Resources for Group Leaders: Prayer for the New Month (2020-2024) Prayer for the New Month (mp3) Sound files for each of the months; Tips for Group Leaders: How To Create a Warm, Fun, and Sacred Space; Icebreakers/Active Games; Essence Booklet; Rosh Hodesh "Taste of" Session; On Loss & Learning - a guide for talking to…
Session 9: Closing: Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be able to. Reflect on how everyone has changed over the past year; Reflect on their experience in Rosh Hodesh over the past year; Feel proud to be in an all-female setting and to acknowledge the power, support, and potential of being in an…
Session 1: Practicing Self Compassion Objectives: Reconnect with other group members and share experiences from summer vacation Revisit group guidelines and revise, if needed, for the upcoming year
Session 8: Resist and Repair: Summary What with the March for Our Lives movement and the Women’s March, there are more and more examples of teens engaging in changemaking efforts today. Activism is beneficial for teens; psychologist, Lisa Damour says that teens wo participate in activism are able to develop professional skills, connect to social networks, and become more confident in…
Session 7: Sexualization and Objectification: Summary Many teen girls frequently come into contact with sexualization and objectification, from hyper-sexualized people in the media (advertisements, tv, films, video games, comic books and more), to cat calls, to institutional dress codes, to internalized pressure to be sexy. In this session, participants learn about the concept of sexualization and reflect…
Session 6: Pleasure & Consent: Summary In the first episode of the Netflix show, Big Mouth, Jessi comments that “puberty for boys is [portrayed as] the miracle of ejaculation and for girls, we’re just a yarn-ball of aching tubes.” This session puts a spotlight on the often disregarded topic of female pleasure. Participants will consider the messages they…
Session 5: Drugs, Partying, and Risk Taking: Summary Teens have, over the years, garnered the reputation for being impulsive and making bad decisions. However, modern researchers have found that teen risk-taking is largely motivated by teens’ desire to learn more about the world. In this session, teens will explore the risks they take in their lives, how they…
Session 4 – Achievement Culture: Summary Over recent years, the rates of stress and anxiety reported by teen girls have increased. Psychologist, Lisa Damour says “we put so much on girls’ plates and [have] taken nothing off. Girls are now unbelievably good students…incredibly successful…and yet we also expect that they will be agreeable and helpful to the people around…
Session 3 – Food: Summary In our Jewish lives, we are surrounded by food: from seders to simchas, Shabbat challah to the latke/hamentaschen debate (https://bit.ly/1NKC9Kp), food permeates Jewish holidays and celebrations. Even people who identify solely as “cultural” Jews have their culinary touchstone like bagels, pastrami, and halva. At the same time, many teens raised as girls receive conflicting messages about eating from family members and the media,…
Session 2 – Jewish Cultural and Spiritual Identity: Summary Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, one of the most important Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, wrote that there are many ways to be Jewish. And according to a recent Pew Study on Jewish identity, contemporary Jews connect to their religion in diverse ways, from observing Jewish law and being a…
