In Rabbi Leor Sinai’s recent piece in eJewishPhilanthropy about mifgashim (encounters) for teens across Israel and in Jewish communities throughout America, he advocates for more symmetric preparation on the American side for these youth encounters (“Approaching encounters with curiosity and not with judgement,” July 9). 

The success of teen encounters is indeed critical for the future of the Jewish people. The interpersonal experience of getting to know their peers, even without any preparation and particularly for those less likely to purse an immersive Jewish education program, can be the ultimate path to Jewish engagement and therefore an inseparable part of Jewish education.

Courtesy

One2One participants Zev and Elad connecting over Zoom.

Over the last five years, the One2One initiative at ENTER: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance has organized approximately 30,000 one-on-one meetings between teens in Israel and their peers across the Jewish world. ENTER pairs these participants through a match-based algorithm and provides them with suggested content for online engagements. The pre- and post-program research demonstrates that 92% of participants feel more knowledgeable about Jewish life in their partner’s country after the program. Perhaps even more importantly, 82% of participants report that they would like to stay in touch with their assigned partner. This data supports Rabbi Sinai’s argument that we must “prioritize relationship-building as the foundation for meaningful engagement.” 

One takeaway from One2One is that while one-on-one encounters can serve as a gateway to group mifgash experiences or an incentive to dive deeper into a more immersive, long-term Jewish program locally or internationally, these encounters are an invaluable stand-alone Jewish experience in their own right. The mifgash provides a comfortable environment for youth to naturally navigate differences themselves.

The one-on-one model has an educational advantage in fostering student autonomy. The adaptability and curiosity of youth, in a monitored and secure online space, enables learning about one another in ways that a guided, prepackaged — and possibly stereotype-based — training might stifle. The one-on-one experiences have allowed the teens to explore sensitive topics, and each side has learned many valuable insights about their peers. This year, 87% of the teens who participated in One2One from around the Jewish world reported that they are now more confident speaking about Israel with people who might be hostile to Israel. Of the Israeli participants, 70% said they are able to share with others a sense of what Jewish life outside Israel is like. 

Providing suggested topics for discussion can help teens navigate the complexity of the cultural differences as they journey through the series of encounters; but while the topics we provide (such as “The Jewish Calendar” or “Mutual Responsibility”) are helpful tools for the teens to reference during the One2One meetings, all of the content is optional. This is an important pedagogical factor that helps generate the framework of mutual respect for which Rabbi Sinai advocates. 

We are fortunate to live at a time when many experts in the field of Jewish peoplehood are engaged in the world of mifgashim that take place across different ages and formats, whether group or individual, online or in-person. Bringing together these diverse minds, along with current research, best practices and lessons from unfolding events, enables the field to collectively reflect on what truly works and how it can continue to scale up the educational impact of this work. 

Yael Rosen is the associate director of content and impact at ENTER: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance.