The High Holy Days are not only a season of accounting, they are a call to return, asking what growth requires of those willing to show up for it. Drawing on Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Maimonides, and the practice of havdalah, this learning explores the tension between service as obligation and service as self-discovery, and the ways both can lead to a life of purpose. Holding together personal reflection and collective repair, it challenges participants to carry teshuvah forward not as reflection alone, but as action.
Neighbors in Times of Crisis: Commemorating 9/11
September 11 is not only a day of mourning, it is a call to show up, asking what remembrance requires of those who carry it forward. Drawing on Rabbi Jonathan Lubliner, Rabbeinu Bahya, and Pirkei Avot, this learning explores the space between compassion and justice, and the choice to act, witness, or accompany when a moment calls for it. Holding the tension between repair and brokenness, it challenges participants to respond to memory not with grief alone, but with service.
Homelessness
Creating Space: Sukkot and Community Care
Sukkot asks us to leave sturdy walls behind and dwell somewhere fragile, a practice that opens up questions about who we make room for. Drawing on Maimonides, the tradition of ushpizin, and Pirkei Avot, this learning holds the tension between tradition and renewal, and traces how gratitude for a good harvest is meant to move outward toward others. It challenges participants to treat their sukkah not as a private refuge, but as an invitation extended to strangers, neighbors, and people they have yet to meet.
Immigrant Support
Zachor: Jewish Memory, Resilience, and Collective Responsibility after October 7th
Zachor asks us to remember, but Jewish memory has never been passive; it asks something of the people who carry it. Drawing on Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Rabbi Shai Held, and the Hadran, this learning holds the tension between particularism and universalism, and traces how hope becomes a practice rather than a feeling. It challenges participants to treat service not as a substitute for grief, but as one way of choosing connection and community in its wake.
Civic Engagement
Civic Service & Strengthening Our Democracy
Civic service is not only about turnout, it is a call to strengthen what we depend on, asking what participation requires when a system feels imperfect. Drawing on Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, this learning holds the tension between repair and brokenness, and traces how one person’s engagement contributes to a healthier whole. It challenges participants to treat democracy not as something to inherit passively, but as something built and rebuilt together.
Latest Resources
29 Resources
Nurturing a Lifetime of Volunteering: A Toolkit for Families Volunteering Together (ages 5-7)
This toolkit serves as guiding learning and reflections for families of 5-7 year olds in their service journey.
Nurturing a Lifetime of Volunteering: A Toolkit for Families Volunteering Together (ages 5-7)
This toolkit serves as guiding learning and reflections for families of 5-7 year olds in their service journey.
This guide is intended for parents wanting to embrace volunteerism within their family unit and offers tools to create this experience. Through seven units, learn alongside your children about how to serve meaningfully in your community, explore your relationship to service, and the Jewish values that might inform your path.
Repair the World gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Partnership for Effective Learning and Innovative Education (PELIE) and the Isaac and Carol Auerbach Family Foundation for their flagship role in the creation of the Family Volunteering Initiative and the production of this manual.
We Plant Seeds Curriculum
You have begun your journey into Jewish service-learning, where do you start with your participants? There’s a curriculum for that!
We Plant Seeds Curriculum
You have begun your journey into Jewish service-learning, where do you start with your participants? There’s a curriculum for that!
Volunteering emphasizes external social change; JSL emphasizes internal, as well as external, social change. Through fifteen pre-designed modules, orient participants to key components and values worth understanding prior to embarking on your service journey. Concepts such as service-learning as social change, relationship, global exploration, reflection and more are discussed throughout these modules. This curriculum is intended to be utilized as an educational resource for those creating a Jewish service-learning community.
“We Plant Seeds” was made possible in part by funds granted by The Covenant Foundation, we are grateful to Dr. Beth Cousens for her research and authorship of We Plant Seeds.
Latest Resources
Dive deeper into Repair the World’s collections of resources that encompass the intersection of service and learning, rooted in Jewish wisdom.