Or Tzedek’s Winter Leadership Retreat

Last week, 15 amazing high school and college students came together as a community to visit community partner organizations, learn leadership and organizing skills, explore Chicago, and take action. These youth leaders, activists and organizers gathered for the first annual Winter Leadership Retreat, created by Or Tzedek, JCUA’s Jewish teen institute for social justice. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Workshops, actions and fun, oh my!

By Rebecca Katz
Winter Leadership Retreat Program Director  

What’s in a mission?

Or Tzedek leadership member Sophie Leff planned our first workshop of the retreat. To get to the bottom of what it means to be a part of JCUA’s Jewish teen institute for social justice, Sophie guided us in the deconstruction of the words that comprise the organization’s name. Using Post-it notes, we wrote our own definitions for “Jewish,” “Council,” “Urban,” and “Affairs.” Through this exercise, we spoke about JCUA’s mission: to combat poverty, racism and anti-Semitism in partnership with Chicago’s diverse communities.

Or Tzedek’s Winter Leadership Retreat: Dec. 28-30

In 1903, Rose Schneiderman organized women garment workers in her factory to charter the first women’s local branch of her union. She was 21 when she became a leader in the fight for workers’ rights.

In 1960, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, David Richmond, and Ezell Blair, Jr. ordered food at a “Whites only” Woolworth’s Counter and refused to leave when they were not served. They were college freshman when they engineered the first sit-in of the civil rights movement.

In 1966, David A. Reed, David P. O’Brien, David Benson, and John A. Phillips burned their draft cards. They were 19, 19, 18, and 22, respectively, when they took a public stand against the Vietnam War.

How will teens change the world in 2011?