L.E.T.

- Learn, Exchange & Transmit

A Grundtvig Partnership Programme
2012-2014
L.E.T. is an educational initiative funded by the European Grundtvig Lifelong
Learning fund. It is an inclusive adult learning process within a partnership
of six Jewish organizations active in the feld of volunteering and cultural
education across Europe. L.E.T. is based on an international learning process
in which the participants, all volunteers leaders in non-for proft organizations,
learn, exchange, refect, implement, and transmit acquired knowledge in
two main felds: 1. leadership and community organising, and 2. multicultural
identities and interfaith relations.
For more information:
masortigrundtvig.weebly.com
L.E.T. - Learn, Exchange & Transmit
A Grundtvig Partnership Programme
An inclusive adult
learning process
within a partnership
of six Jewish
organizations
active in the feld
of volunteering
and cultural
education across
Europe.
1
L.E.T is an educational initiative funded by the European Grundtvig Lifelong
Learning fund. It is an inclusive adult learning process within a partnership
of six Jewish organizations active in the feld of volunteering and cultural
education across Europe. L.E.T is based on an international learning process
in which the participants, all volunteers leaders in non-for proft organizations,
learn, exchange, refect, implement, and transmit acquired knowledge in
two main felds: 1. leadership and community organising, and 2. multicultural
identities and interfaith relations.
For more information:
masortigrundtvig.weebly.com
L.E.T. - Learn, Exchange & Transmit
A Grundtvig Partnership Programme
The Grundtvig
Learning
Partnership
The Grundtvig Learning Partnership
is a framework for practical coop-
eration activities between organi-
zations working in the feld of adult
learning in the broadest sense. It
aims to broaden the participation
of smaller organizations wishing to
include European cooperation in
their educational activities. Every
partnership involves participants
from at least three countries, who
work on topics of common interest
for a two-year period.
The programme gives an opportunity
to exchange experience and informa-
tion, to develop together methods
and approaches which meet the
organizations needs, and to test and
put into practice new organizational
and pedagogical approaches.
For more information:
www.grundtvig.org.uk
European
Shared
Treasure EST
EST stands for European Shared
Treasure. It is a Europe-wide
database for Partnerships which
aims to increase the visibility
of projects across Europe and
facilitate access to results and
outcomes. The database is a
repository of useful tools and
best practice materials from all
Partnership projects funded since
2008. It brings together projects
from the Grundtvig, Leonardo
and Comenius programmes
providing inspiration and ideas
for current and future promoters.
The European Commission use
this database to identify examples
of excellent Partnership projects.
The best projects are selected
every year and featured in EVE, a
Europe-wide database showcasing
the results of projects funded from
across the Lifelong Learning, Youth
in Action, Culture and Citizenship
programmes.
The EST database is public
and can be seen at:
www.europeansharedtreasure.eu
2
L.E.T. Partners
The following organizations participated
in the partnership:

