Etgar 36

Etgar 36 is starting to hire staff for what is posssibly our final summer journey.

- Must be at least a junior in college and have experience working with teens at summer camp or in school.
Interested? Please email Josh Dubin - [email protected] and let him know why you are interested in staffing and include a resume.

After speaking with public health experts, it is with cautious optimism that I am so excited to announce:
THE 2021 ETGAR 36 SUMMER JOURNEY IS ON!
Of course, it is subject to the advances (and setbacks) as we move through this virus.
NO RISK REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! https://www.etgar.org/summer-journey/overview/
We will give full refunds if we cancel the trip due to the virus.
We have 10 spaces remaining for the summer 2021. Once those fill, we will be starting a waiting list for a possible second bus! Apply now to guarantee your seat!
We based our decision to move forward on:
- our understanding that multiple vaccines with high effective rates are going to be introduced and available starting early 2021
- every teen and staff member will have to take the vaccine that is the most effective for their age and life situation.
- we will continue to use masks when in populated, enclosed spaces such as museums, etc.
- we will tweak our programming to minimize our time in small, enclosed public areas.
- clean and sanitize the bus following health official guidelines.
- adjust according to changing news, information, and precautions.
I know we can all use some hope looking forward, so I felt it was time to make an initial decision on the 2021 summer because as the Grateful Dead sang, "one way or another, this darkness got to give." It seemed reasonable to move forward with the information that has been provided to me.
For those that follow the Etgar 36 summer trip, I hope the images of a summer journeying across America provide some light at the end of this tunnel. As Jack Kerouac wrote, "because there was nowhere to go, but everywhere, our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again. We had longer ways to go. Keep rolling under the stars. The road is life."
Have a great weekend!

18 years ago, I commemorated the one-year anniversary of 9/11 by incorporating Etgar 36 as a nonprofit business. I had an idea of a program that encouraged talking to people with whom you disagree and engaging in uncomfortable conversations to find some connection and understanding even if you don't agree.
In Judaism, we place numeric value to Hebrew letters. The letters that form the Hebrew word "chai" which means life is 18. And like many times in life, Etgar 36 has been knocked over by things we didn't see coming. A year ago, it seemed that America had caught up to the program's intention, and our mission could not be more important. We had more Civil Rights trips on our schedule than ever before, a full-page article about us in the New York Times, and the 2020 summer trip was already close to selling out. And then, life happened. On March 8th, we finished that weekend's Civil Rights journey and have not been back on the bus since due to COVID19.
As we begin our 18th/Chai year, it looks like we will not be running any trips until the late June when, hopefully, we begin the 2021 summer program. It would be easy to be frustrated about being forced off the road and not fulfilling our potential just as we were hitting our stride. But, as the Grateful Dead sing, "sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right." I can change how I look at our situation and find joy and purpose in this new and unanticipated space. I realize that perhaps right now is the time we need to pull off the main road and spend some time on the back roads and off the bus to take stock of where we've been in the past 17 years and let it catch up with us.
How do we determine success during our shut down? It has been found in the daily conversations with alumni of the summer and civil rights trips about race, equality, connection, and having uncomfortable conversations. I have been given the gift of connecting with the Etgar 36 community in more profound and more personal ways. It has been so wonderful hearing about how the lessons learned on our journeys have played out in in people's lives over the past months and years since they have been on the bus.
Our 18th year will breathe new life into Etgar 36 and that will only make the journeys we take once we can get back on the bus all the more meaningful, valuable, and powerful.

Please support Etgar 36 by signing up for MINDTRIPS lecture series.
Next episode is Sunday 7 PM on Systemic Racism.
You can watch a recording for 5 days after.
www.etgar.org

Hear the story of Daryl Davis on MINDTRIPS
Watch it live tonight at 7 PM(EST) or watch the recording for the next 5 days.
Register at www.etgar.org
Here is a clip of his story: https://youtu.be/waVrJEIfahc

Daryl Davis Did the Unthinkable | Inspirational Documentary | Goalcast ✪ Daryl Davis was determined to understand why he was hated for the color of his skin. His pursuit for answers brought him face to face with the leader of th...

MINDTRIPS...starts Sunday night (but you can watch for 5 days)
Find out what happens when a Black man starts talking with members of the K*K
To sign up & more info: www.etgar.org/mindtrips

Next Sunday join me for the kick-off program of the online MINDTRIPS series!
Find out about the power of a conversation.
For teens, adults, alumni, and friends of Etgar 36.
WWW.ETGAR.ORG to register.
You can watch for 72 hours after the live broadcast.

MINDTRIPS...the next journey for Etgar 36.
A monthly online live-streamed lecture/discussion series curated by Etgar 36 with activists and thought leaders that help us figure out a path to creating a more perfect union.
Please join us for one or all of the 2020 programs.
* Ruth Messinger * Born This Way Foundation
* Daryl Davis *Evan Wolfson * Joanne Bland
* Fair Fight 2020 *Terra Gay
Each program is $15 or you can buy all 6 for $75.

