Group Leader Spotlight: David Lieberman
David Lieberman talks about the very real challenges the teen boys grapple with in his Shevet Achim groups....
Category Insights
Challenges for Teens in a Sexualized Environment
While you may not have learned about it in Hebrew School, Jewish tradition has a positive view of sexuality. Unfortunately, teen girls and boys are growing up in a highly sexualized environment wher...
Group Leader Spotlight: Anya Manning and Elie Lehmann
Rosh Hodesh and Shevet Achim group leaders at Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre and Temple Aliyah in Needham respectively, both near Boston....
The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction
For years we have blamed teens’ behavior on their “raging hormones”– which do in fact affect teens. With more sophisticated brain imaging, researchers now understand that underlying many notor…
Teen Boys and Homophobia: A Jewish Approach to Some Underlying Issues
How does Shevet Achim: The Brotherhood address the challenge of teen boys and homophobia?
By applying Jewish texts and challenging commonly held assumptions....
Group Leader Spotlight: Terry Wunder
Terry, a Shevet Achim leader at Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, says Moving Traditions' National Training Conference was "enormously helpful" in preparing him to lead his group....
Four things to emphasize when presenting the issue of Women of the Wall to American teenagers
1- What the wall is and is not. The Western Wall is a place of historic and religious importance to Jewish people all around the world. The last remaining remnant of a sacred religious site that our a…
Three Best Practices for Discussing Women of the Wall with Teens
Many Jewish teens have seen photographs of women being arrested at the Western Wall and are wondering what they can do to ensure that all people can practice Judaism freely at the Wall. If you are a p…
What Jewish texts do we turn to after a tragedy?
There are many Jewish sources that provide a sense of healing and peace. Yet, after a violent act by a human being that erases the life of another human being, it is our ethical literature that clarif…
Group Leader Spotlight: Deborah Sacks
I’m working with a group of seventh graders. As Brooklyn girls, they are, I believe, forced into a more adult world than the average seventh grader. They have more independence and more autonomy. As...