Aviv Jewish Cultural Association, Spain

Chir Hadash, Belgium

Dor Hadas, Hungary

Masorti Almere-Weesp, Netherlands

Massorti, France

Masorti Judaism, UK
Aviv Jewish Cultural
Association, Valencia, Spain
The Aviv Jewish Cultural Association was
founded in 2004 by a group of Jews who had
recently arrived in Valencia from different
countries and a few local people. Encouraged
by the need to live a Jewish life integrating
both tradition and modern life, we gathered
together to share and create a dynamic
community, with a fresh approach and an
up-to-date practice of Judaism.
Our community was inspired by the
world Masorti movement. We wrote our
constitution following the movements
guidelines. We rented a studio fat where
we celebrated our frst Kabbalat Shabbat
and started to organise various religious
and social activities, educational and
cultural events and projects. With this
new energy, we have answered a latent
need to strengthen the spiritual voice
of our members, transmitting Jewish faith
and knowledge both inside and outside
the community. We promote a traditional
and dynamic Judaism, according to the
concerns of modern life and assuring
a Jewish legacy to future generations.
www.comunidadaviv.org
Dor Hadas,
Budapest, Hungary
Dor Hadas is a grassroots Jewish community
which defnes itself positively, because we
believe belonging to the Jewish civilisation is
a gift. It has been running informally since
2007, was registered in 2011 and became
affiliated to Masorti Europe in 2012.
Budapest was already home to a local Marom
(Masorti young adults) group whose members,
lacking a more intensive religious life, founded
the Dor Hadas community. There is significant
cooperation between Dor Hadas and Marom on
the occasion of the different festivals organised
by Marom as well as the bigger holidays set up
by the community. The other pillar of the
partnership is the Moishe House Budapest
which houses our weekly religious events.
Both of our partners main aim was the dis-
semination and the delivery of Jewish culture
and this is similar in the case of Dor Hadas.
Furthermore our community is mainly devel-
oped around young adults, who often have
not received a structured Jewish education. So,
the mission of this community is to enhance
their knowledge and understanding to ensure
we experience a practical Jewish life.
dorhadasbudapest@gmail.com
hadas.com
3
Massorti France, France
Massorti France is a non-profit association
created in 2005 that brings together six
communities in Paris, its western suburbs and
in the South of France whose goal is to promote
a Judaism open to the world and civil society
and in which women have an equal place. The
association works to ensure the role of women
and their equality with men.
We work on two main challenges:
1. The struggle for womens equality in all
religious and secular activities.
2. Faced with interreligious tensions, principally
between the Jewish and Muslim communities
in the Middle East conflict, and the tendencies
of certain parts of the Jewish community to
turn inwards, Massorti Judaism promotes
the knowledge of other religions in order to
combat tensions and to work toward mutual
respect. Rabbi Rivon Krygier of the Paris
Massorti Adath Shalom Community was
awarded the AJCF (Jewish Christian Friendship
Organization) Prize in 2013.
contact@massortifrance.fr
www.massorti.com
Masorti Judaism, UK
Masorti Judaism is an umbrella organization
which includes 12 Jewish communities in
London and across the UK. The members of
the organization are largely second and third
generation immigrants from Eastern and
Central Europe but also include Jews of
Sephardi and Middle Eastern backgrounds as
well as more recent immigrants, for example
from Israel, South Africa and the United
States. The organization seeks to maintain its
members distinct cultural heritage as a religious
and ethnic minority while engaging fully with
contemporary British and European society
and culture, contributing to a cohesive,
democratic society, maintaining good
relationships with other faith and cultural
groups, and working for social justice and
the common good. Its work focuses on
community development, leadership
training, adult education and youth work.
enquiries@masorti.org.uk
www.masorti.org.uk
Masorti Almere-Weesp,
Netherlands
The Weesp Synagogue was consecrated
on October 30, 1840. At that time it
functioned as a so-called district
synagogue, which means that it served
not only Jews from Weesp but also from
surrounding places as Muiden, Nederhorst
den Berg and Weesperkarspel.
Since 2003 the synagogue has been used
as a proper place of Jewish worship,
rented by the Masorti congregation, with
around 180 members mainly from the
cities of Almere, Weesp, Amsterdam and
the surrounding area. This has once again
become a district synagogue but now
serves a wider region. The Masorti
congregation has services every other
Shabbat and on major festivals, and
celebrates special days such as Chanukah
and Purim. The annual communal Pesach
Seder is always a popular and successful
event.
A special event happened in December
2013, when a flm crew produced a
documentary about three generations
of the Cohen family and their eforts
for Judaism at large and for our Kehillah
Masorti Almere-Weesp. It was broadcast
on national TV in January 2014 by the
Dutch Jewish Broadcast Company.
www.masorti.nl/Masorti_Almere/?
page_id=10
The programme
gives an opportunity
to exchange
experience and
information.
4
L.E.T.: The 5 pillars of the project
5
LEARNING
A learning
process of six
transnational
weekends over
a period of
2 year time
EXCHANGING
The opportunity
to cooperate
and exchange,
