Jewish Studies Department - Mission in Action

s part of the Grade 11 course in Foundations of Halacha: Ethics and Practice, students write a teshuvah, a traditional rabbinic responsum, on the issue of abortion. The assignment requires students to analyze and interpret texts ranging from the Bible to contemporary writers. The student must also take a clear position on the ethics of abortion, explaining with whom they agree and disagree, and giving the reasons why. One Grade 11 student began his teshuvah by saying, "Before we began this unit, I could not imagine anything that could move me from my strongly-held position on abortion. Having studied traditional and contemporary texts, I now understand that the issue is more complicated than I realized. My views evolved and became more nuanced as I considered the ideas found in Jewish texts."

Milken students pursue the Jewish value of tzedakah through head, heart, and hands. The curriculum includes study of Biblical, Rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish sources on helping the needy. As they engaged in that study, one class examined a book of photographs of families around the world, showing their homes and their possessions. Students compared the variety of material circumstances seen in the photos with records they kept of their own expenditures for two weeks. Finally, each student worked with a group of peers to create a new social justice project that they presented and defended to their classmates and teachers.