27 participants, from 17 European cities, speaking 8 different languages, working on 19 great ideas, in 4 days seminar. Rescape. 

As part of my placement working with Junction Europe team, I took part in planning and facilitating Re:scape, an innovative new seminar that took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The seminar brought together young people, from different cities around Europe, with big ideas and a lot of passion to make them happen in their Jewish communities. 

Rescape was a unique event modeled after a short-term start-up accelerator, where the participants were trained in different methodologies, ranging from public speaking and storytelling, to marketing, and to budget building, and all of this - to make their social projects come to life. 

It was a place to dream, plan, design and examine their projects, ranging from making different events for Jewish students, to building an app, and even to cleaning Jewish cemeteries. It was also an opportunity to all of us to learn from each others eyes about different Jewish communities through individual stories and projects initiatives. 

It was amazing to see the growth of all these beautiful humans, and to see how they are reshaping their projects and themselves, with every step that promotes it to become a reality. 

There are still some open questions regarding what makes a project Jewish, but what is clear is that Jewish young adults are looking for meaning in their Jewish life, whether its in Lithuania or in Israel. It's encouraging to see that the common meaning is doing good for your community and for the world. I believe that through all these projects we can empower people and supply them with the tools to do so.

This experience has truly impacted my understanding of European Jewish life and gave me a glimpse of the hopes and dreams of those working in their communities to create change through the eyes of its leaders. I look forward to continuing to follow and support my friends and colleagues who are working to redefine a contemporary vision of European Jewish life, in all of its complexity and diversity.

This is definitely not the end, it’s only the beginning.