“Building
houses for the homeless in Portland, Oregon sounds like a great way to teach
teens from Russian speaking families about tikkun olam,” thought Jookender
Executive Director Sasha Grebenyuk when she learned of the opportunity to partner
with Portland-based nonprofit Tivnu: Building Justice. The Jookender and Tivnu
partnership made sense considering the organizations’ similar missions:
Engaging social-justice oriented teens in hands-on, interactive learning from a
Jewish perspective. So, Sasha said yes.
In
Portland, Executive Director Steven Eisenbach-Budner was thrilled by Tivnu’s
first partnership with a New England nonprofit. Fueled by their shared passion
for engaging teens in social justice pursuits, Sasha and Steve took less than
six months to plan a robust four-day pilot program. Planning
was easy once both Executive Directors realized they shared the common
objective of engaging, energizing, and enlightening teens. In late August 2019, 11 teens and two adult chaperones
(parents of participating teens) from Boston area Russian
speaking families made the transcontinental journey to Portland.
Four
days later, the unique partnership stimulated educational and engagement benefits
that exceeded everyone’s expectations. “My experiences in Portland were
eye-opening,” said Gal Goldfain, one of 11 students in the Jookender delegation.
“Words can’t describe how much I learned and gained.”
Based
in Portland, Tivnu—the Hebrew word means “building”—is a nonprofit organization
that designs and delivers “gap year” programs for Jewish teens in a city that ranks among America’s top 10 nationally for rate of homelessness. While Portland’s Jewish community of some 35,000
is about 15% of Boston’s (227,000 in the metro area), each city has a vibrant Jewish
nonprofit ecosystem.
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| Hands-on building 'tiny houses' |
Steve founded Tivnu: Building
Justice in 2012 to enable Portland Jews to integrate their Jewish identities
with their commitments to create communities in which the basic needs of all
people are met. One of Tivnu’s primary goals is addressing Portland’s chronic
homeless problem.
Jookender’s mission similarly draws from Jewish ethics and
values to teach and demonstrate Jewish values and offer programs that help
others find their way to the broader Jewish community. Like Tivnu, Jookender is
relentlessly inclusive.
Explaining Tivnu’s mission, Steve
says, “We act from the conviction that housing is a human right and a
human need. Access to housing is a cornerstone for a stable life and
it’s linked to issues such as food security, environmental justice, and the
overall health of neighborhoods and communities.”
These are fundamentally
Jewish issues, he emphasizes: “We work with others to bring forth tikkun
olam (ed. note: In Jewish
teachings, tikkun olam means any activity that improves the world,
bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was created). We create opportunities for Jewish youth to
engage in social justice work not just as individuals, but as representatives
of the Jewish community in partnership with other communities.”
Energetic,
resourceful, and committed to evangelizing tikkun olam, Steve was raised in an affordable housing complex in
New York City. “I know firsthand the centrality of housing to family and
community stability and cohesion,” he says. A builder by trade, Steve is as
zealous about Tivnu’s mission as he is generous with Jewish Carpenter jokes.
Typically,
Tivnu’s Gap Year program
is nine months of hands-on social justice engagement in which pre-college
Jewish teens explore the bonds between Jewish life and social justice while
working with and in Portland’s cutting-edge grassroots organizations, Steve
explained. “Like most youth today, Jewish youth are increasingly aware of and
concerned about social justice
issues. Tivnu puts their awareness and concern into action.”
Tivnu was referred to Jookender by Boston-based Combined Jewish
Philanthropies (CJP), which funded most of the program through an unrestricted
grant to Jookender. The partnership was also supported by The Jewish Education Project, with generous
funding from the Genesis Philanthropy Group.
“We
planned the four-day pilot to start, rather than commit to
Tivnu’s full gap year program,” said Sasha. Of the fifty students who applied, Jookender
selected 11. The program—which combined travel, hands-on working experiences,
and Jewish learning related to Tivnu’s work in Portland communities—cost Jookender
$10,000 for the 11 student participants. Two adults—parents of participating
students—chaperoned the group.
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| Building "Tikkun Olam" |
The Jookender delegation’s four days in Portland were carefully
choreographed to expose participants to as many new experiences as possible:
Teens met with local homeless people, toured “tiny house” villages in Portland
(Hazelnut Grove and Dignity Village), helped build green, sustainable “tiny
houses” at the Portland Jewish Community Center, worked at a farm to produce
goods for “tiny house” villages, and sampled distinctive Pacific Northwest
Latino dishes at the popular Portland Mercado “food cart pod” (a gathering of
10 or more food carts, unique to Portland).
