FELLOWSHIP Program CONTENT
Avodat Lev (Service of the Heart)
Avodat Lev brings us together for meditation, movement, chanting, art and creative sharing every morning. Meditation is guided and structured, but is mostly silent. Chanting consists of short phrases from the Shacharit service (the traditional morning liturgy). Avodat Lev is designed to open our hearts to ourselves, each other, our community, and the world. It is led by Urban Adamah staff, alumni, outside educators, and fellows.
Avodat Sadeh (Service of the Field)
Avodat Sadeh is work on the Urban Adamah Farm. Farm work includes a variety of tasks including but not limited to: seeding, transplanting, weeding, bed preparation, harvesting, composting, animal husbandry (chickens, goats, bees, and worms), pest management, setting up for events and general site maintenance. It is physical work. The farming curriculum covers multiple aspects of urban agriculture including crop selection, farm design, permaculture, and methods of preserving the harvest.
Community Days
Once a week, fellows are placed at partner organizations to be in service. Community days allow fellows to show up in a sustained way to support organizations working on food insecurity and nutrition, garden education, and community empowerment in a variety of ways. Fellows learn about allyship and solidarity, garden education and/or food production, community building, and so much more.
Limmud (Learning)
While every aspect of the Urban Adamah curriculum invites learning, the program offers specific and more structured workshop time around the core contents areas of the program: Mindfulness, Jewish Tradition/Earth-Based Judaism, Social Justice, and Urban Agriculture. Classes are taught by Urban Adamah faculty and guest lecturers.
Leadership Training
Our leadership curriculum guides fellows through structured learning sessions that teach a variety of skills including active listening, presence, conflict resolution, meeting facilitation, coaching, group processing, non-violent communication, and more. Many of these sessions involve openly sharing feelings and experiences in a group setting. These activities are an essential component of the Urban Adamah Fellowship.
Urban Adamah Sample Week
MONDAY
Tuesday
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
Friday
Saturday
Shabbat ( Day Off )
SUNDAY
Time Off
Urban Adamah is an immersive program. Our schedule is full Monday – Friday, with some weekend programming.
We have a strict attendance policy. Days are long, and fellows are expected to be at all activities unless there is a health issue or family emergency that prevents attendance. Our days begin at 7:30 AM with Avodat Lev (Monday – Friday) and go until 9:00 PM three nights a week. The other two nights are generally unscheduled although about half of our Friday nights are scheduled Shabbat programming. During the week, fellows have off for an hour during breakfast, an hour and a half mid-day (lunch), and an hour before dinner. Fellows are expected to schedule all appointments (doctors, job interviews, etc.) during these break times and not during scheduled programs.
Larger blocks of time off are scheduled each week during Shabbat, which begins on Friday at around 5:00 PM and continues until Sunday morning. About half of our Sundays are scheduled, and will start at 9:00 AM (every other Sunday is a full day off).
Fellows may also each take one personal day from the program (for any reason). Personal days may not be taken on days when fellows intern at their chosen organization. With the exception of medical or family emergencies, we expect fellows to be present for the full extent of the program.