If someone would have told us back in 2002 that our ‘just for the summer’ relationship would lead to a life together and that our children would follow in our footsteps at Ramah 20 years later, we would have laughed. Our story shows the power of camp!

Asking questions is a core aspect of Jewish tradition and inquiring about those in our community helps us to better serve them. Camps use many systems and processes for gathering information about campers and staff prior to arrival at camp so programming can be tailored to better to support them in having an excellent experience.  

This question bank lists some common and not-so-common questions for camps to consider asking in an effort to better support the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health of campers and staff. In some cases, questions listed here may already be incorporated into your camp’s intake process elsewhere – and we encourage efficiency where possible (for the sake of camp staff as well as registering families). Some questions may be explicitly related to mental health, and others may not be so obvious or may fall under multiple categories (including but not limited to behavior, physical health, etc.). 

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are some duplicative options to allow camps to pick and choose as they see fit for their community and needs. It is not intended to be copy-and-pasted without consideration, and we highly encourage adaptation. 

While this resource focuses on campers, we understand the importance of supporting staff as well. We hope these questions may spark ideas for how to frame conversations with staff to build self-awareness and encourage open communication with their supervisor based on strengths and growth opportunities.

For questions, or to share additions as this is a living resource, please reach out to jill@jewishcamp.org.  

We wish you a wonderful summer of supporting MESSH and all those in your camp community, 

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE QUESTION BANK

This project is possible through the generosity of The Marcus Foundation as part of the Yedid Nefesh initiative. We are grateful to the 30+ day and overnight camps who shared their intake questionnaires and survey forms with us through the Yedid Nefesh initiative and other avenues. The questions included here were reviewed by a licensed clinical social worker with a history of leading community care at Jewish camp, as well as reviewed by members of the Yedid Nefesh Advisory Group, including camp professionals and mental health experts

New York, NY — Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) received an initial 1-year, $230,000 planning grant from the prestigious John Templeton Foundation to lay the groundwork for a proposed 3-year expansive research project to explore how Jewish camps nurture and build character among their campers and staff.  Rooted in FJC’s Making Mensches Periodic Table — a resource bank for camp staff and educators to engage in the work of character development — this research will assess the usage of these resources together with camps and other academic partners.   

The initial planning grant will be used to develop conceptual frameworks and research design and instrumentation. This work will include convening thought partners and learning circles to guide the work; conducting a landscape survey of current virtue development practices at Jewish camps; interviewing a select group of 10 camps to learn more about their current practices; and, developing a proposal for a three-year study to evaluate the impact of character development practices on the minds, hearts, and behaviors of adolescents and young adults who participate in Jewish camp.  

According to Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow, FJC’s VP for Education and Innovation and the co-leader for this project, “Jewish camp in North America has a great history of making mensches — a Yiddish term for a person of great character and integrity — but that is not enough. We need to look critically and explore the metrics of character development. With the support of the John Templeton Foundation, we will define where we are headed in this work for the next decade. Surfacing and sharing best practices in character development will ensure we are making our best effort to raise new generations of thoughtful, resilient, caring, community-minded individuals. The world needs mensches now, more than ever before.” 

During this initial planning year, Nila Rosen, FJC’s Director of Learning and Research, will work closely with several academic partners: Jeffrey Kress, PhD, professor in the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS); Bethamie Horowitz, PhD, socio-psychologist at  NYU; Maurice Elias, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University; Nicole Samuel, MA, Associate Research Scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University; and, Arthur Schwartz, Ed.D, President of Character.org and former Executive Vice President at the John Templeton Foundation. 

This is FJC’s first grant awarded by the John Templeton Foundation. FJC’s goal is to build on this initial step, examine and study the work of camp, and secure future funding to develop a new set of resources, tools, and curricula to help camps better implement character education during the summer months and year-round to their campers, staff, and communities.  

To learn more about the John Templeton Foundation, visit www.templeton.org.   

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About Foundation for Jewish Camp 

Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) fosters excellence and accelerates innovation at Jewish camps across North America by developing adaptive talent, deepening immersive learning experiences, and catalyzing field growth. Founded in 1998, FJC elevates Jewish camp on the cultural and philanthropic agenda, creating opportunities to engage even more young people in Jewish camp through groundbreaking programs such as One Happy Camper® and FJC’s Specialty Camps Incubator.  FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and young staff each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is a public 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information, please visit: www.jewishcamp.org.  

