By Rabbi Tara Feldman
Friends of Siach Shalom Cofounder
Some Israeli Gen Z Cohort participants gather at the Feldman home with Dr. Alick Isaacs.
For Meir and me, it has been a busy and growth-filled fall, winter and, now, spring. Drawing upon Siach Shalom’s dialogue methodology and vision, we have convened and completed three Gen Z Learning Journey Siach Shalom cohorts.
Each cohort consisted of 10 to 16 participants: Jewish college and university-age North Americans along with their European and Israeli peers. Our Israeli participants came to us through yeshivot and mechinot (pre-military gap-year programs); all had ongoing experiences of active service in the IDF. Our North American students found us, by and large, through their connection with a Hillel rabbi.
During the course of two to three months, each cohort met six times for hour-and-a-half sessions on Zoom. Our continuing goals are to empower and educate college-age students about Zionism through exploring Zionism’s core ideals and building peer-to-peer relationships within a globally, politically and religiously diverse community of Jewish Gen Zers. Each participant received a $500 stipend.
We are invigorated and thrilled to have launched this model and are eager to scale it. In the coming months, we will grow our team of facilitators and expand our outreach to include an even broader range of Gen Zers. Through our Gen Z Learning Journey, Friends of Siach Shalom has evolved to encompass and activate the work of Siach Shalom “on the ground” (virtually speaking) in North America.
Some Takeaways and Insights from Our Gen Z Learning Cohorts
- Informed by Siach Shalom’s work in Israel, Gen Z Learning Cohorts seek to address the crisis surrounding Zionism for college-age Gen Zers, in part, through a pedagogic component: 7 Attacks Against Zionism and 7 Ideals of Zionism.
- Staying true to Siach Shalom’s core vision, this “learning journey” has relational work and dialogue at its core: 7 Sacred Conversations About Zionism.
- Making space for two participants from diverse backgrounds to share a personal story, an experience related to Zionism and Jewish identity, became an essential and profound component of each session.
- The geographic, political and religious diversity of the participants was a primary draw for participants.
- While, at this stage, we have not yet had a significant number of “anti-Zionist” Gen Zer applicants, we found that many of our non-Israeli participants were proximate to and deeply impacted by anti-Zionism. To varying degrees, all of them lacked the language, knowledge and emotional grounding to address such attacks either internally or with others.
- Zoom “breakout rooms” are an essential tool in allowing for more nuanced and deep conversations and for grouping interesting and unexpected configurations of participants during each session.
- Assigning hevruta (learning pairs) to dialogue around a specific theme between sessions deepened connections within each cohort.
Select Responses from the Participants
“Hearing Israelis’ stories of the frontlines made it difficult not to tear up. Their bravery, and the strength of the Israeli Jewish people, is awe inspiring—and I hope I can take some of that with me into my everyday life.This group gave me the ability to see what other people of my community have and continue to go through since October 7, in all parts of the world. Going forward, I will endeavor to embrace the celebration of Judaism, my Judaism in my life, so that those guarding it in Israel can stand proud knowing that even though it’s hard for them, they’re making it easier for someone else.”
“I found myself challenged to think more critically and to reflect on my own beliefs in new ways, which I deeply appreciate. The personal stories shared during our sessions had a big impact on me, as they provided an emotional and human element that made the topics we discussed feel even more real and urgent.”
“Before this experience, I had never sat and talked about Zionism with actual Israeli people and had only heard from people on the Palestinian frontlines. It was equally impressive to learn so much about Israel as a state that is trying to improve the Jewish experience not only there but for all Jews in diaspora, as well, and it really changed my views on Zionism. As a Jew-by-Choice, I didn’t particularly have a strong connection to Zionism in a way that made me want to go to Israel, but this course sparkled that on me.”
“It was truly inspiring. I’ve never felt more connected to my identity as a Jewish person before.”