By Em Besthoff
Assistant Director, Lifelong Learning
This winter, I found myself in the heart of Alabama with nine students from our Religious School. Our students could have used their February break to thaw out after a brutal winter, travel with family, or relax at home.
Instead, they journeyed south with me to stand on the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., the site of one of the most significant Civil Rights marches in American history. It is a place where courage met brutality. They spent sacred time at Warren Temple United Methodist Church in LaGrange, Ga., listening to stories that remind us that justice is not theoretical; it is lived, fought for, and sustained by real people.
They did not just learn history; they experienced responsibility.
Stepping out of the classroom matters because responsibility cannot only be taught—it must be encountered. When teens stand in spaces where history happened, when they hear firsthand testimony, when they wrestle with discomfort and complexity, something shifts. Learning becomes personal, and courage becomes possible—not because we are asking them to be perfect, but because we are asking them to show up.
Our teen travel experiences reflect this belief: Jewish learning calls us beyond knowledge and toward action, reminding us that repairing the world is a shared responsibility.
Our teens returned not only with memories, but with responsibility. And that responsibility belongs to all of us.
Hit the road with Temple Emanu-El! This October, members are invited to explore Spain on a special interfaith journey led by Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson and Dr. Alyssa Cady. Learn more here.
