The Parent-Teen Mental Health and Wellness Summit realized a dream: to transform our synagogue, Congregation Or Ami (Calabasas), into a truly safe place for teens, their unique emotional journeys, and the parents who love but are unsure of how to protect them.
Category: Congregation Or Ami
Teen Mental Health: Rolling Darkness into Light
Why did Congregation Or Ami focus our energies on creating a mental health and wellness retreat? Because today's teens are particularly stressed out, overwhelmed by anxiety, buffetted by the emotional turmoil engendered by social media. They crave support and relief.
Rabbinic Super Bowl Rivalry Plays Out on Facebook
Rabbi Paul Kipnes and Rabbi Joshua Aaronson have engaged in a spirited rivalry over Super Bowl LII between the Patriots and the Eagles. Winning Rabbi gets bragging rights, and delicious delicacies for their synagogue's oneg, and the loser donates tzedakah to URJ Camp Newman's #NewmanStrong fund.
Watching Adulthood Emerge on Capitol Hill
Adulthood arrives later than when we were kids. When young people take more real responsibility not only for their own lives, but also for those around them, and for their community, country and world, they begin to manifest a level of maturity that evidences approaching adulthood.
Breaking Bread with the Baha’i Community
When Jews and Baha’is sat down to break bread, the similarities were astounding and the discussions delicious.
Responding to the Ventura Fires with Shabbat Dinner for 120
How Congregation Or Ami Answered the Call to Feed and Care for a Temple Facing the Ventura Fires
Lifting the Veil of Silence about Mental Illness
It is time for us to lift the veil of silence around mental illness, talking about it and our mental health journeys. Especially in the Jewish community.
How My Synagogue Helped My Child Save Herself (in her Battle with Depression)
A mother speaks about her appreciation that the Congregation Or Ami and its rabbis offered deep support for their daughter on her battle with depression.
Confessions from the Edge of a Cliff: My Teen Mental Health Journey
Teen Dani, an 11th grader, shared her mental health journey (through depression) to an overflowing synagogue on Yom Kippur.
That Time I had it Out with God
The mother died four days after her daughter became Bat Mitzvah. And then I had it out with God.
Addressing Homelessness: One Synagogue’s Journey to Justice
47,000 people are living homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. The Bible mandates we "give shelter to the homeless" (Isaiah58:7). A Reform Jewish congregation with a long history of taking on troublesome social justice issues. Measure H, a ballot measure designed to end homelessness, is endorsed by both democratic and republican leaders.
At the local Mosque: Sharing Love with our Muslim Neighbors
Holding signs of support, we Jews gathered at the local Muslim mosque as part of an interfaith group of the faithful and other community leaders.
Delivering Sufganiot to the Whole Congregation: Why We Do It
Why do we spend a Sunday morning just before Chanukah driving all over the San Fernando and Conejo Valleys delivering boxes of sufganiot to every Congregation Or Ami household?
Celebrating the Risk of Caring: Childspree
Child spree: They were at-risk youth, searching for something new and not risky, to clothe them and keep them warm.
We were comfortable suburbanites, seeking something meaningful and momentous, to clothe us in compassion and warm us from the chill of indifference.
When the Lights Went Out during the Bar Mitzvah
Adin becomes a Bar Mitzvah by candlelight when the power went out. And the lessons learned were powerful.