Always Growing Up: A Jewish Approach to Human Development

This participatory and experiential class will interlace a scientific understanding of adolescent development with life cycle Jewish rituals and texts to discuss and address questions -- for both teens and adults -- about who we are trying to become as we develop and age. We will reflect on Rae Simpson's Ten Tasks of Adolescent Development through the lens of our own experiences or those of the teens we know and then explore how ancient Jewish midrashim (interpretive stories) and life cycle rituals — like the b-mitzvah — can give us tools to navigate life's most tumultuous transitions. 

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Shuli Karkowsky is Chief Executive Officer at Moving Traditions (she/her/hers). Both Judaism and feminism have been core facets of her identity since birth; working at Moving Traditions has felt like coming home. Shuli has extensive experience in non-profit management, including at legacy institutions like UJA-Federation of New York and innovative start-ups like 70 Faces Media and Hazon. She joined the nonprofit world after litigating at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Shuli graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland and from Harvard Law School. Shuli is a notoriously voracious reader and eater, consuming nearly all variety of books and food with gusto. She lives in Westchester with her husband and three children, all of whom are so deliciously adorable that they, too, face constant risk of being consumed.