By Mckinley Edelman
When I asked Miles Narva what his dreams are, he didn’t hesitate. “Well, I’m hoping to row in the Olympics in 2032, and then I’d also like to make veterinary care more affordable for pet owners, so hopefully then I’ll go to vet school.” Eleanor Hauser wasn’t as sure, and giggled nervously. “I’m planning to major in math or statistics, so I hope in five years I have a job and I’m happy!”
L to R: Sophia, Miles, and Eleanor on a recent R2B 11th and 12th grade trip to New York City
Miles and Eleanor—along with their classmate Sophia Van Praagh—are now high school seniors and have participated in our post-B’nai Mitzvah class, R2B (Reason To Be), since they were in 8th grade. I have the pleasure of spending Tuesday evenings with the Machon Micah teens, where we’ve explored an extraordinary range of topics: the golem, early Jewish American history, Jews in the comic book industry, pogroms in the Pale of Settlement, women spies in the Warsaw Ghetto, Mahmoud Khalil’s detainment, and more.
We share dinner from 6:30 to 7 p.m., catch up on what is going on in each other’s lives, and then we learn, seriously and thoughtfully, together.
When I started working at Temple Micah in 2021, we had twelve committed students enrolled in R2B. This year we have thirty-two.
On a recent Tuesday evening, before beginning a text study on Sarah, I sat down with Miles and Eleanor to reflect on what Micah has meant to them and how it feels to be on the brink of high school graduation.
Both have been at Micah as long as they can remember. Miles fondly shared that Micah taught him how to build friendships and that his bar mitzvah journey deepened his understanding of Hebrew and what the Torah “is actually about.”
He added, “R2B has really helped me learn about the Jewish people. You learn about the Holocaust in school, but here we get to learn about Jewish history from a Jewish perspective.”
Eleanor, who also serves as a teaching fellow in our Madrichim Leadership Program, echoed that sentiment. She said, “I’ve been coming to Micah since I was a toddler. I made a lot of friends here who I am still friends with.” She laughed and added, “and obviously I enjoy being at Micah, or I wouldn’t be here all the time!”
When I asked them what they enjoyed learning about most during their time in R2B, they both quickly shared that being here post October 7, 2023 left a big mark on them. “We could talk about stuff here that we didn’t feel comfortable talking about at school,” shared Eleanor. I am proud that Miles and Eleanor felt that they had an open space to ask questions in the midst of the war. If they can’t examine those feelings here at Temple Micah, where can they?
It is true that we spent much of the 2023-2024 school year discussing Israel and Gaza. I paused all of our pre-scheduled lessons and wrote four lessons on the chronological history of Israel, starting with Lech L’cha in Genesis and ending with modern day Israel. When we completed those lessons, the students asked for more, so we continued. I wrote a lesson on media literacy, and the following week I brought in a journalist via Zoom to talk to the kids about how to examine the media they are consuming.
I continued to keep them updated on the details of the of the war and gave them an in-depth account of my trip to Israel in February of 2023. I was repeatedly struck by our students’ ability to hold two difficult truths at once—to care deeply about Jewish safety and Israeli security, while maintaining a strong commitment and concern for Palestinian civilians. Their capacity for nuance, empathy, and thoughtful conversation serves as an example for all of us.
As this year began, and the war officially ended, I was excited to get back to some of the content I dreamt up for R2B years ago. We began with an engaging block on life cycle events. Over four weeks, our eighth and ninth graders adopted stuffed animals and guided them from baby naming ceremonies to putting on a full wedding ceremony in the sanctuary—chuppah included. Our tenth through twelfth graders learned the ritual pieces to each event, leading the Priestly Benediction at the baby namings, and even rewriting the sheva brachot for the wedding ceremony.
R2B is where Temple Micah teens go to ask questions about the world and their place in it. It is where they wrestle with Jewish text, history, ethics, and identity. It is where they learn not only what it means to be Jewish, but why it matters.
As Miles and Eleanor look towards what is next, I feel profound gratitude. Not just for their achievements, but for the young adults they have become: thoughtful, curious, compassionate Jews who know that their voices matter.
If you are looking for hope when it comes to the Jewish American future, you needn’t look farther than our own social hall on Tuesday evenings.
This article was originally featured in the Mar/Apr/May issue of the Vine.