On January 15, Moving Traditions hosted In Their Words: An Inside Look at Jewish Teen Wellbeing, a webinar for parents and educators of Jewish youth, where we dove into preliminary findings from a national study on Jewish teen wellbeing conducted by BeWell.
Thank you to our featured speakers and moderator:
- Dr. Alana Kinarsky, social science researcher from BeWell
- Shuli Karkowsky, CEO of Moving Traditions
- Rabbi Daniel Brenner, Vice President of Education at Moving Traditions
- Amalya, a high school junior and Kol Koleinu Teen Feminist Fellow
Watch the Webinar Recording
About the Report
Strength, Stress, and Support: A Portrait of American Jewish Teen Well-being

The first-ever national research on Jewish teen wellbeing that assesses American Jewish teens in relation to their mental health in this pivotal moment is soon to be released.
In April-May 2024, BeWell and partners invited 7th-12th graders across the US to share their experiences in an anonymous survey. This comprehensive research will provide a snapshot of Jewish teen well-being today and help us better understand the intersection of Jewish culture and tradition, family dynamics, and systemic communal influences. It will provide insight to the sources of stress and strategies for thriving that characterize life among American Jewish teenagers. This project is led by BeWell / Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) with research conducted by Stanford University.
Preliminary Findings
- Teens who said that being Jewish is important to them reported higher levels of overall well-being.
- American Jewish teens face a dual burden: they contend with the universal challenges of adolescence while also grappling with unique pressures that arise from being Jewish.
- Jewish teens have multiple contexts and people in their lives that allow for authentic self-expression, which supports positive well-being outcomes.
Tip for Parents: Checking In
If your teens are having a hard time coping right now, rest assured that you’re not alone. Teens across the US are struggling.
One crucial skill for teens to learn is how to experience grief and suffering without numbing or distracting. Humans aren’t capable of being happy all the time, so it’s important to learn how to flow between happiness and sadness. Although it’s painful to see your teen in distress, it can be an opportunity for them to practice resilience. As a parent, one helpful thing you can do for your teens is simply to allow them to be sad when they’re sad. Instead of trying to distract them, cheer them up, or fix the problem, try giving them space to talk about the problem.
Further Reading:

Resources from BeWell
The data featured in this webinar is from a national survey by BeWell, an initiative of Jewish Federations of North America. Check out their list of resources, including self-care strategies, gratitude prompts, grief support, mental health hotlines, and more: Resources for Wellbeing.

How Jewish educators can address the youth mental health crisis
“Jewish education, especially education which utilizes the basic chevruta (study partner) model of learning, is a perfect vehicle for learning interpersonal skills.” In this essay in eJewish Philanthropy, Rabbi Daniel Brenner looks into the ways that Jewish educators can bolster the mental wellbeing of Jewish teens.

Wellbeing and Jewish Education
Rabbi Daniel Brenner, Vice President of Education at Moving Traditions, asks the question: “What’s Jewish about wellbeing?” The resulting essay explores the depths of Jewish texts on wellbeing, forming a deeply moving picture of what it means to live a nourished life.
Resources from Raising Up Teens
Raising Up Jewish Teens with Moving Traditions is a series of free webinars geared toward parents, educators, and all those who guide Jewish preteens and teens. For each webinar, we publish free resources that go deeper into the webinar topic – including college, reproductive rights, antisemitism, Israel, spirituality, and more.