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EDUCATION FEBRUARY 13, 2026

CJN.ORG | CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS | 1

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Beth Israel-The West Temple teens learn about Jewish roots during NYC trip ADRIANA GASIEWSKI agasiewski@cjn.org

leven teenagers from Beth Israel-The West Temple in Cleveland gathered at Bagel Up in Fairway Market in New York City, rolling, kneading and shaping dough into loops before boiling it to create their own bagels. The workshop was not only a chance to learn how to make, bagels but also learn about their Jewish roots. Brown Rabbi Rachel Brown said that during the workshop, they learned how bagels served as a “loophole,” figurative and literally, for Jews to make bread without “baking it.” Although being chefs and visiting other locations helped the students learn more about their Jewish identities, Brown emphasized that the trip was important for these Jewish teens

from the west side of Cleveland. “Even if they’re not the only Jewish kid in their whole school, they could be the only Jewish kid in their whole class,” she told the Cleveland Jewish News. “And so, when they get to spend the weekend with Jewish peers, I think it’s powerful.” To learn more about their Jewish heritage, which took place from Jan. 16 to Jan. 18, they visited Ellis Island, the Tenement Museum, the Statue of Liberty, B’nai Jeshurun in New York for a Kabbalat Shabbat and attended a bagel-making workshop. From visiting places like the Statue of Liberty and tenement apartments, students were able to read the names of their family members who came through Ellis Island and have a better perspective of their living conditions. “In tenements, families used to have seven or more people,” Brown said. “Two adults and a whole bunch of kids living in two or three really small rooms.” She also noticed that various stops on the trip spoke to the teens differently. “I think other kids might have been very

taken with the Statue of Liberty and how majestic she is, the symbolism, the history of the Statue of Liberty,” she said. “I think there are some kids who were probably very moved by seeing the Tenement Museum, getting to go into these tenements, stand in the courtyards where the latrines were.” For one of the teens, Gabe Brown, an eighth grader at the Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School in Beachwood, his favorite part of the trip was visiting Ellis Island and seeing his grandmother’s name, Illy Brown. Gabe is the son of Rabbi Brown. “It was cool being that close to the Statue of Liberty and seeing the New York skyline in the snow,” he told the CJN. “I got some really cool pictures. That was really cool – that might have been a highlight.” Both Rachel and Gabe Brown described how the bagel-making workshop was not only a fun activity but also an educational

one, explaining the chemistry of bagel making and how it came to Eastern Europe. Bagel Up provided them with pre-made dough they kneaded and shaped on their own. They also customized their bagels, choosing their own toppings. After the bagels were ready, six of the bagels each person made were contributed to a shared bagel tray for everyone to sample from. They were then able to bring the other six bagels from their batch with them to enjoy. “We got to eat bagels with cream cheese, lox, onions, and capers, and cucumbers,” Rabbi Brown said. “Stand around and talk and enjoy the bagels we had made.” From the NYC trip, Rabbi Brown hopes students take away a “deepened awareness of the Jewish experience historically in the United States with the joy and the ease and the comfort of being with other Jewish kids in an immersive experience.”

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Charlotte Watts and Charlie Goldberg from Beth Israel-The West Temple are supervised in boiling their bagels during the bagel-making workshop at Bagel Up in Fairway Market in York City. Charlotte’s mother, Becky Watts, is a member of the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company Board of Directors. | Submitted photo

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