sharing best
innovative
practices,
improving the
relations and
the interactions
among the
participants
and the
communities,
fostering
cooperaton
between them
LEARNING
A learning
process of six
transnational
weekends over
a period a 2 year
period
REFLECTING
A self-refection
process of each
community
relating to its
own activities
and to the
relevance of
the learning
process
IMPLEMENTING
Putting learning
into practice by
implementing
two projects
in the feld of
working with
volunteers
and interfaith
relationship
TRANSMITTING
Creating a
structure
through which
content and
insights from
the learning are
transmitted
within the
community to
other members
and among
the larger
community,
ensuring the
democratic
dissemination
of knowledge
Focus on the learning process
6
VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT ON COMMUNITY ORGANISING:
Working with volunteers
Sharing best practices
Conducting efective one-to-one meetings
Strategy and planning
Shaping the organisational agenda
Dissemination & implementation
REFLECTING ON MULTICULTURAL IDENTITIES & INTERFAITH RELATIONS
Experiencing multicultural training
Reflecting on multi-cultural/religious/ethnic identities and addressing cultural,
social and political issues related to being a minority
Successful experiences in building relations with other
cultural/religious minorities
Understanding the experience of migrants within the EU
STRENGTHENING EU KNOWLEDGE AND CITIZENSHIP
Learning about and sharing cultural, artistic, social and political traditions
and practices within each EU hosting country; improving language skills
IMPLEMENTATION IN OWN COMMUNITY
Project on working with volunteers
Project on interfaith relations
Tools for action: documenting best practices and the project
(brochure & web)
Dissemination within the community
Marseille, France
January 25-27, 2013
The second meeting of the partnership,
hosted in Marseille by Judaca - Massorti
France, focused on four main topics: com-
munity organizing; managing multicultural
identities; getting to know local customs
and culture and evaluation. During this
meeting we had the chance to get new
insights on conducting efective meet-
ings, as well as understanding diferent
leadership theories. We also had time to
share best practice and we had a screening
of a French flm, Le fls de lautre (2012)
directed by Lorraine Lvy, which raises
issues of cultural identity. On Sunday, we
had the chance to visit some of the nicest
spots of the Marseille seashore as well as
an historical review of the Jews living in the
region given by Daniel Darmon.
2
The International Workshops
St Albans, UK
October 11-13, 2013
The fourth meeting of the learning
partnership was hosted by St Albans
Masorti Synagogue (Masorti Judaism,
UK) was divided in two main parts:
the learning sessions with the L.E.T.
participants, and an European
Leadership Seminar day. In our L.E.T.
sessions we had the opportunity to learn
from an interfaith panel on how to
build relationships with other faith
communities, with the presence of different
representatives of the local Muslim,
Christian and Jewish communities.
During the leadership day, people from all
over UK joined in for a full day of learning
sessions run by outstanding community
leaders on media, change strategies,
coaching, fundraising, group dynamics,
and music.
4
7
Brussels, Belgium
June 14-16, 2013
During the third meeting of the learning
partnership, hosted by Chir Hadach, Brussels
we further developed organizational skills:
one-to-one meetings and listening campaigns.
For the multicultural identities side of the
program, we had a lecture on minority rights
in Europe by Dr Julie Ringelheim, Senior
Researcher with the Belgian National Fund
for Scientific Research (FNRS) and Professor
of Human Rights Law at Louvain University.
We learned about interfaith dialogue with the
Muslim community on the Shoah with Dr Joel
Kotek, Professor at the Free University of
Brussels and director of Training at the Center
for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in
Paris. We also had the time to share best
practice on interfaith dialogue actions under-
taken by the different partners, in particular our
Belgian partner, Chir Hadach. And as for the
visit, we enjoyed a guided tour of a unique place
of interest, the Dieweg Cemetery in Brussels.
3
Edgware, UK
November 9-11, 2012
The frst L.E.T. Partnership meeting took
place in Edgware, United Kingdom. At this
meeting we devoted time to get to know
each partner and participant and to start
the partnership with a shared view of the
project. An initial basis for working together
was set, the motivation and expectations of
participants were explored and agreement
about communication and evaluation was
reached and implemented. This was a very
enriching experience, where we were able to
share our ways of working with volunteers.
We went through a self-reflection concerning
cultural identity and its infuence on each
organizations work. We also had a session
on matching clergy and community, and
a meeting with Citizens UK, a local non-
governmental organization that presented
a very interesting interfaith model of
leadership development.
1
Paris, France
May 9-11, 2014
Our last meeting hosted by Adath
Shalom, Massorti France, focused on
action analysis and dissemination. We
considered the questions we want
to ask ourselves, in order to share
what has been learned with more
people from our own organizations,
and the larger society as a whole. We
also wanted to evaluate the overall
partnership. At this meeting we
also visited the Jewish Art Museum
of Paris and its very picturesque
surrounding: the Marais.

