Dor Hadash Teen Program--A Touch Away

The date displayed is the next date on which the program occurs.

We're delighted to announce the launch in November of an exciting new opportunity for teens in grades 8-12 at West End Synagogue -- Dor Hadash ("New Generation")!

To our ongoing Oral History Project led by Susan Schorr (starting in November, to be held the first Tuesday of each month), we are adding monthly sessions led by Rabbi Marc (third Tuesday), Hazzan Ayelet (second Tuesday) and Mike Wikes (fourth Tuesday) -- please see below for details about these series. Dor Hadash will meet every Tuesday from 6-7:30 pm, and will include a light supper (usually pizza).

REGISTRATION: We hope that all West End teens in grades 8-12 will participate by attending all or some of these four series. Download the registration form by clicking here.

TUITION: $360 for WES and non-WES teens; $180 for WES teens serving as madrichim/madrichot in the JFLL program. Of course, no teen will be left out for financial reasons. We hope your teen will plan to join us. The program is open to non-WES teens; we hope your teen will invite his/her friends to join us as well.

"FREE TRIAL BASIS!" If your teen would like to try a few sessions of the program before committing, s/he is welcome to do so. The completed registration form and tuition can be submitted as late as November 18, after all four series have begun.

SCHEDULE: See below for details about the four series, click here for the schedule for 2011-12.

• Oral History Project with Susan Schorr (first Tuesday): Now in its seventh year, West End's Oral History Project has conducted more than 50 videotaped interviews with senior members of the congregation about their lives. We've heard stories about partying with Eleanor Roosevelt, marching with Martin Luther King Jr., growing up during the Depression, Holocaust survival and Haganah training in secret. The teens are delighted to recognize and greet past interviewees at services, and have paid shiva calls to the families of those they interviewed.

• "Storahtelling" with Hazzan Ayelet Piatigorsky (second Tuesday): So the Bar/Bat Mitzvah is in the past and so is Torah study, right? Wrong! Using the Storahtelling method, Hazzan Ayelet will be turning Torah into theater. Weaving traditional and contemporary midrash, her monthly sessions will explore the unheard voices in Torah. The sessions will culminate on May 19, 2012, in a Shabbat morning Storahtelling experience written and performed by the teen participants.

• "Do the Right Thing: Introduction to Jewish Ethics" with Rabbi Marc Margolius (third Tuesday): When we face large and small moral and ethical decisions, what can we look to for guidance, other than how we feel at the moment? Rabbi Marc will lead a monthly exploration of how we, as modern Jews, might approach personal and social ethical issues, including how we speak about and to others, when to be honest, capital punishment, abortion, and how generous to be with others.

• "A Touch Away" (Award Winning Israeli TV Series) with JFLL Director Mike Wikes (fourth Tuesday): "A Touch Away" is one of the most popular TV series in the history of Israeli television. Set in a suburb of Tel Aviv, the show tells the stories of Zorik a, non-religious Russian immigrant and Rochale, the daughter of an ultra-Orthodox family. The two live in the same building but a relationship is out of the question. Or is it? Led by JFLL Director, Mike Wikes, we'll screen one episode each week and discuss how the show informs us about life in Israel and the life of Jewish teens wherever they may live.