On July 17, MJE (Manhattan Jewish Experience), New York City’s premiere Jewish outreach program, celebrated the graduation of 16 MJE Lamm Fellows. Now entering its 16th year with over 250 graduates, the MJE Lamm Fellowship is a yearlong educational program designed to provide Jewish men and women with little or no Jewish educational background with a transformative educational experience designed to fill in what the participants missed in their youth.
This year’s fellows, all in their 20s and 30s, consisted of an impressive range of young professionals including a plastic surgeon, CBS News reporter, public school teacher, an attorney, computer science programmer, graphic artist, financial advisor, and a neuroscience doctoral candidate at Columbia University. What united them all was a common desire to know more about their Judaism. MJE’s Fellowship Program is designed to provide the participants with the knowledge and tools to live a life of Torah observance and to feel comfortable living their lives in the Modern Orthodox community.
The program met every Wednesday night from 7-10 p.m. It began with one-on-one learning where each fellow was paired up with a yeshiva day school graduate to study whatever they are interested in. This was followed by “The Next Level,” a yearlong course taught by Rabbi Mark Wildes, MJE’s founder and director, which covered the gamut of Jewish life cycles, practice and philosophy. The curriculum also included a heavy dosage of Israel education, including a miniseries on the religious Zionist frameworks of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.
The fellowship year was capped off with a Tanach based trip to Israel. This year, in conjunction with Birthright Israel, MJE pivoted to a volunteering trip to Israel. In addition to learning about Israel’s rich depth and history, the MJE fellows volunteered, providing strength and inspiration to their brothers and sisters in Israel and to those affected by the horrors of Oct. 7 and in return they will enrich and strengthen themselves.
More than any other program, MJE’s fellowship has been the most successful in inspiring baalei teshuva — committed and passionate Jews — a number of whom have become leaders in their communities. The program was established in memory of Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, z”l the former Yeshiva University president and mentor to Rabbi Wildes. Rabbi Lamm participated in and actively supported the fellowship in the last few years prior to his passing in 2020. May all the learning and spiritual growth of the many fellows serve as an elevation to his soul.
Rabbi Mark Wildes is the founder and director of the Manhattan Jewish Experience,