6
Valencia, Spain
January 24-26, 2014
The fifth meeting, hosted by Aviv,
Valencia, opened with a guided tour
of Sagunto, an historical ancient city
in the north of Valencia. We continued
with the leadership training focusing
on shaping our organizations agenda
around the interests of members, and
with sharing best practice. We also
had the opportunity to learn about
migration and religious diversity
with a presentation made by Josep
Buades, Director of the Center for
Studies on Social Integration and
Migrants Learning.
5
We considered
the questions
we want to ask
ourselves, in
order to share
what has been
learned with
more people
from our own
organizations.
8
Thanks to the Grundtvig program and in particular the joint
meetings, the Dor Hadas community have evolved considerably
over the past year. With this development and new
knowledge, the Dor Hadas management and the active
members consciously build and lead this young community
to be more successful and also more cohesive.
One of the most prominent examples, as Andrea Ausztrics, a member of the Board, highlighted from
her experience in Brussels is the Listening Campaign leadership method where one-by-one we sit
down and listen to the comments and the problems of the members of the community, either the
difficulties or the positive feedback. We have to apply these feelings to ensure that each participant
is an important part of our group, and his/her opinion counts. This technique has proven to be very
useful, because with this action we can change a lot and change the community members activity
into a positive direction. This type of method has allowed Andrea to involve more participants,
analysing the problems and reaching a conclusion together, which benefits the community and
provides opportunities for future development.
In practice, as a result of the programme, we organised interfaith relations initiatives. Two board
members are members of the Muslim Jewish Conference student group that organises a
conference every year to strengthen the dialogue between the two communities. In addition,
there has been a specifc event with the Dor Hadas community in cooperation with a down-
town mosque community: we jointly participated in an intercultural conversation and a Muslim
cemetery clean up. The event was very successful from both sides.
Our recent volunteer programs related to Purim. when the Food not Bombs Budapest team saw
those in need of food. With the help of Dor Hadas, food was cooked by the community and
distributed in a square of the city centre of Budapest.

