As you all know, I introduced a program this year called “Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!”  It is an amazing program designed for girls in 6th-12th grade, in order to help them navigate the very exciting and challenging adolescent years through a Jewish lens.  The girls I’ve been working with are in 9th grade.  We meet once a month on a Sunday for two hours, time that absolutely flies by as we eat, sing, and explore Jewish themes that relate to issues that come up for teenage girls.  Here are some examples:

-In the month of Adar I, we studied the story of Purim and Esther’s role in saving the Jewish people.  The issue of beauty figures prominently in the story, which lead us to a discussion and activity about ideals of beauty in our own culture, and how to counteract our cultural obsession with physical perfection.

-In the month of Adar II, we continued our exploration of Purim but from a different perspective.  Instead of focusing on our outer-selves, we discussed the parts of ourselves that we tend to keep hidden at different times.  Esther had to hide her Jewish identity to protect herself, just as we all assume various identities in different parts of our lives: sister, daughter, friend, athlete, student, etc.  After a really interesting discussion of how this identity-shifting affects us, we made plaster masks to symbolize the parts of ourselves that we show the world and the parts of ourselves that we reveal to only a few people.

This group has been a beautiful addition to my life at B’nai Tikvah.  The girls are a strong and fascinating group of young women, and I believe that their experience with Rosh Chodesh has deepened both their bonds with each other and their connection to their Jewish identities.  It is my goal to travel through the next few years of high school with them, helping them to tackle the different challenges that will arise as they mature through adolescence.

I share this with you because the program was created with the ideal of having more than one group happening at the same time at the synagogue.  As this year comes to a close, we are exploring whether or not to start up another group with some of the younger girls in our congregation.  I cannot lead both groups, but I can supervise a second group, so we’re looking for women who might be interested in being trained to be a group leader for “Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!”  There is a two-day training in San Francisco this summer, and you come away with incredible materials to lead each month’s group.  Please be in touch with me if you are interested in hearing more about the program or if you think your daughters would like to participate in this program.  I look forward to hearing from you!