Summer Program

The impact lasts a lifetime

One summer. Twelve days. Impact for a lifetime.

Roll up your sleeves for real, hands-on work, and help build up homeless tiny house communities. Dig into an urban agriculture project. Join your friends to revive native habitat in one of America’s coolest cities. Spend time with seniors, children, and at a local food bank.

All the while, we’ll keep our work connected to the big-picture questions of opportunity and social change. We’ll learn from our larger community and listen to stories that we don’t always get to hear as we move toward a broader form of justice that includes us all.

Our teachers, artists, and activists will give you plenty to think about in the field trips, film screenings, and discussions. Nothing is abstract with Tivnu: Building Justice: what we do for the world always goes hand-in-hand with examining the reasons we do it. Communal responsibility as an ancient and contemporary Jewish ideal is on the table, and lessons our own community has learned facing hunger and hardship.

That will give you plenty to talk about as you hike to Multnomah Falls, tie up your skates at the vintage amusement park, or gear up for the white water on the Deschutes River. (Although maybe you should save the heavy discussion until after the fast part on the river!)

Plus, spirited celebrations of Shabbat at a retreat center in the country, a few days in Seattle, and great sightseeing in America’s weirdest, wonderful-est city.

Tivnu: Building Justice in partnership with BJEPhoenix. Join us this summer and we’ll show you why we call it, “tools to build a better world.”

*Earn 35+ service hours

DATES:June 23 – July 4, 2022

COST: $2900 (airfair to Portland not included)

DURATION: 12 Days

GRADES: Rising 9 – 12th Graders

Sample Daily Schedule
8:00-9:00 am Breakfast, pack a lunch, and morning announcements – please be ready to go straight from breakfast
9:00-9:45 am Transportation and introductions to volunteer sites; work might include building, recovering building materials, demolition, painting, farming, packing food at a food bank, interacting with elders
9:45 am-2:00 pm Work project at site, including lunch break, short discussion about how this project relates to bigger picture, clean-up
2:00-3:30 pm Time at home base to shower, relax
3:30-5:30 pm Afternoon activities include: Tour of Dignity Village, a tiny home community of people without permanent shelter, film screening and discussion with filmmakers from Outside the Frame, which aims to change the way homeless and marginalized youth see and are seen through film, etc.
5:45-6:40 pm Dinner and evening announcements at the hotel
6:45-9:15 pm Evening activities include: roller skating at Oaks Park, visit to Powell’s Books, waterfall hike at Columbia River Gorge, etc.
9:15-10:15 pm Free time at the home base

Have questions about the summer program?

Watch the summer program info session recording or be in touch with us!

Summer Program Interest Form

Teen's Name(Required)
Parent Name(Required)
Parent Email(Required)
Teen Email
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.