“The exposure to homelessness
resonated deeply among delegation members—both teens and chaperones,” reflected
Sasha. “Remember, the older generations—the people who were raised in the
former Soviet Union—aren’t as comfortable as their kids talking about social
justice issues like homelessness. Growing up in Communist societies they didn’t
see homelessness. Another benefit of the pilot program was that it helps the
Russian speaking Jewish community become more familiar with social justice
issues particularly as they intersect with Judaism and philanthropy.”
Steve echoes Sasha’s sentiment on the pilot
program’s unanticipated cultural learning component: “The visit was somewhat
challenging from a cultural perspective, because most American Jews who’ve
grown up in liberal households have some intellectual understanding of the
reasons behind homelessness. The RSJ (Russian speaking Jewish) community
approaches some of these issues from a different cultural perspective.
"From the
survey results, we know that the teens on this tour were less familiar with
issues related to homelessness, so they learned more. They became open to
issues related to homelessness and developed some empathy and respect for
people who are experiencing homelessness."
Though the Tivnu-Jookender pilot program was short in duration,
testimonials from program participants indicate it was long on inspiration. More
than 90% of respondents to a post-trip survey said they’d return to this or a similar program:
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| Jookender group enjoys a rare relaxing moment |
- “I learned a lot of interesting new things about homelessness. I didn’t know the different ways that people could become homeless including being sick and having to pay all their money to get better. I also learned about how Portland treats homeless people and the different laws Oregon has for them.”
- “I talked with a lot of people who are houseless. I was also presented with the term houseless by a houseless female whose nails I painted as part of the night strike. I really enjoyed the people and the little community we made. I enjoyed painting and building the tiny houses.”
- “I enjoyed this experience but I think it should have lasted longer. The people from Tivnu were very kind. The work we did was interesting and engaging.”
- “I now understand how fortunate I am to live in a home and now I want to help others.”
Describing the Jookender delegation as
hard workers and fast learners, Steve says: “Most of them enjoyed the work.
They certainly worked hard, but I’m not surprised given what I know about
Russian speaking Jewish families. They stayed focused and were proud of what
they accomplished.” He added, “next time, we’ll relate the learning experiences
to their culture and their families’ histories of immigration.”
Jookender
delegation members overwhelmingly expressed their desire to continue helping
communities locally, nationally, and internationally—a yearning Sasha is
positioning Jookender to fulfill. Sasha sees the success of the pilot program
as a launching pad for increased engagement by American teens with underserved
or underprivileged communities in Israel. “We know there are communities in
Israel who could benefit from our ready, willing, and motivated teen workforce;
in addition to offering help to local organizations, we’re seeking to partner
with Russian community organizations in Israel.”
* * *
Overcoming
Cultural Barriers to Philanthropy & Education in RSJ Communities
Gap Years are atypical among the RSJ community because of the lingering fears among parents that a missed year could set a child back irreversibly. Sasha attributes the higher focus on completing education to memories of the USSR’s 5% quota for Jews to go to University.
“Our kids growing up now thankfully don’t have that sense of urgency, but the parents are afraid that if their kids take a gap year they won’t be as motivated to go to University and therefore, in the parents’ minds, they’ll be less likely to succeed.”
Sasha's own Gap Year heavily influences the value she places on these formative--and transformative--experiences. “I went to Israel and the experience affected me profoundly. Not only did I become more independent, but I also learned a lot about Israeli culture, history, and lifestyles. For certain kids, Gap Years can be transformational.”
The Tivnu-Jookender pilot program was especially effective because it overcame some of the older generations’ reticence about non-traditional education, she explained. “Parents who grew up thinking that the best education is in an actual classroom saw the impact of out-of-classroom education on their kids. They see how it’s increased their kids’ interest in education—especially Jewish education. We want our kids to be more involved in their communities and to experience different ways to help those communities. This is the kind of counterculture thinking Jookender brings to our programming.”
Because the philanthropic culture is new to the RSJ community, Sasha says organizations like Jookender face two challenges: The first is helping Russian speaking Jews understand the importance of philanthropy; the second is instilling a “culture of philanthropy” among a demographic for whom charitable giving remains unfamiliar. “The older generation recognizes that we have some old-fashioned ideas about community engagement, philanthropy, and even education. We don’t want to pass those ideas to our kids.”