Etgar 36 staff is like family even when they’re not working for me they never truly leave. After 3 years on staff Josh Dubin left last summer and I’m so happy to say that his journey has brought him back on full-time. Welcome home Josh.
We are in Montgomery checking out the logistics for our social distanced outside trips! It starts with Rosa Parks.

Our Etgar 36 Social Distanced Civil Right Journey is now ALL OUTDOORS for added safety!
Also, we have combined visits to BOTH Selma and Birmingham on the 2 day/1 night trip!
We have shifted every part of the trip to be outdoors to provide more safety. This does not impact our going to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Memorial and walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they are outdoors!
We will cover the information of the Rosa Parks Museum and EJI Museum outdoors as part of a walking tour of downtown Montgomery.
This allows us to combine trips to Selma and Birmingham for a complete Civil Rights journey that can be done in 2 days/1 night. The one day trip only to Montgomery is still an option too.
For more information, dates, pricing and to sign up please visit www.etgar.org

I am excited to announce a new program from Etgar 36:
2 VIRTUAL TALKS FOR GROUPS:
- Blacks & Jews in the Civil Rights Era to Now Midrash & Fact
- How to be comfortable having uncomfortable conversations

Etgar 36 is jumping into the virtual programming world.
The issues this country is confronting have been prime Etgar 36 topics for the past 17 years so I wanted to share lessons we have learned from seeking and engaging in uncomfortable and powerful conversations on the road.

Both topics are great opportunities to have real conversations and preparation for your community before engaging in in*******al programming with other groups. It is a way to ensure that your future social justice programs will move issues forward and take a deep-dives to understand the issues at play.
I have run them for adults, as staff and organizational training, and with teens.

Conversation #1 -
JEWS AND BLACKS IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA AND NOW
MIDRASH AND FACT
Explore the reality of the relationship between the Jewish and Black communities during the Civil Rights era. The Jewish narrative of that era is not completely seen the same by everyone or grounded in the reality of what was truly happening. We were participants in the Civil Rights movement but it is not our story. Explore some historical events that impacted Jews in America including the Leo Frank and Temple bombing in Atlanta to the sociological and generational issues that shaped Jewish activism and participation, or lack of, on both sides of the movement. Also, how does all of this impact what is happening in the streets of America today?

Conversation #2 -
HOW TO BE COMFORTABLE HAVING UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS
America is so split that trying to speak across the divide feels impossible. Whether it is one on one, with friends, family or your community, discussions about race, politics, or Israel seems to be too heated and contentious to have.
How can we have these important and necessary conversations without “all the heat”?
How can you practice self-care as you enter into uncomfortable conversations?
How to rethink what success looks like during a difficult conversation.

This conversation is great for helping people who may have to lead difficult conversations in their roles as teachers, clergy, camp counselors, heads of organizations, etc.
It can also be geared towards secular and/or non-Jewish groups.

Attached is a flyer with more information.
Be in touch for pricing and to set a date.

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds" - Bob Marley
Below is a picture of the newly repainted fountain at Court Square in Montgomery, AL. It is where slaves were brought off boats from the Alabama River and auctioned. In an amazing twist of history, it is also the spot where Rosa Parks got on a bus, did not get up from her seat and was arrested a block and a half later in 1955.
It is the core spot on our Etgar 36 Social Distanced Civil Rights trip to Montgomery. From there we walk to the Rosa Parks Museum, the EJI Memorial, Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, Southern Poverty Law Center, Freedom Rides exhibit.
Sign up for one of our social distanced trips to get a better and deeper understanding of what is going on in the streets of America today.
Our trips are open to ANYONE FROM ANYWHERE. Do one day in Montgomery only or add a second day to Selma or Birmingham.
Just like change doesn't happen until you take action, the trips don't happen until you actually sign up.
FOR INFORMATION, DATES, PRICING AND SIGN UP please go to www.etgar.org

We are excited to announce a new Etgar 36 journey for our current times…confronting the two ailments impacting America's physical and moral wellbeing.
TRIPS BEGIN JULY 11
For More Info & To Sign Up: www.etgar.org
Come on your own or with family/friends.

Read the latest news from Etgar 36!

Etgar 36 Roadmap Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/275cb72bc69f/x1c8x9sp4g-3082565

Etgar 36 Roadmap Newsletter Jan. 1, 2019 – December 15, 2019 Please help us complete our mission of creating the next generation of critical thinkers and activists. Your tax-deductible donation will help build our scholarship funds so every teen can participate.

Got this summer free? Come help us change the world!
Staff Etgar 36 this summer...must be at least a rising junior in college.
https://www.etgar.org/summer-journey/staff-etgar/

Staff Etgar Enjoy travel, politics, history, and working with teens? Get paid to do all four! Etgar 36, a summer travel program for Jewish teens, is looking for staff.