Stand Up and Gandels supercharge social justice
Stand Up and Gandel Foundation working together to impact the lives of thousands of young Jewish people, helping them be the mensches and leaders of today and tomorrow.
Stand Up, a Jewish social justice organisation which gives young people the tools to lead with compassion through partnerships with the First Nations and refugee communities, have announced a new set of programming which will roll through Jewish schools this year.
In partnership with Gandel Foundation, the new programming has been established with the three largest Jewish schools in Melbourne: Mount Scopus Memorial College, Bialik College and The King David School.
Through working with schools’ existing structures, Stand Up’s team plan to use their informal education expertise to augment the social justice experience of students.
The organisation offers multiple programs, one of which is Step Up. Step Up, which was previously Stand Up ABC, is designed to give b’nei mitzvah aged students the opportunity to take on their Jewish adulthood and to understand the responsibilities and challenges that come with that, encouraging participants to give back to those with less opportunities than themselves and take ownership of their position as a young leader.
Ella Simons, a 15-year-old climate change activist and writer for The Guardian, was a participant in the program. The young gun, who was also an organiser of the School Strike 4 Climate protests, said, “To be a younger leader in a world of uncertainty is a scary thing but learning about worldwide issues from b’nei mitzvah age prepares us for this.”
She said the program has empowered her to be “a changemaker and a mensch”.
Over a thousand Jewish b’nei mitzvah kids have participated in the program across Melbourne and Sydney since its inception, with almost 100 participants last year.
Mount Scopus College said the new program will “help complement what is done in the classroom giving our students additional perspectives and the tools to make a difference in our community”.
“We aim to instil in our students an awareness of the community and the global issues,” said Ellie Golvan, Community Service Coordinator at Scopus.
Jayden Segal, a winner of the Gandel Award, was inspired by Stand Up to give back to the community, tackling the social issue of refugee literacy. Segal hosted a read-a-thon to raise money for the Sudanese refugee community, in which he continuously read for seven hours straight, managing to raise $2000.
Segal said the program “really helped me understand why giving back to the community is so important and what the meaning of becoming bar/bat mitzvah is”.
Stand Up CEO Gideon Reisner expressed his gratitude towards the Gandel Foundation for their support of the program over the last decade as a major funder and said, “This support has had a far-reaching impact on the lives of thousands of young Jewish people, helping them be the mensches and leaders of today and tomorrow.”
Coordinator for Step Up Isabella Nahon, 23, said, “We want to take abstract Jewish concepts out of the classrooms, books and family conversations around the Shabbat table and make them driving/guiding forces for young people.”
After the first year of funding to Stand Up’s b’nei mitzvah program 10 years ago, Nicole Brittain, Grant Manager for the Jewish and Israel Programs at Gandel Foundation, said they were so impressed that they continued to fund it as a major grant annually.
“Each year we continue to see the positive impact the program has on the young participants,” she said, calling the level of engagement and the personal growth students experience “quite amazing”.
“To Gandel Foundation the most valuable aspect of this program and the work of Stand Up is that they are helping build a more caring, compassionate and cohesive society for all,” she added.
To learn more about Stand Up, visit standup.org.au
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