Through Teen JUST-US, a Social Justice Summer
By Kara Baskin for JewishBoston, published August 13, 2024
The program reaches thoughtful teens on the brink of adulthood, in that gray area between summer camp and full-time jobs.
Jewish teens who participate in Temple Israel’s Teen JUST-US program have a unique answer to the universal question: “What did you do this summer?” They can say: “I helped to change the world.””
The program is designed for socially conscious Jewish teenagers entering 11th and 12th grades, many of whom have aged out of summer camp and find themselves in a gray area between childhood and college.
They’re paired with local agencies (not necessarily Jewish) through on-the-ground work: This summer, teens made more than 20,000 medically tailored meals with Community Servings; worked with Discovering Justice to demystify the democratic process for first-time voters and raised more than $2,500 for sports-therapy nonprofit Doc Wayne through a basketball tournament, going door-to-door soliciting donations.
Amy Tananbaum launched the program in 2020 to fill a gap in Jewish public service for teenagers. Since its inception, CJP’s Jewish Teen Initiative has been proud to support the growth and success of the program.
“Amy acknowledged that kids drop off after their bar or bat mitzvahs. They have sports or other activities during the school year. She thought summer was a good opportunity to gather teens who maybe weren’t as engaged in their respective Jewish communities, or maybe didn’t even have a Jewish community they were involved in,” says teen program director Fallon Rubin. “She also recognized that a lot of teens don’t get internship opportunities until college, and if they do get internship opportunities or job opportunities, a lot of the time, it’s just filing paperwork.”
Not here: Teen JUST-US is hands-on—internships are less than 30% administrative work, and each participant receives a $1,000 stipend.
Temple Israel took over the program last year, with Tananbaum’s guidance. However, teens come from all over Greater Boston: This summer, just two of the participants belonged to the temple itself, Rubin says. The goal is to reach Jewish teens from various towns and synagogues; the uniting factor is simply a commitment to service and social justice…
The Teen Just-Us program is run by Temple Israel.