It’s a beautiful fall Sunday morning, and by 10:30 a.m., a large open space in the Regis University building is packed with 60 people (not counting the babies!) who have come for a Jewish Explorers experience. There are moms and dads, beaming grandparents, adorable (and, of course, well-behaved) children ages two through five.
Everyone has gathered picnic-style on the floor where, guided by JEWISHcolorado Director of Jewish Explorers and Family Engagement Cindy Coons and her fellow teachers, the children are searching through multi-colored shredded paper to find pretend squeezable apples with which they can make a pretend apple pie.
“We are learning about and celebrating Rosh Hashanah,” says Coons. “With the apples and pies, the focus of the learning is how we can make a sweet new year for others and ourselves.”
What makes this celebration of Rosh Hashanah particularly sweet for Coons is that she is aided by Alice Cook, a new co-teacher. Cook is a senior in high school, and along with her non-stop smile, she brings a unique experience to her new role. As a child, Alice attended Jewish Explorers and now, years later, she has returned as an alumna to teach.
Remarkably, Cook is not the only alumna to return in the role that Coons calls “madrichim,” the Hebrew word for “guide.” Gabrielle Palmer, also a senior in high school, will be a co-teacher at Jewish Explorers this year as well, though she is missing on this Sunday morning because of a family wedding. So not one, but two Jewish Explorers graduates will spend the next year shepherding a new generation through their songs, lessons, and experiences.
“We don’t always get to see the impact we have on the families in our community,” Coons says. “But we are always hopeful there is impact. To see how excited Alice and Gabrielle are to come back and work with Jewish Explorers really warms my heart.”
What brought them back? Their answers speak volumes about the Jewish Explorers program.
Alice Cook
Cook joined Jewish Explorers when she was in third grade. After the family moved to Denver from Niwot, her mother signed her up for a program that was a five-minute walk from her house in Central Park.
“Usually, my attitude about after-school programs was ‘I don’t want to go,’” Cook recalls. “But Jewish Explorers was so much fun, the environment was super welcoming, and Cindy was the absolute sweetest person on this planet.”
Young Alice at Jewish Explorers
Cook still remembers her favorite activities she did with Jewish Explorers, including a party that mimicked a trip to Israel, complete with a plane and, of course, food.
“It didn’t feel like I was sitting in Hebrew School,” she says. “I wasn’t expected to know everything about Judaism. I was learning more about myself, and I could learn about Judaism my own way.”
Jewish Explorers led Cook to JCC Ranch Camp for five years where she found “a great community and amazing friends.” When she started middle school at Denver School of the Arts, she became involved with JEWISHcolorado’s Jewish Student Connection (JSC) club. This year, she is on its leadership board.
Through the years, she met Israeli counselors in various programs, and so when it came time to sign up for the Joyce Zeff Israel Study Tour (IST), she was eager to go. But unlike her friends who had older siblings who traveled on IST, Cook had to make a case for the trip to her parents. Her mother is from New York and is Jewish, and her father is from Great Britain and is not Jewish.
“Because I come from two different backgrounds, I wanted to explore my Judaism in the Jewish culture of Israel,” she says. “Going to Israel would help me discover more about myself, and I wanted to explore the culture that my Israeli counselors had told me about.”
Gabrielle Palmer
Palmer started Jewish Explorers when she was three or four years old, tagging along with her older brother. She continued for the next half dozen years until she graduated at age nine. Years later, she still remembers the activities she did for Passover—making matzah, creating depictions of the plagues, and learning about the Seder plate.
Jewish Explorers proved to be the foundation—Palmer calls it the “spark”—from which she has gone on to become deeply involved in Jewish community life.
Young Gabrielle at Jewish Explorers
She attended JCC Ranch Camp for seven years, from the time she was six years old. She is part of Temple Micah where, this year, she read the Torah at Rosh Hashanah for the third straight year, and she also volunteers with Sunday School. She is president of the JSC club at Northfield High School. She is also involved with BBYO.
“My drive to do all of this is self-initiated,” Palmer says. “My parents support me, but it was my choice to get involved. The religious and cultural aspects of Judaism are important to me, and I have found so many friends through Jewish experiences and programs.”
Given her involvement, it should come as no surprise that Palmer traveled to Poland on IST this year and experienced the disappointment when the Israel portion of the trip was canceled due to the Twelve-Day Iran-Israel War. The group learned about the cancellation the same day they visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
“That same night we gathered for Shabbat indoors at the JCC in Krakow rather than outdoors in the old town center because it was not safe,” Palmer recalls. “It feels like we should have moved forward in society, but we haven’t, and we could not travel to the land where we should be safest.”
Alice and Gabrielle
Coons approached Cook and Palmer at the airport as they were boarding a plane for their IST trip and asked if they would be interested in teaching in the Jewish Explorers program. They agreed immediately.
“Both said they wanted to give back to the community that is part of them and their Jewish journey,” Coons says. “To watch them grow through the years in learning more about Judaism and their Jewish identity and what it means to be part of the Jewish community, including the continuum of programs we offer at JEWISHcolorado, has just been amazing.”
Both Cook and Palmer look to a future that is tied to their past experiences. And it all started with Jewish Explorers. Cook believes that she will have a career that involves children or art because, she says, “working with children brings me a lot of happiness.”
Gabrielle graduates from Jewish Explorers with Cindy Coons looking on.
Palmer plans to study medicine because of experiences with a family member who has cancer and because she still remembers Jewish Explorers lessons about “tikkun olam” and giving back to the community.
“It is such a gift to have both Alice and Gabrielle now teaching in our program, but it’s not just for me,” Coons says. “It’s a wonderful gift to our Jewish Explorers families and community.”