By Andrew Exler

Dear Jewish Teenagers of the World,

I never expected to deal with a mass shooting in my neighborhood, let alone the worst massacre of Jewish people in United States history in the same place where I had my Bar Mitzvah, the place where my parents got married, the place I drive past on my daily commute and holds so many fond memories for me: Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During my time as Regional Director of Keystone Mountain Region BBYO, Tree of Life collaborated with us on an event featuring two incredible Holocaust survivors who shared their experiences. Little did we know that in the very same room three years later, history would repeat itself in the most horrible way: Jewish people would be murdered for nothing more than being Jewish.

When I started going to Sunday school at Tree of Life Synagogue, I was proud to be Jewish. When I started attending Emma Kaufmann Camp (a Jewish summer camp run by the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh), I was proud to be Jewish. When I visited the Holocaust memorials in Israel and Washington DC, I was proud to be Jewish. When I became a brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity at Ohio University, I was proud to be Jewish. When I moved back to my home in Pittsburgh to become the Regional Director of KMR BBYO, I was proud to be Jewish. When I began my work in a family accounting firm in Pittsburgh, I was proud to be Jewish. And now, after a hate-filled coward entered my synagogue and murdered 11 friends and members of my community, I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE PROUD TO BE JEWISH.

The morning of October 27th, I was in my living room when I heard sirens driving by my house. If you know Squirrel Hill, you know it is so unusual to hear sirens because it is a very peaceful, quiet neighborhood, especially on Shabbat mornings since Squirrel Hill is known to be, “the heartbeat of Jewish life in Pittsburgh.” I remember wondering if there was a fire or something serious nearby, but didn’t think much of it until I received a text from my father.

“Andrew,” he wrote,” Where are you?” Followed by, “There is an active shooter at Tree of Life. People are dead.”

Imagine that for a moment. The helplessness of knowing that I likely knew people in the building, and that this was happening less than a mile from where I was sitting. Soon, I would learn which beloved members of our community had been taken from us.

I knew Cecil and David Rosenthal since I was born. They were two of the most genuine people in the world, living with special needs and not letting that stop them from being at the place they loved –Tree of Life. My mom and I used to occasionally give Cecil a ride home, since he lived nearby and almost always walked to shul. He went to shul every weekend. He’d occasionally stop in my family’s flower shop on Murray Avenue (only a few blocks from Tree of Life) to say hi. Cecil and David were an enormous part of the synagogue experience; they’d greet you when you entered the sanctuary, give you your siddur, and tell you where to sit. Every synagogue has those people. As you read this, you might be thinking of these people at your own synagogue. The next time I go to services, they won’t be there anymore to hand me my siddur and tell me where to sit. I attended their funeral on October 30th.

Rose Mallinger is a friend’s mother and grandmother. Her family is very involved at the JCC. I played basketball with her grandchildren. I attended her funeral on November 2nd.

A community member I know was hiding in a closet in the chapel with Melvin Wax before Melvin was killed. The shooter didn’t see my friend because she was hiding on the floor. He walked out, giving her just enough time to get out of the building.

Irv Younger coached friends of mine at the JCC and was known throughout the community.

Bernice and Sylvan Simon were my grandparents’ neighbors when they were younger. My grandfather and Sylvan were in a bowling league together. The Simon’s were married in Tree of Life over 60 years ago.

Jerry Rabinowitz was the doctor for at least half of the families I know in Pittsburgh.

Our family is friends with the son of Dan Stein. I spent four hours on that terrible day as we waited to hear more because Dan’s son knew his dad was at services that day. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that they found out Dan was one of the first victims identified.

Joyce Fienberg was the grandmother of former campers of mine at Emma Kaufmann Camp.

Richard Gottfried was a dentist for so many people I know and is the uncle of a BBYO teen that my cousin works closely with as she is still a BBYO employee in Florida.

We all know how small the Jewish community is in general, and everyone here has played “Jewish Geography” at least a few times in their life. Unfortunately in the Pittsburgh Jewish community, there is no more than 1 degree of separation between us and the victims.

In the weeks following the attack, I feel compelled to channel my anger and sadness into creating a better world. I can think of no better way to create a better world than by sharing my story with the most powerful people in it: you, the teenagers of the world. I’m writing you this message because I think it’s so essential for you to spread the story of these people. Through me – a former Jewish teenager – you are all directly connected to the victims here. They are part of our national and global Jewish community. It’s important that they are the ones we remember, and not the coward who took them from us, nor his name.

