Growing up in Israel when I was younger, and later, attending Jewish Day Schools, I am rarely exposed to anything but my sheltered white, upper-middle class, Jewish world. My parents purposely chose to live in Cambridge when we moved to the Boston area, as opposed to Newton, Brookline, or Sharon, where most of the Jews live. They wanted to give me and my younger brothers the chance to interact with other types of people. They wanted us to have a more diverse view of the world. However, I never hang out with the neighbors. I have my own social life.

What I learned from two years of volunteering for the Check-In Program at AIDS Action Committee

A high-school Junior in Palo Alto, Calif. explains why doing manual labor in a third-world country was one of the best experiences of his entire life

With so many charities that need our help, how do we possibly choose who to give to? Well, below are four suggestions that come to us straight from Jewish teens that have done their homework.

Teen Sophie S. examines whether we donate money because we're too lazy, scared, or greedy to do the real best thing.

I arrived at my base camp in Colorado with an open mind and eagerness on the first day of a summer program called PanimWorks, a two-week summer program that brings Jewish teens into direct contact with Native Americans through community service. Participants do work to help improve the conditions and lives of their hosts and learn about Native American culture. The experience is framed through the lenses of Jewish values, social activism and advocacy. 

After a long summer apart, all my friends and I gathered to share stories about our experiences from around the country and world. When one friend asked me what my favorite part of this summer was, I thought to myself, “Where should I start!?” Was it meeting and becoming close friends with 56 Jewish teens from all different political, religious and geographical perspectives? Or living in the George Washington University dorms right in the heart of Washington, D.C., and having the time and freedom to explore our country's capital?

This past March, I had the incredible opportunity to travel with American Jewish World Service (AJWS) to a poor village in El Salvador. The group I went with consisted of eight of my fellow peers, my school's headmaster and founder, Rabbi Danny Lehmann, as well as another faculty member. The villagers live in small homes for the most part consisting of three rooms: a kitchen, often outside of the house, an eating/sleeping area and a bedroom. Life in Ciudad Romero is far from easy, but the people have an extraordinary way of finding happiness in everyday life.