Join the Federation’s Jewish Young Professionals and Jewish Community Relations Committee on Thursday, January 14 for an interactive and educational event exploring the Jewish imperative to act. Putting Our Values into Action: An Intergenerational Conversation will connect the multiple generations making up Jewish Ann Arbor, allowing participants to share and learn from one another. Through the magic of Zoom, participants from various generations will be broken out into different “rooms” and given a piece of Jewish text to study and discuss.
Text study is a favorite activity of Federation’s Jewish Young Professionals (JYP) group, and members of JYP will help lead the various group discussions. Sheira Cohen, a JYP Board member discussed her interest in helping plan an intergenerational event. “As a younger member of this community,” Cohen reflected, “I recognize there are a lot of life experiences that I don’t have yet and there is much to learn from talking with older members of the community. Likewise, there is much I can share with them. Through this event, we are aiming to bring our various views and experiences together by exploring Jewish text and discussing the ways Jewish values influence our actions.”
In addition to text study, Ann Arbor native, Rebecca Epstein will kick off the event by sharing how Judaism inspires her social activism, specifically around immigration rights. In 2018, Rebecca traveled as part of an Ann Arbor Delegation led by Rabbi Josh Whinston of Temple Beth Emeth to El Paso, Texas to protest the treatment of asylum seekers. In addition to this work, Rebecca is also a founding member of Bend the Arc, Ann Arbor Moral Minyan. “I saw Rebecca speak about her experience traveling to El Paso at Limmud Michigan 2019 and her story stayed with me,” shared Joelle Abramowitz, JYP Board President and Federation Board member. “When we started planning this event and discussing what we wanted to get out of it, which was highlighting the importance Judaism places upon action, I knew Rebecca would be the perfect speaker to illustrate the power individuals can have in making a difference.”
This event is free and open to the public. Visit the event page to register.