Ma'yan


Ma'yan Receives Record Number of Applications for RTI 2010-2011! September 7, 2010 The Ma’yan Research Training Internship (RTI) was created to generate new knowledge about the lives of Jewish teen girls, and to promote girls’ leadership within and beyond the Jewish community. Interns work with Ma’yan staff over the course of a year to study an issue relevant to Jewish teen girls. Our first cohort (2007) studied the attitudes and experiences of Jewish teen girls and our second cohort studied bat mitzvah (2008-2009). In October 2010, we will convene our third... Read more →

That's Not Fair! Opens to Rave Reviews June 10, 2010 That's Not Fair! --a performance by the Ma'yan Political Theater Apprentices -- opened Tuesday, April 13th and by all accounts it was a smash hit! Check out this review of the opening performance. Daring to go where few have gone before, eight NYC Jewish teen girls attempt to rouse you from your slumber with espionage, tiny chairs, Jewish history, a magical handbag and the bitter truth about race, class, and gender oppression! Prepare to be dazzled and agitated and inspired... Read more →

What we learned about the possibilities post-b'nai mitzvah December 3, 2009 At our Networking Workshop for Jewish Youth Professionals, “After the Big Day: Possibilities Post-B’nai Mitzvah”, a powerful triumvirate of youth-empowerment groups generously shared their projects, their ideas, and their philosophies. As Ma’yan’s mission directs us to do, we heard from the youth themselves about their experiences with their organizations, and were challenged to think bigger and broader about how we engage teens and about where the energy and ideas comes from for our work with... Read more →

Today I am a researcher. December 1, 2009 The Research Training Interns (RTI) are nine Jewish girls in New York metropolitan-area high schools who have served for the past year on a research team with Ma’yan staff, building research skills, examining the history and culture of the Bat Mitzvah, and conducting an original study of girls’ attitudes and experiences related to this milestone in Jewish life. Through an online survey of 11-15 year-old girls in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, that included demographic questions... Read more →

You are SO invited! November 3, 2009 A wholly modern invention, in less than a century the Bat Mitzvah has grown from a radical experiment to a nearly universal milestone in American Jewish life. What accounts for the rapid expansion of this ritual and its current popularity? How is Bat Mitzvah practiced today, and how does the experience shape the attitudes and identities of contemporary Jewish girls? The Ma'yan Research Training Interns (RTI's), a select group of nine Jewish girls in 10th-12th grade in the Tri-State area,... Read more →

Queering the Torah October 28, 2009 My sweetheart frequently reminds me that everyone is queer. She will point to a woman who chose as a teenager to be part of a beauty pageant in a lefty, hippy family where that kind of thing was frowned upon. Or the Jew whose Jewish identity does not rely on Torah, prayer, or Israel. Or the “straight” couple where the Dad stays at home and takes care of the kids while the wife goes out of the house to earn money. In Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible edited by Gregg... Read more →