Judy Neuman Takes a Deep Dive into Experiential Jewish Education

Have you explored experiential Jewish education opportunities for your kids? Take a listen to the wonderful Samis Trustee Judy Neuman explain how whether it’s Jewish camp, teen Israel experiences or youth programs, experiential education has the power to transform and inspire our Jewish youth!

Transcript

Judy:
Experiential education is really the opportunity to delve in. It’s an immersive experience, it’s a thoughtful experience. It’s sometimes a surprise experience. You learn and thrive through experiencing moments, places, people. That’s what makes it experiential.

Question: What are the benefits of camp?

Judy:
Camp is joy, it’s fun, it’s Jewish, it’s friendship. The kids are getting that byproduct of their Jewish self when they’re on the lake, you know, when they’re having Shabbat dinner together, when they’re having Havdalah, when they’re arm and arm.

Question: How does the Israel experience impact teens?

Judy:
They connect not only to the land and the place and the experience through hiking, through biking, through going down the Jordan River, you know, whatever it might be. They’re also making deep and meaningful connections to each other. And in the perfect world, they bring those relationships back to our community and continue to feel this enormous sense of pride and connection to their own Judaism and the land of Israel as well.

Question: What role does Samis play now and in the future?

Judy:
Samis has a really important vision and mission. We’re looking at kids, that’s where we’ve made our mark, right, from birth through college now. Going forward, it’s even a more exciting time because we’ve really reevaluated how we want to spend money and where we want to spend money and why we want to spend money. And so our grants will be deeper, wider and have more impact.