I also want to tell you about the kindness, support, and care I was shown by my friends in the Jewish community. As the horrifying events unfolded at Tree of Life, I started to receive notification after notification on my phone without pause from old Jewish camp friends, former BBYO friends and others from my childhood – even people with whom I’d lost contact over the years. In my sadness and panic, it helped to know that so many friends I made as a teenager were still there for me on the most difficult day of my life. Had I not been lucky enough as a teenager to go to summer camp or be involved in a Jewish youth group, I would have felt so much more alone on that terrible day and the days that have followed. During this time of darkness, my family from BBYO and my family from Emma Kaufmann Camp shine a light on the bigger picture of the world.

Several years ago, my Pittsburgh friends from Jewish camp, BBYO, and my community started something called “Menorahgate” for fun; we lit a menorah before entering the stadium to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers, since Hanukkah usually coincides with a Steelers home game. This year, we decided to turn Menorahgate into a fundraiser for Tree of Life. Our original goal was to raise $1,000 by December 16th; we were stunned when we hit that goal within the first five hours. We’re currently at $17,500 and counting. It’s strange but somehow feels right that something fun I created with my BBYO, camp, and local Jewish friends has turned into something so meaningful. The Jewish community brought us together, so it feels right that by coming together now, we can give something back to the Jewish community.

Jewish teenagers, I want you to know that having a Jewish community is a gift that transcends distance and time, and gives you the energy to go on even in the worst possible circumstances. If I couldn’t rely on my Jewish camp and youth group friends, I wouldn’t be able to comfort and support the Pittsburgh community, and do everything I can to help us bounce back. I appreciate now more than ever not only being Jewish, but having a group of Jewish friends who understand our values and the importance of community. My experience as a Jewish teenager has had a major impact on who I am, and given me the support and resilience to process this tragedy.

As a teenager at Jewish camp and in BBYO, I not only learned the importance of having a Jewish community, but of respecting the dignity and humanity of people of all faiths and backgrounds – and remembering the common bond we share. It is essential that you unite not only with Jewish teenagers in your community, but to reach out to others. While we accept and appreciate the outpouring of support here from people of all backgrounds in Pittsburgh, we need to reciprocate this support and turn it into action to help heal the wounds of all minorities and marginalized communities.

As we reel from the shooting at Tree of Life, is very important to acknowledge the recent shooting in Louisville, Kentucky where Vickie Lee Jones and Maurice E. Stallard were murdered for the color of their skin. The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh raised enough money to pay for all 11 funerals that took place. Wasi Mohamed, the Executive Director, spoke about how important it was that his community unites with the Jewish community, and made sure to say that the Jewish community had been supportive of his community in the past during down-times. Standing up against all forms of bigotry – and not just anti-Semitism – is an important Jewish value. The struggles our people have faced throughout history should activate our empathy and fuel our desire to do right.

You are young. You may have just had your Bar/Bat Mitzvah, you may just be starting high school; others might have just submitted their college applications. When I was a teenager, I can’t tell you how many times people told me, “You’re just a kid.” I am here to tell you that you’re powerful, and you can make a difference RIGHT NOW. I’m moved by the way so many teens have already taken powerful action in light of this tragedy.

There will probably never be a “normal” again in Squirrel Hill. There will always be a “before the shooting” and “after the shooting.” The best we can do is unite as a community and nation to shape the “after” into a better world by showing that love conquers hate. We need young leaders like you to show the world that even when facing the worst tragedy experienced by the Jewish people in this country’s history, we won’t react to hate with hate. We stand strong against bigotry toward all people, and in all its forms. We don’t get intimidated. We come together, determined to do the work to create a better world.

Thank you.

Andrew T. Exler

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Born & raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Andrew Exler has built his life & career around working with, and improving the lives of others. Andrew is the Founder & Chief Strategist of Andrew Exler Consulting, providing expertise in social media marketing & professional development to nonprofits, start-ups & small businesses. Andrew spent 16 summers at Emma Kaufmann Camp as a camper, counselor and head staff member. He also spent 4 years as a BBYO professional staff member in Nashville, TN & Pittsburgh, PA.

Andrew is a 2013 graduate from the Ohio University College of Business, where he became a Brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity & was on the Men’s Club Lacrosse team. He earned a Certificate in Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018.

In his free time, Andrew volunteers in leadership roles with various nonprofit organizations and coaches lacrosse. Andrew currently resides in Pittsburgh with his wife and their two dogs and stays heavily involved in the Jewish community. Andrew is happy to be a resource to Jewish teens and others. He can be contacted at andrew@andrewexler.com or on his website at www.andrewexler.com.