Kumi Justice Retreats

Kumi Justice Retreats are a unique opportunity for Jewish teens (10th-12th graders) to interrupt racism, antisemitism, and other manifestations of oppression. This teen leadership experience imparts knowledge and skills for exploring justice and equity from a Jewish lens. 

Over the course of two in-person retreats and monthly community of practice zoom calls, teens in this program will hear from expert speakers in the field, have deep conversations related to their identities and experiences, and engage in workshops that teach how to turn their values into action. Together, they will contribute to the building of more inclusive communities and movements for justice as Jews.  

The Kumi Justice Retreat experience takes place over the course of two semesters.  Kumi participants will learn the foundational knowledge of equity and justice work in the Fall semester. This work will culminate with a trip throughout the US South to explore major Civil Rights sites in the Spring semester.

Program Details

Kumi is a year-long retreat-based experience where teens from across the country come together to learn and build a Jewish justice community.  Each semester, we run an in-person retreat with supporting virtual Community of Practice meetings to deepen learning. 

In the fall, Kumi: Foundation allows teens to learn foundational knowledge for exploring justice and equity from a Jewish lens.

In the spring, Kumi: Exploration invites Kumi alumni to use the history and present of an American city to make real-world connections to the topics they learned in Kumi: Foundation.

One unique aspect of Kumi is our intentional community-building through two tracks: Jews of Color Empowerment and Anti-Racist Allies. In keeping with racial justice best-practices, these two tracks will be learning together and separately over the course of the experience to provide intentional and targeted support of their learning. Each semester-long hybrid experience will help Kumi participants get a strong shared foundation of anti-oppression theory and practice and also provide an opportunity to regularly reconnect to deepen their learning with their cohort.   

Questions? Contact Rebecca Ezersky, Senior Program Manager of Kumi.

Rabbi Tamara Cohen, Chief of Program & Strategy (she, her, hers), guides and supports Moving Traditions’ strategy, program development and partnership work in collaboration with her fabulous colleagues. Tamara knows that Jewishly-engaged, intersectional feminists of all genders can and will change the world. She is proud to have initiated Tzelem and Kol Koleinu and to be working on a new project for older teens to navigate issues of race, gender, sex, antisemitism, and Jewish identity today. Tamara is a board member of Women’s March, on her synagogue’s anti-racism task force and a member of the Bnot Esh Jewish feminist spirituality collective. When Tamara isn’t moving traditions and the Jewish community, she can be found reading and writing poetry, organizing community ritual, walking in Carpenter’s Woods, or having fun with her partner, Dr. Gwynn Kessler and their two children (preferably off screen but also, often, on).

Rebecca Ezersky (she/her), Kumi Senior Manager, supports Moving Traditions by empowering Jewish teens to deepen their understanding of justice, identity, and community through experiential learning. Rebecca believes that teens carry insight, curiosity, and courage to transform communities. Prior to Moving Traditions, she worked at Jewish Life at Duke as their Assistant Director for Student Engagement, where she oversaw student engagement strategy, managed student-facing communications, and advised student groups. Rebecca holds a Master of Public Administration and a B.S. in Public Policy from the University of Southern California. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys exploring local coffee shops, listening to live music, and watching competitive cooking shows.