mirror. an organization that brings gardens to summer camps. welcome, david and arthur. what is the slingshot award? >> thank you for the opportunity. >> over the last decade, there has been this explosion of knew jewish entrepreneurial activities. particularly the younger generation looking for ways to find meaning in jewish lives and building the jewish community. the slingshot is an attempt to honor the best of the best of those. it is a message to people who are looking to invest in the cutting edge of the jewish community. here are 50 organizations that are worth your time, that really represents the future and the vibrancy of the jewish community. i think, the wider bridge, was selected for this because we have taken two of the most pressing issues in the jewish community, meaningful engagement with israel, and the inclusion of sexual and transgendered people and brought them into one platform. israel is also our homeland. and we celebrate what the communities have accomplished over the last 25 years. we also want to be a part of ensuring that israel continues to be a welcoming and good place for those people. >> what makes slingshot unique is that it is composed of young philanthropists. young adults between 18 and 28, who pulled together funds and distributed them among the organizations and the slingshot. so it has really been great to provide access to young philanthropists who are wanting to give charitably. i think, a mirror, was selected because we are engaging in summer camps that allow these young adults -- to participate, either as campers or counselors, or have friends. to participate in that. so it resonates with them. we are dealing with gardens also. and this generation is particularly intentional about the issues of climate change and healthy eating. and future illnesses, that the country might have, if we don't rectify them and intervene. >> when i was introducing david, your organization, a mirror, you said you bring gardens to summer camps. that is not the best word to use. you say that you gail -- you scale gardens for summer camp. what does, mirror, do? >> the age-old the issues with camps is that, there is a difficulty with staff retention. staff, for one, two or three years. so in efforts to have a garden initiatives that last for 20, 30 or 40 years, kids are struggling in that regard. so what a mirror does, is it recruits college kids from universities across the country. and we train them to be garden educators at camps. so we recruit them, train them and dispatch them to these camps across the country, building a farming core. and the mission is to inspire and empower you to serve others. and we are doing this by cultivating a generation of farmers that are teaching thousands of kids at camp each summer. >> that is fascinating. does a mirror bring its own curriculum? >> absolutely. we are essentially enabling camps, that have not had the opportunities to have long-term sustainable garden programs, to have that. >> wonderful. arthur, what are some of the latest developments with, a wider bridge? >> our mission is to inspire a connection with israel. and to build a bridge between the communities of israel and north america. during the year, we bring israeli leaders and activists all over the u.s. to speak and perform and talk about work and give the audience a taste of israeli life. we run an online magazine that is updated every day that is in inspiration of israel and north america. what i want to talk about the most is the trip we lead. every year we bring a group to israel. we just came back several weeks ago. and here is a photo of the group. we're really proud of the diversity that we brought on this trip. we had 22 people. it was the youngest group we have had. the most diverse. we had five transgender folks. the stories are really diverse. but the theme that comes out is that lgbt jews want a central home in their life. they want to be in the place where they can be all who they are. they want to be jewish and lgbt at once. and there is such a great joy when people see that they can get a glimpse of that home us in israel. >> david and arthur, we are off to a wonderful start. please join us in one moment when we return to mosaic. ,,,,,,,, good morning and welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your host. we are in the middle of a conversation with david fox, who is the ceo of an organization called, a mirror, which scales garden -- gardens to summer camps. and the executive director of, a wider bridge, an organization that builds bridges between lgbt communities. welcome back, david and arthur. it seems that a lot of what is common between you is not just the innovation, but the ways in which you create a point of access to groups that are otherwise seeming to be of a particular niche. people who are at summer camps, interested in gardening. and lgbt jewish communities and israel. i'm wondering how you think about that issue from the perspective of your organizational structures and how you offer what you do. >> i started, a wider bridge, because i had a sense that israel had become the country we were trying to avoid. and if we talked about it at all, it was an argument. it seemed it was too important and too essential to jewish life, for us to avoid it or argue about it. i knew lgbt people that wanted something deeper. they wanted a deeper connection. and i also knew a vibrant exciting lgbt community in israel, and how much that could be gained by working more closely together. >> interesting. and with you, david with, a mirror? >> there is a need and them up -- and desire among jewish communities to have great community gardens. and each community would interact with the garden differently. so the way we view this, is that we are enabling these communities to access that garden space. similarly, their how arthur is creating access to israel, in a different way, i think we are providing access to the garden into that space. in knew innovative ways. >> it seems that parts of what each of you are doing and what innovation looks like -- how to engage people in this particular case, in there jewish identity development, and having points of access -- and how to be part of a peoplehood, in the most literal sense, israel is both a