Said to Myself

Making Mensches 2.0

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ravhiorlow

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As someone who personally takes parenting seriously and professionally has the pleasure of working with Jewish camps, I can proudly say that I am in the business of making mensches.

Camp offers an ideal environment for character development.  To harness the potential of this, we created a periodic table back in 2014 to develop a common language for this holy work. This was met with a great deal of excitement and creative initiatives by many educators in camps, synagogue schools, and Jewish Day schools, and parents alike.

Inspired by their response and an amazing website on the Periodic Table on TedEd, we’re thrilled to announce an expanded, interactive website version of Making Mensches, a project of FJC’s Hiddur Initiative, made possible by The AVI CHAI Foundation, Jim Joseph Foundation, and the The Maimonides Fund.

Image result for ted ed periodic table

We developed this project to help people explore how to communicate each of these values through text, programs, and different media.  Like the process of actually making mensches, this tool will continually be in progress as a living resource bank.  We encourage you to help us grow this resource by sharing your programs, as well as text and media inspiration for these values.

 VIEW THE MAKING MENSCHES SITE! 

Like the original poster version of the table, there’s no wrong way to use this. We can’t wait to hear about the moments of intentional character development you create for your campers, staff, students, parents, board members, peers, and children!

If you have any questions or are open to sharing additional resources, please contact Teri McGuire at teri@jewishcamp.org. For other inquiries email me at hiorlow@gmail.com  . Happy Mensch-Making!

3 responses to “Making Mensches 2.0”

  1. gmitelman Avatar
    gmitelman

    Can we repost this on our site under our resources for “Science Education for Jewish Professionals”?

    ⁣– Founding Director, Sinai and Synapses c/o Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership 440 Park Ave. South, 4th Floor New York, NY 10016 646-853-4421 Facebook: http://facebook.com/sinaiandsynapses Twitter: @RabbiMitelman​

    Reply
  2. drcarenfeldman Avatar
    drcarenfeldman

    Really enjoyed. Just wrote a blog on teaching
    character strengths at my school – happy to
    share. Caren

    Sent from my iPhone

    Reply
  3. yigdal Avatar
    yigdal

    Woohoo! Now all we need is internet at camp!

    Sent from my iPhone

    Reply

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But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then erase me out of the book you have written.

~ Exodus 32:32

Said to Myself

About

My name is Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow. I have always had a deep love for the Jewish people and making the world a better place. It was while building community in the Former Soviet Union for YUSSR that I realized the transformative power of being a rabbi. After spending time learning in Israel, I moved to New York to be a charter student in Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the Open Orthodox Seminary. After graduating in 2004 until 2008 I served as the Rabbi and ran the program at St. Louis Hillel at Washington University. Now I have the great pleasure of thinking about how Judaism is seriously fun. In my mind I am up at camp every day in my work at the Foundation for Jewish Camp. My wife, Cantor Adina Frydman, and I are the proud parents of Yadid, Yishama, Emunah, and Libi.

Said to Myself

When my son Yadid was four years old he came home from daycare and reported to me that he got into trouble. He got put into timeout for throwing sand at another child. Yadid said,” Myself said to myself, I do not want to be in timeout. Myself said to my cry, I do not want to cry”. And with that we started a conversation about his conscious life. It seemed only fitting to continue that conversation with a blog with the same name.

אָמַרְתִּי אֲנִי בְּלִבִּי

My son spoke in the words of Ecclesiastes, “I said in my heart: ‘Come now, I will try you with mirth, and enjoy pleasure’; and, behold, this also was vanity.” (Kohelet 2:1) My mission is to model a life that is personally meaningful, universally relevant, and distinctly Jewish. I aspire to be frank and to speak of Torah in real life.

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