Jewish Life at Milken Community School in Los Angeles

Jewish Life

Jewish life on campus is vibrant, dynamic, inclusive and accessible. From kehillah time to Friday oneg to holiday celebrations and more, at Milken, we don’t just study Jewish texts, we live them.

Our students are committed to tradition, innovation and Torah – to living Jewishly and to defining for themselves what that means. In addition to practicing traditional, liberal and experimental forms of prayer and reflection, they discover identity (and the relationship between mind, body and soul) through arts, music, drama, sports, dance and retreats.

In Grade 10, students have the opportunity to participate in our Tiferet Israel Fellowship semester of study at Alexander Muss High School in Hod Hasharon, Israel. Tiferet fellows engage in learning inside and outside of the classroom as they continue college preparatory program in addition to the place based curriculum in Jewish and Israel studies provided at Muss. Students travel each week, immerse themselves in the language and culture of Israel, engage in service learning, and learn to live independently in a dorm setting.

At Milken, our community celebrates the cycles and rhythms of Jewish time. Spiritual practice here helps our students develop their own aggadah (narrative or story) and open up personal pathways to a relationship with the divine.

Holidays

Jewish holidays at Milken are a celebration of culture, community, identity, learning and leadership. They allow us to explore core Jewish values and enable us to live in dual realms of Jewish and American time. In educational language, the holidays are the spiral curriculum of the Jewish people.

Each holiday has a past, a present and a future. Learning to find meaning in our moment – to reinterpret a holiday, teasing out its relevance to our modern age – can be both challenge and opportunity. Our students grapple with the challenge and grow together, forging unshakeable connections to holiday observance and Jewish communal life.

2.Oneg

Every Friday, Milken students create an experience called 2.0neg. A beloved part of the Milken experience, 2.0neg provides students a time to relate, talk, play and hang as regular human beings. 2.0negs are often themed to various school and religious parts of the year including celebrations of Purim, Tu B’Shvat and the Persian new year, Nowruz.

Shabbaton

Spirited worship, deep discussions, meaningful reflection – these are just a few of the things Milken students experience at the Annual Shabbaton, an overnight experience at a local Jewish camp where students have an opportunity to bond and have fun away from the everyday life of school. The Shabbaton allows students to get out into nature and celebrate with friends. It is a cornerstone of school community building and creates memories to last a lifetime.

TIF 2021