metaphor, real and representational on many different levels, for literal jewish peoplehood. and in addition to that, the ways in which we express the judaism has to do with how we relate to the environment, and how we relate to the world around us. and how we engage those things in our world. there is really nothing more basic than the relationship with the land, to the earth. and i am wondering, what kind of changes do you see in the folks that you think will be successful in bringing through your front door? what do you see as part of the identification changes that happen when somebody engages a project at a somber -- a summer camp? what do you see when somebody walks through a, a wider bridges, door? >> there are two groups of people i like to talk about. one is the campers. they interact with the proper up -- with the gardening program. and they get an awareness. they get an enlightenment that they otherwise didn't have. and we have the farmer, the college kid, who is running the program. and they are jolted into new faces of their life, where they are recommitted to pursuing work in the social justice field. pursuing work in public policy or education. after running and leading the program at a can. we are impacting the kids at the camp, who go through the curriculum and participate in the program. but also, at the same time, it is the farmer, that really is impacted profoundly. >> also, we have just a minute. what would you say about people who come to the door of, a wider bridge? >> let me share one story. on the last are to israel, there was a man named michael. he was 28 years old. this was his second trip to israel. he had been once before when he was 17. while he was there, he came out and his family encouraged him. so he left israel with a different identity. here he was 10 years later as part of a group of people coming together to celebrate their jewish identities together. it was part of his journey back into a sense of wholeness, a sense of, that there is a place for him in the jewish world and in israel. i think it is that sense of completeness that we are bringing to the participants. a sense that, there is a role for them as lgbt jews. but also that we are connected to the whole jewish peoplehood. our values our inclusion and engagement. but also, all of israel is responsible for one another. and i think in israel, we've -- we see this in the deepest manifestation of jewish people. >> are for -- arthur and david, thank you. we are going to say goodbye to david and arthur. and please join us in just a moment back on mosaic. ,, good morning and welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss. honored to be your host this morning. we are in the middle of a wonderful conversation about innovation in the jewish community and how organizations involved vibrant young people in the community at large. we're joined by david, director of special needs and program services at jewish learning works, based in san francisco. but serve the entire west bay area. and sara, who is the executive director of an organization called, keva, that creates networks of jewish study groups throughout the bay area. welcomes there and david. >> thank you for having us. >> sara, what does kevin do? what is this all about? >> it is a grassroots jewish learning movement. the main activity right now is -- we try to empower people, who are interested in starting their own jewish study groups, on the topic of their choice. and we do that by providing them access to really high quality jewish educators. and a lot of administrative support, so that they can create an ongoing regular jewish study group that meets in their home or office, or synagogue, or other jewish organization on a regular basis. >> david, your department? >> in the special needs department, we put everything under this big umbrella. which has a number of different programs. one of which is the regional capacity building initiative, where we work with synagogues, preschools, day schools, within the given region. to kind of build their capacity for kids with special needs. and really open up those communities to families with kids with special needs, in a more inclusive warm way. and also some other various opportunities for treating in inclusive education throughout the bay area. >> you are also among the recipients of the national, slingshot award. from your perspective, what makes each of your organizational structures and offerings innovative and unique to the community? >> thanks for asking. there are two things that i think are unique about what keva does. the first, is that our organization is based around the premise that, for most jews, it is really hard to have access for a high-quality jewish educator who really knows classical jewish text -- who is familiar, and knows how to make them compelling to a contemporary audience. we spent a lot of time building a network of -- who we think are the best most dynamic and charismatic educators in the bay area. and then deploying them. so the second thing that is quite unique about our motto, is that we have a very grassroots approach. so unlike most adult educational organizations, that sponsor classes and run classes -- and whoever is interested can just show up, we really start with people and their own networks. we try to empower them to create their own learning communities. >> interesting. so you start with the learners themselves and go from there? >> exactly. >> interesting. and david? >> one of the things that is pretty unique about the regional programs especially is that it really is kind of an ecosystem approach, to inclusive -- this education in the community. we sort of have the feeling that all of these kids, who start out in preschool and go to a religious school or day school, are all the same kids with a lot of the same families. so the regional programs really take that approach. we work with all of the institutions in the region to help them combine their resources and be able to serve that community as a whole. we also partner very closely with federations, which is community federations that there are san francisco-based. that is another unique partnership. because we put things on together. although we take primary responsibility for the programming, they