Our participation in the Partnership Learn, Exchange, Transmit (L.E.T.) has been a great challenge
and a unique opportunity for our small organization. The current situation poses difculties and
this programme has provided us with tools to overcome them. The resources provided by this
project allowed us to expand our network of volunteers at a time when their input is essential to the
survival of associations like ours. We have learned to identify prospective volunteers while motivating
them to increase their interest, improve their performance and provide a rewarding and enriching
experience for them.
For example, the one-to-one tool has provided us with a better understanding of our participants
concerns and interests, in order to improve our activities while integrating them into the decision -
making process for new and existing projects. The listening campaign has allowed us to see the
concerns of many participants affected by the current economic crisis. With this information, we were
able to design projects that meet their needs, such as personalized advice sessions. Our classes have
been enriched by the stories of those who have attended the meetings in other countries and all our
members have been active in the organization of the sessions we hosted in Valencia.
L.E.T. has been an enriching experience that has revitalized our association. We have increased the
number of volunteers and students; we have improved our organization and strengthened our identity.
To share experiences with similar associations in other European countries has been beneficial and
exciting. We are very grateful for this opportunity, we highly recommend it and we hope to repeat it.
The Outcomes
1 Aviv - Valencia, Spain
2 Dor Hadas - Budapest, Hungary
9
Thanks to the L.E.T. Grundtvig Project we took up the challenge to communicate on a different level
with our organization members, by discussing openly about our principles and starting points. We
also implemented several of the skills we were taught, like the one to one meetings, in order to
get to know the expectations of our members and non-members, and we had a listening campaign
about those expectations. Both were very useful to our board and members. We also recruited one
new volunteer to our board. During our board meetings, we told our board about all the leadership
skills we were taught and tried to find out which skills were applicable to each board member.
As for the interfaith side of the project, we invited different groups of other ethnicities and showed
them our synagogue and gave them a lecture about the history and future of the Jews in the
Netherlands and especially in the surroundings of Weesp and Almere. The evening was followed by
a discussions about interfaith and ways to help each other in different matters.
As part of our homework task, we had a group conversation with some of our members in our
Succah in Almere. We had a good talk with each other and we did listen one to the other. We spoke
about three questions:
What will Masorti Almere-Weesp look like in five years time?
What must be done for that and how can you support this?
Do you know any people whom you could bring along, in an attempt to try to strengthen the
organization?
The conversation group consisted of ten very diferent participants. Some were involved from
the beginning and others only recently. Ages varied from 16 to 75 and included men and women;
members of the board and other people. We had an open discussion where every participant
was able to speak, and where everyone listened carefully to each other. It was a good experience
to speak with each other about our dreams for the future of our organization Masorti
Almere-Weesp. This discussion proved that it is important to have more people actively involved
in the development of our organization.
3 Masorti Almere-Weesp - The Netherlands
L.E.T. has been
an enriching
experience that
has revitalized
our association.
Aviv
10
Plusieurs projets et temps de refexions ont t mis en place dans les difrents groupes
appartenants Massorti France, grace ce qui a t appris pas L.E.T. Grundtvig. Nous
prsentons ici deux un temps de rfexion autour des pratique organizationnelles (projet
hakchava) , ainsi que deux projets ducatifs mis en oeuvre avec des jeunes (projet
summer camp et projet Raconte-moi ton enfance).
1. Projet Hakchava
En collaboration avec Aline Schapira et Philippe Chriqui, membre du CA dAdath
Shalom et Expert en Analyse Politique International. Objectif du temps de refexion :
Mener unenqute interne de notre organization cente sur tre lcoute des
membres de lorganization pour redfnir et recentrer les priorits, les activits, ce que
nous sommes et ce que nous voulons devenir. Le but tant de connaitre et mettre en
avant les attentes des membres, redfnir les priorits, recentrer les activits sur les
attentes, dtecter
des nouveaux bnvoles potentiels et dvelopper de nouveaux projets.
2. Projet Summer Camp: une collaboration France-Royaume Unis
En collaboration avec Sam Schryer, responsable des summer camps Angleterre, Noam
Olami, Massorti Europe, Massorti France. Objectif du Projet : Faire partir quelque enfants
