About Kivunim
Kivunim aims to re-establish the lost link to the Jewish people around the world.
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We see our graduates apply critical thinking to solve problems, and forge lifelong relationships with diverse people across the world.
Kivunim aims to re-establish the lost link to the history of the Jewish people by discovering and sharing the noble, creative story of Jewish life around the globe. Founded by Peter Geffen (Founder of The Abraham Joshua Heschel School in NYC), Kivunim has served over 1000 students on its gap year program since it opened in 2006. Our students explore international history, culture, philosophy, art, music, and religious rituals—all of which help deepen both their Jewish Identity and their sense of “world-consciousness”. Our faculty includes distinguished experts in their fields: historians, writers, poets, artists, musicians, philosophers, journalists, religious, political, and business leaders—from around the corner and around the world.
O U R A P P R O A C H
What does a Jewish student need in order to build bridges instead of putting up walls?
They need to know the story of the Jewish people across the world. They need to know of the historic positive relationship between Jews and Muslims in Medieval Spain and in contemporary Morocco. They need to know that with all the current criticism of Israel coming from Turkey, the Ottoman Empire preserved and protected the exiled Jews from Christian Spain (1492) to such an extent that there are Synagogue Bimahs (reading platforms often in the middle of Turkish Synagogues) that are built in the shape of merchant ships as a commemoration of the Ottoman boats that were sent out to sea to save them! Of course, we also have a history of tragedy. Our connection to the majority of the cultures with whom our people have lived over millennia is the support of the bridges Kivunim has been building across the world for the past 20+ years.