are involved in what we do. as far as helping us get our programming out to the community. and it is this idea of everybody working together across denominations and across institutions. i think it is a really wonderful aspect of the program. and i would also say that, the specialty family camp program, that just doesn't really exist in other places. that is for kids with usually severe special needs, where they can come and be jewish and be together and get support from each other. from other people who know what they go through. it really provides a strong home away from home for them. which is, i think great. >> we will take a quick break and come back to mosaic in just one moment. welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss. honored to be your host. in the middle of a wonderful conversation with sara, who is executive director of an organization called keva, that is an organization that creates networks of jewish learning throughout the bay area. and david, who is the director of special needs and program services at janet -- at jewish learning works. welcome back. what do each of you see within your context, about why jewish education -- why is education the doorway to go through for the community? >> i think that education is a really powerful antidote to what i would call, internalized anti-semitism come a which is a sense that most of us have, that judaism is not that smart or interesting or relevant. that it is sort of this tag, identity tag, that we carry with us. and we don't exactly know what it means or why. i think there is a sense of, lack of disconnect, with that identity. part of what happens, when you start learning on your own, is there is a wonderful sense of engagement and empowerment. and really, of ownership. that, this is mine. this is my tradition. and it is flexible. it is playful. it is complicated. i think that once people enter into that, it has a really powerful and transformative impact on their own identity as jews. >> david, what would you say? >> i think that education and educational environments, whether they are formal -- like say a synagogue, or informal, at a summer camp, often provides an entrie for the jewish community -- and the family of course. education is core to everything that we, the people, stanford. i think that what has happened within the special needs community, is that for a long time, people that had families with kids with special needs have felt like they are not a part of that. mostly because synagogues and other institutions didn't previously have the capacity to serve them, the knowledge of how to do it. they felt like there was no place for them in the educational system. if that is the case, i think families feel a strong missing connection to their people. i want to think that we can bring education to all of the jews, regardless of learning challenges or disabilities of any kind. which -- once you have that at the core, everything can grow from there. whether that is going to be permits were going away to summer camp, and having a lovely garden experience. all of those experiences -- come back to education and creating a good strong jewish identity. >> i'm reminded that judaism at its core has this assumption that everybody learns -- no matter how you learn. and so whether you are in a category that education categorizes as -- a special needs, all the way through somebody who might already be a natural learner, with reading a text, like a bible story, and engaging in that framework, that judaism says, everybody learns and everybody in some way, has the right to the access of learning about our traditions. it seems to me that, you represent important spectrums of that trajectory, for the sake of really the continuation of the community at large. >> yes. i think that for us, we feel like once they are engaged with learning, then you feel empowered to take ownership of all other aspects of your religious life. so it is hard to feel like, lighting candles is that meaningful. but if you are learning about, where historically that tradition came from, and what the logically, should the some allies, suddenly it is a rich activity. >> i think that is part of it. and having access to those traditions -- not just the reasons behind them, but access to participating in the worldwide community of folks that do the same things that you do. that is the birthright really. and our responsibility to make sure everybody has access to it. >> we have just a few seconds left. if somebody wants to access each of your respective organizational structures, how do they contact keva? >> it is easy. go to kevah.org. out -- all the information is there to start the groups. please contact us. we have groups all over the bay area. >> for us it is jewish learning works.org. and when you are on the website, you can go to the section that is for families or for educators. and look at special needs. >> david and sara, thanks so much. we hope there is more interest to contact you both about this. thank you so much. 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[ female announcer ] try new pillsbury heat-n-go mini pancakes. for ovnights can feel califolong and lonely.dren, i miss my sister. i miss my old school. i miss my room. i don't want special treatment. i just wanna feel normal. to help, sleep train is collecting pajamas for foster children, big and small. bring your gift to any sleep train, and help make a foster child's night a little cozier. not everyone can be a foster parent, but anyone can help a foster child. welcome to bay sunday. i'm your host frank mallicoat. good to have you with that. we begin with the weekly pitch. if you have a show idea, we would love to hear from you. go to the facebook page. facebook.com/bay sunday. hopefully we can hook up. >> showtime now, more focused, less stress. a sense of calmness. how would you like to incorporate that into your life? our next guest has a plan by integrating mindfulness into education and life. the benefits are limitless. he is a program director of, mindful school, giving children a inner compass to guide them through life. let's say high to chris mckillop. >> thank you for having me. >> tell us about mindfulness. it is a big word. what do you mean by that? >>