Kumi is 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.
Participants will be prepared for bold changemaking on college campuses, in social justice spaces, and wherever else their passions take them. Together, they will contribute to the building of more inclusive communities and movements for justice as Jews. Through their experience in Kumi, participants will be challenged to explore their connection to their own Jewish identity and build the skills to turn their values into action.
Applications open March 2!
Applications for Kumi: Foundation 2026 will open on March 2nd, 2026.
Learn more about eligibility and the application process, apply now, or nominate a teen you know who may be interested in applying.
Program Details
Kumi is a retreat-based experience where teens from across the country come together to learn and build a Jewish justice community. Each semester, we run a 4-day in-person retreat with three 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.
Background
Kumi (pronounced koo-mee) means “Wake Up!” or “Stand Up!” in Hebrew. This name was chosen to represent the intertwined importance of learning deeply about ourselves and the world around us (“Wake up!”), and the need to use that knowledge to support justice in our community (“Stand up!”). The word Kumi is used to urge the Jewish people to wake up and stand up in the Lecha Dodi, a 16th century poem still sung on Friday nights around the world to hundreds of different melodies. Kumi participants will join a Jewish community dedicated to meaningful exploration of pressing social justice issues and building skills to become well-informed Jews who take justice seriously.
Staff
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.
Funding Partners
Kumi is also made possible by support from the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Isabel P. Dunst Philanthropic Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.