Jewish Community Partners

As part of its expanded Community Relations strategy to address rising antisemitism, Memphis Jewish Federation recently launched its Student to Student initiative, which educates high school students across the greater Memphis area about Jews, Judaism, and Israel. Setting a strong foundation for the year ahead, diverse and passionate Jewish teens recently led two dynamic and meaningful presentations at Christian Brothers High School (CBHS) and White Station High School (WSHS).

Meredith Epstein, Ilan Lennon, and Abby Portnoy recently visited Mr. Dustin Perry’s Religion & Contemporary Issues class at CBHS, and Debi Cohen, Samuel First, Mia Katz, Maggie Olswanger, Rachel Sanderson, Jack Shanker, and Dotan Weiss presented to two of Mr. Kyle Tingley’s Facing History and Ourselves classes at WSHS.

Through lively, interactive discussions, the teens introduced 90 high school seniors to their lived experiences regarding Jewish faith and culture, Jewish history, and Israel. They shared their diverse family traditions, Shabbat and holiday observances, and B’nai Mitzvah preparations.  They offered deeply personal reflections, including experiences as descendants of Holocaust survivors or encounters with antisemitism.

While explaining Kashrut and how to identify kosher packaged foods, the presenters drew the various kosher supervisory symbols and answered numerous questions about food. Hebrew instruction also took place, with the teens writing on the board “Shalom,” “Sababa,” and several of their names in Hebrew.

The presentations sparked meaningful discussion and curiosity about Jewish faith and practice. At Christian Brothers, students were surprised to learn that Jews comprise less than 2% of the U.S. population and showed strong interest in Jewish history, in shared prayers in the Catholic and Jewish traditions, including Psalm 23, and in the meaning of visible symbols such as the Star of David, tzitzit, and kippot. At White Station, students were especially engaged by and sensitive toward the presenters’ experiences navigating Jewish identity in predominantly non-Jewish settings, as well as their daily practices and lifecycle events, including weddings and shiva.

The impact of the program to date is profound with 96% of students rating the presentation as highly engaging and informative. The vast majority said they knew very little about Judaism prior to the presentation. One participant reflected, “I learned that Jews mostly have the same upbringing as anyone else, so it doesn’t make sense why they are targeted so much.” And, in a validation of the peer-to-peer model, another student expressed appreciation for “learning about a new culture from the perspectives of people my age.”

Students highlighted learning details like “Hebrew books are read right to left” and “Jewish people have prayer books and light candles on Friday evening.” Perhaps most meaningfully, one student shared: “Not only did I learn new things, but I also learned that what I thought I knew about Jews was wrong. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to learn about Judaism and Jewish people.”

The program is also deeply impacting the presenters themselves, all of whom expressed enthusiasm about returning to the classroom for additional presentations. Ilan reflected, “Representing Judaism as a student has always felt like a responsibility, but sharing it with others—showing them who we are as a people—opened my eyes to the positive change I can create in the world.” Rachel and Debi appreciated the students’ “respectful and insightful questions” and the welcoming atmosphere. Jack added that the dialogue “gave me insight into how they think about their own religion, too.”

Student to Student is a nationally recognized program under the auspices of Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) that fosters understanding and confronts antisemitism through peer-to-peer connection. It currently operates in 40 cities across the U.S. If you would like to connect a local school with a Student to Student presentation, please contact Memphis Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Manager, Sara First at sfirst@jcpmemphis.org or 901-767-7100.