Emma Wynn and Rebekah Ehrlich joined JEWISHcolorado in early June as new Teen Engagement Coordinators. Within two weeks after starting, they were on a plane headed to Poland and Israel, staffing 41 teens on the Joyce Zeff Israel Study Tour (IST). After returning from the IST trip, they turned their attention to ways they can mentor and engage Jewish and non-Jewish teens in the Jewish Student Connection (JSC) public school clubs.
Rebekah Ehrlich
“IST was wonderful, both professionally and personally,” says Rebekah Ehrlich. “Now, I am excited to continue working with teens during the school year.”
Ehrlich describes herself as a “true New Yorker, through and through.” Though she loves New York, she decided to move to Denver in late 2022.
“I think it’s important to travel and live in different places,” she says. “I liked the idea of Denver for the culture and the climate.”
Both Ehrlich’s mother and sister work in Jewish nonprofits on the East Coast.
“Growing up, we learned the importance of community and Jewish values like tikkun olam,” she says. “I wanted a job that is meaningful and helps people.”
Ehrlich found her way to her new position through a JEWISHcolorado event. After October 7, she was looking for a way to connect with the Colorado Jewish community. A friend invited her to attend a JEWISHcolorado Young Adult Division (YAD) evening of community and conversation. When she later saw listings for open positions at JEWISHcolorado, she realized she had already spent time at JEWISHcolorado.
The position appealed to Ehrlich because she likes working with younger people in a mentorship role, especially in the Jewish world where she can help people on their Jewish journey through a mixture of learning and fun. After traveling with teens on IST, she compared that trip to her own experience traveling to Poland and Israel with March of the Living when she was 16 years old.
“With my previous experience, I felt equipped to staff IST,” she says. “I was able to help the teens experience and process the trip because I had participated in something similar when I was their age.”
Ehrlich is a graduate of Binghamton University, The State University of New York (SUNY), with a degree in English: Global Culture and a semester abroad in London. She has experience as a camp counselor at Curious Jane in New York, a STEM camp for girls, and at Surprise Lake Camp, a Jewish sleepaway camp.
“I missed having the Jewish community I enjoyed growing up,” she says. “Now, I have this amazing job, and I can grow as a professional with great opportunities to join the JEWISHcolorado world.”
Emma Wynn
“I love this job,” says Emma Wynn. “It’s the perfect role for me. And it’s nice to be back home!”
Emma Wynn started her new position at JEWISHcolorado just weeks after graduating from the University of Kansas where she majored in psychology. During her three years at KU and during a year she spent in Israel before starting college, she truly connected with her Jewish identity and became an advocate for Israel and Jewish students.
“When I was young, I didn’t always find that Hebrew School and Sunday School had a lot of meaning for me personally,” she says. “But now, I have had the opportunity to explore what it means to be a Jew. I have learned about the values of the Jewish people and the importance of community.”
Wynn graduated from high school in May 2020 at the height of the pandemic restrictions. Even before the pandemic, she had decided to take her mother’s advice and spend a gap year in Israel with the Young Judaea Year Course.
“At the same time all my friends who had started college were doing school online, I was exploring a new country and meeting people,” she says. “That is where I started to discover that the Jewish community is my people.”
At KU, seeing the need for an Israel-centered club, she founded a chapter of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) with a friend even before October 7. Her friend made Aliyah and is now serving in the IDF.
After October 7, she founded a second group, “Jayhawks for Israel,” through KU Hillel and threw an “Israel Block Party.”
“Students Supporting Israel is a great organization, but I also wanted to create a way for students to celebrate Israel,” she says. “At the block party, we had music and food and so many people came together to celebrate Israel.”
Wynn also has worked as a counselor at Beber Sleepaway Camp in Wisconsin, and through Hillel, she earned a BICEP Fellowship for her work creating Israel-related programming. She has connections to the Colorado Jewish community through her mother who works Hebrew Educational Alliance.
Wynn saw IST as an opportunity to begin building connections with students she will now see during the coming year at JSC club meetings. Ask her what success would look like in her new position, and she answers without missing a beat: “Knowing that I have made an impact on at least one kid.”