From 1923 to today, Prozdor teens create thriving community through Jewish learning. Students help design, choose, and engage in courses taught by master educators at Hebrew College and in the community. Courses range from history to Israel, arts to halacha, social justice to Tanakh, and much more. 2022-23 REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
ages 8th-12th Grade
location Sundays at Hebrew College, 9:30am-12:30pm (Hebrew and Judaics) or 10:40am-12:30pm (Judaics only) and in your community (various days)
Teens come to Prozdor for a chance to explore and study Jewish thought, practice, history, politics, social issues, arts, and social justice with teens from across the Boston region (in person) and across the country (online). Prozdor students join us from congregations of every affiliation and from none, bringing their many identities to form one pluralistic community where teens cultivate lifelong friendships and find many doors through which to access Jewish learning.
Prozdor courses are the next generation of Prozdor: courses designed with and driven by teen input, paired with master faculty and rabbinical student educators, and available at a time that works for your busy life. Teens may choose their courses from the full Prozdor menu offered at Hebrew College on Sunday mornings OR may form their own cohort of 7-15 friends from synagogue, youth group, camp, or day school days and choose a 5–9-week class series at a time that works for you. We’ll match you with an experienced educator. Course topics range from history to Israel, arts to halacha, social justice to Tanakh, and much more.
Teens engage in Prozdor in one of two ways:
The full Prozdor community experience on Sunday mornings at Hebrew College. Students may sign up a-la-carte for one or multiple courses or get priority access to choose all of their courses and teachers by signing up for the year.
Form your own cohort of 7-15 friends from synagogue, youth group, camp, or day school days and choose a 5–9-week class series at a time that works for you. We will match you with an excellent teen educator with expertise in that subject area.
Bridget Connor-Feldbaum, Director of Prozdor
“These past few years have been so hard for many teens. Both the pandemic and the social justice issues that we as a society grapple with so acutely seem to have a particularly profound effect on teens. It no longer works [for Jewish educators] to simply rely on a sense of tradition or obligation to motivate people to participate. We need to make the case for how Judaism actually helps individuals navigate life—how it can provide spiritual growth, intellectual growth, and a true sense of community. Teens need those things, just as we all do.”
We are a community of teen learning AND action. Prozdor students at Hebrew College engage in service work throughout the year, learn from renowned scholars and visiting speakers, discuss big questions as a community, celebrate holidays together, and gather for community time each Sunday morning.
Central to Our Mission are:
Excellence in teaching
Engaging in rigorous Judaic and Hebrew studies (in partnership with Teen Hebrew Institute) grounded in Jewish text, traditions, cultures, and creativity
Building a culture of menschlichkeit and a commitment to tikkun olam in our learning and daily actions
Welcoming a diverse Jewish teen community with many possible inroads to Jewish learning
Empowering teens to grow as leaders, listen resiliently, and engage bravely.
Curriculum and Faculty
Students have the power to choose the subjects that they wish to study. Traditional texts, history, Israel, philosophy, literature, Hebrew and the arts are just some areas that engage our students as they foster a genuine love of Jewish learning.
The faculty of Prozdor are as diverse as our students. Our teachers are Rabbis and Rabbinical students, professional educators, PhDs, librarians, Hebrew teachers, graduate students, philosophers, historians, artists, and more, and run the length of the denominational spectrum, from Orthodox to Humanistic Judaism. Their common denominator is their passion for teaching and learning in a pluralistic setting, their dedication to our students, and their willingness to foster meaningful connections with each and every one of our students.
Every year, we solicit student input to offer a catalog of interesting courses, presenting students with an unparalleled breadth of choices and depth of learning. Teens follow their own desires and interests to find their way through the landscape of Jewish learning. Students may take one course one trimester or many throughout the year.
Teens come to Prozdor for a chance to explore and study Jewish thought, practice, history, politics, social issues, arts, and social justice with teens from across the Boston region (in person) and across the country (online). Prozdor students join us from congregations of every affiliation and from none, bringing their many identities to form one pluralistic community where teens cultivate lifelong friendships and find many doors through which to access Jewish learning.