"I am coming home from Genesis a new person."

Gabe Terrell
Centennial, CO

“Genesis was a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn in a different setting and to live with a very diverse group of people.”

Molly Zuckerman
Potomac, MD

“Genesis is not school and is not college. Genesis is a life changing experiences where participants meet students from all over the world with wildly different viewpoints. At Genesis, one is appropriately challenged on all sorts of fronts, from the intellectual to the moral to the spiritual.”

Jay Louik
Pittsburgh, PA

“Genesis is one of the greatest programs out there. It's a camp, a college, and a little community in one. It's somewhere where the individual makes a massive difference in the community.”

Sivan Levine
Miami, FL

“Genesis set me on the long and challenging path of finding my Jewish identity.  I'm still trying to figure out what Judaism means to me and how I can apply it to my daily life.”

Maria Alkhasova
Lexington, KY

About Genesis

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History

 Genesis was established in 1997 with a generous grant from Steven Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation.  It was designed as a summer program combining academics, Jewish studies, as well as building a diverse, international Jewish community.  

Program

In addition to living in a dynamic residential environment at Brandeis University, you will take two main paths of study at Genesis.  Your course will offer an in-depth, hands-on introduction to one of five academic disciplines (technology and society, law, journalism, social entrepreneurship, science, and world religions).  Your community experience will be a portal into understanding and realizing your potential as a person, a Jew, and a member of community.  Participants collaborate to create options for the entire community to celebrate Shabbat.  Genesis is supportive of all of the ways in which Shabbat and Judaism are observed.

Learning

If you are intrigued by what Genesis offers, we encourage you to apply and take your exploration to new levels. Every summer, Genesis is a new experience, because so much of the learning emerges from the particular combinations of teens who come together from different parts of the world, with varied interests and experiences of Judaism. We can promise a learning experience like no other - a once-in-a-lifetime month of discoveries, insights, friendship and fun.