16 | MARCH 7 • 2024
J
N

W

hether you are a
Jewish professional
or lay leader
in a Jewish organization
or have millennial kids
or grandkids who you are
looking to understand and
engage in Jewish personal
and communal life, you will
benefit from the lived lessons
and practical tools shared by
Rabbi Dan Horwitz in his
first book Just Jewish: How to
Engage Millennials and Build a
Vibrant Jewish Future.
On Sunday, March 10,
Rabbi Horwitz is
returning to his
alma mater, Hillel
Day School, for
the first major
launch event of
his book and
to be part of a
panel with Rabbis
Paul Yedwab and
Jeff Stombaugh,
facilitated by
Jessica Katz. The
panel will explore
what successful
and transferable
practices, learned
through The
Well, worked well
in other Jewish
organizational
settings, including
large legacy
organizations such as Jewish
Community Centers.

HOW IT STARTED
The Well, imagined and
founded by Horwitz,
launched in June 2015.
The mission of The Well is
summarized today as “to
create and foster an accessible,
inclusive, relationship-driven
community for young adults
and families with young
children that uses Jewish
wisdom and ritual to help

community members flourish
as human beings.”
Horwitz first pitched
the concept of such an
organization in 2012, but the
timing was not right. Yet, the
seed was planted, and the idea
stuck.
In 2014, Yedwab of Temple
Israel followed up with

Horwitz. Yedwab was working
through a concept he had
in mind for engaging young
Jewish adults and realized
much of what he sought to do
overlapped with what Horwitz
proposed several years before.
He reconnected with Horwitz
and connected him to the
donor needed to launch The

Well. It is no surprise Yedwab
is lovingly known as the
“grandfather of The Well”
and was tapped to write the
foreword for Horwitz’s book.
In the foreword, Yedwab
reflects on the genius, for both
The Well and Temple Israel,
of presenting The Well as its
own entity. He writes, “Since
The Well is independently
branded, people often ask me
what Temple Israel gets out of
the arrangement. The answer
is absolutely nothing, unless
you count markedly raising
the level of Jewish involvement
for thousands of young Jews
in our area in the belief that a
‘rising tide raises all ships.’”
He further explains, “If we
can fill those years between
college graduation and
nursery or religious school
registration for their children
with meaningful Jewish
experiences, Temple Israel will
be the beneficiary along with
all the other congregations
and Jewish institutions in the
area.”
This is the essence of why it
is imperative to bring young
Jewish people into living more
Jewishly and being part of a
broader Jewish community.

HORWITZ’S JOURNEY
In the roughly eight years
since the founding of The
Well, Horwitz has held four
leadership positions at four
different Jewish organizations
in three different states.
Which is the exact whirlwind
the universe prescribed to
write his book.
In 2015, Horwitz had fully
entrenched himself and his
“Bucket List” team (The
Well’s volunteer board) in
looking all over the world for
best practices in millennial
engagement and community

Rabbi Dan Horwitz returns to his
alma mater, Hillel Day School, to
launch book on how to engage
millennials.

Just Jewish
Book Signing

Rabbi Paul
Yedwab

Jessica
Katz

Rabbi Jeff
Stombaugh

YEVGENIYA GAZMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Rabbi Dan
Horwitz