Now in its fourth year, Teen SVARA meets weekly, from 4:15-5:45 pm every Thursday afternoon, in Chicago, and is open to all high school students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. No student is ever asked to identify their sexual orientation and, like all SVARA students, are referred to by the pronoun of their choice.

SVARA's teen program is serious in its approach to text study, but casual and informal in its overall feel. A safe and fun environment is balanced with a rigorous encounter with text and the development of talmud study skills. I try to create a sense of community among the students and between them and me, and I think I've been successful so far. SVARA students have, I believe, a feeling of being in something of a special club--one that is intellectual, spiritual and social all at the same time.

Each session begins with "check-in's," during which time the students catch one another up on what has happened in their lives since the previous session, sometimes bringing in ethical dilemmas from their everyday lives or just things they've been thinking about. I do the same. I then "prep" them for the day's text by introducing the broad issues the text will address, pre-teaching any particularly difficult vocabulary or halachic concepts, or pointing out technical issues in the text. The students then learn the text in chevruta (pairs of two), after which we come together as a group to "unpack" the text, paying close attention to technical terms, grammar, vocabulary, etc. The "unpacking" of the text inevitably leads to a freewheeling discussion that goes beyond the boundaries of the text and into issues in the students' real lives, beliefs, philosophy, etc.