We all have a responsibility to the community and the world

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” Anne Frank

In 2023, Stand Up will be offering our revised and re-energised b’nei mitzvah programs to participants from Melbourne and Sydney. For over 10 years, our Step Up programs have been one of the leading rites of passage programs in the Jewish community.

Jewish people have always been upstanders, from Abraham till the present. Becoming a Jewish adult means choosing responsibility for your community and the world. We ask our participants, will you join our ancestors and be a link in the proud Jewish chain? Are you willing to bravely Step Up and lead?

Through engaging experiential programs that are grounded in Jewish values and explore topics such as First Nations people, refugees, poverty, responsibility and taking action, we instil within our participants an understanding of justice, compassion and dignity. We want our young people to have the confidence to step up, show up and speak up. We challenge them to realise the power their voice and actions can have to effect real and meaningful change.

Stand Up: Jewish Commitment to a Better World is all about enacting Jewish values. For example, our dedication to working with and empowering refugee communities comes from our own experience of being “strangers in a strange land” and being told to “welcome the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Many of our grandparents arrived in this country as refugees and had to work hard to rebuild their lives. Through our Step Up program, we want our participants to understand where they have come from, and what they want society to look like. We encourage our participants to learn how their b’nei mitzvah is a call to action, a call to shape our community and create the kind of world they want to live in.

Ultimately, we want to help them become upstanders and not bystanders.

Becoming b’nei mitzvah is about learning Jewish concepts, rituals and practices. These are important to living a meaningful Jewish life. However, we must also consider our roles as Jews in the world and the kind of world we are leaving for future generations.

I joined the Stand Up team in July 2022. When I look at our programs it gives me a sense of hope, pride and fulfilment. I have already seen the impact our programs can have in creating active and engaged members of our Jewish community.

I can’t wait for our team of experienced and passionate facilitators to be able to guide the next group of b’nei mitzvah students and delve deep into tikkun olam, tzedek and chesed.

Our Step Up programs run across Sydney and Melbourne with the generous support of the Gandel Foundation and the JCA. Since its inception, over 1500 young Jewish Australians have completed this powerful educational experience, with hundreds of action projects implemented.

For more information, contact Daniel Samowitz by emailing dansamo@standup.org.au or calling 0432 296 260. For more information, visit standup.org.au/step_up