Salesforce Product All Curricular Programs

You Just Don’t Understand: How Do Parents and Teens Talk to Each Other? 

Updated 2025. Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will... Identify the areas of miscommunication, tension, and conflict in parent/child relationships in general and around the b-mitzvah preparation process; Use Jewish wisdom to help them think about issues of communication; Strategize about how their family could communicate with one another more compassionately and effectively

Special Edition: Discussion Prompts Related to Kavanaugh Investigation

The following is a series of discussion questions you can use to engage teenagers in a discussion about the Kavanaugh investigation. Please feel welcome to read through and select the discussions that you feel will be appropriate and generative to your group. We would love to hear how these discussions work for you and whether…

Session 1.5: Money

Who is rich? The one who is happy with their portion. — Pirkei Avot. Summary: Many teen boys fantasize about becoming men like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, or other billionaires—or at least they contemplate what it would be like to have a couple hundred million like LeBron James. Jewish tradition values wealth as…

Tools for communicating to parents and the wider community

Initial Letter to Parents: Our synagogue is partnering with Moving Traditions (www.movingtraditions.org) to pioneer a new family education-focused approach to b-mitzvah that connects Jewish wisdom to the inter-personal and social elements that come up as our children enter the teen years. The Moving Traditions sessions – created by rabbis, social workers, and educators – aim…

Session 3.2: Jewish Cultural and Spiritual Identity

Session 2 – Jewish Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Summary  Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, one of the most important Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, wrote that there are many ways to be Jewish. And according to a recent Pew Study on Jewish identity, contemporary Jews connect to their religion in diverse ways, from observing Jewish law and being a…

Session 1.3: Friendship

Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend. — Pirkei Avot 1:6. Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be able to: Identify the messages that media, society, and Judaism send about male friendships; Describe characteristics of healthy and supportive friendships; Describe the role of a friend and why it is important…

Session 2.1: Jewish Identity

The Jewish religion existed for the Jewish people and not the Jewish people for the Jewish religion. — Mordecai Kaplan. Introduction: Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, one of the most important Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, wrote that there are many ways to be Jewish. Some boys might value the ritual of lighting candles on Shabbat,…

Session 3.1: Practicing Self-Compassion

At a Glance: Many high-achieving teenage girls think of self-criticism is a motivator. However, recent studies show that teens with high levels of self-compassion report less anxiety and depression, especially when facing academic stress. In this session, teens will explore how they might practice self-forgiveness and self-compassion in their lives. This exploration will be guided by the…