des Organizations Europenes, en vue dun rapprochement avec lAngleterre dans un
premier temps. Objectif atteint, 3 enfants de 3 organizations europennes difrentes
partent cet t avec Noam Angleterre. Echange enrichissant et porteur davenir pour le
mouvement Massorti.
3. Projet Raconte-moi ton enfance
Suite un change de bonnes pratiques eu avec des reprsentants dAlicante,
rencontrs au week-end L.E.T. Grudtvig de St. Albans, nous avons dcid de mettre en
uvre un projet ducatif similaire Or Chalom, Aix-en-Provence. Il sagit dun projet
ralis avec un groupe dadolescent autours de leur identit juive en lien avec leur histoire
familiale. Pendant plusieurs rencontre, ce groupe de jeunes (gs entre 11 et 13 ans)
ont questionn leurs parents et grand parents sur leur identit juive, sur lhistoire de
la famille, sur les valeurs auxquels ils taient attach et souhaitaient transmettre. Les
rponses obtnues ont t en suite recolt dans un cahier de famille, fait par les jeunes
eux-mmes. Ce travail a permis ces jeunes de renforcer le lien quils avaient envers
leur famille, leur hritage juif, tout en pouvant se questionner sur ce que cest lidentit
juive et comment larticuler avec les autres facettes de lidentit personnelle, familiale,
et culturelle.
The Outcomes
4 Massorti France, France
11
We have implemented the following activities as a result of our involvement in the L.E.T.
Grundtvig project:
1. A 20-hour leadership training course, based on the content learned in the Grundtvig
seminars. Among the course facilitators were participants and trainers from the Grundtvig
programme. Participants included 15 learners from across our member communities. The
course was held at the premises of our member communities in London and Hertfordshire.
2. A European leadership development day was held in St Albans, bringing together
participants in the Grundtvig programme with approximately 40 other members of our UK
communities. It showed our organization to be a welcoming and friendly organization, it
provided us the opportunity to engage new volunteers and leaders, and we also the
opportunity to host a big event in our new synagogue building.
3. Inspired by the leadership and interfaith content of the project, we have engaged with a
local broad-based community organising network, Citizens UK. We have begun to partner
with other local communities (churches, mosques, schools, student unions) to work on
common issues which afect our members: street safety, working poverty, social care. Our
youth organization has come into membership of Citizens UK and has organised a range of
joint activities.
4. One of our member communities, St Albans, has drawn upon the leadership tools learned
during the project to launch a listening campaign designed to build relationships, develop
leadership and get to know the issues facing their members.
5 Masorti Judaism, United Kingdom
Thanks to the L.E.T. Grundtvig Project we
took up the challenge to communicate on
a diferent level with our organization
members, by discussing openly about our
principles and start.
Masorti Judaism UK
12
L.E.T. produced a set of products:
1. A training process of six weekends (2.5 days each) with the participation of more than 40 adult
learners and involving more than 30 trainers, teachers and lecturers.
2. Website documentation of the program with a examples of implementation and a resources
section to facilitate transmission.
3. This brochure of best practice distributed to all the partners for internal and external difusion.
On a personal level participants in the project acquired knowledge and skills:
Greater knowledge about the visited countries and each partner organizations;
Improved leadership skills, tools and methods;
Improved communication skills;
Greater efciency in developing projects and activities;
Better understanding of the organizational process and dynamics;
Greater personal involvement and participation in own organizations.
All participants also greatly appreciated the opportunity to travel, to meet new people, to meet, share
and learn from other organizations all over Europe. The participants have made new lasting relationships
with people they met from the different countries.
On an organizational level, every partner organization reported benefts from the project. These
are mainly related to the refection times, the training and the exchange of best practice between
the participants that led to an increased knowhow of the participants to lead their organizations,
develop them, set up shared visions, bring about changes, as well as implementing new projects
and activities.
On an inter organizational level: L.E.T. has also led to the establishment of a network between both
the partner organizations, and the diferent participants in the project. Exchanges of information,
ideas, and visits between the diferent organizations are now a reality, while the network provides
support for each organization that needs it.

The Outcomes: Summary
On an
organizational
level, every
partner
organization
reported
benefts from
the project.
Masorti UK
13
L.E.T. has also led to
the establishment of
a network between both
the partner organizations,
and the diferent
participants in the project
For more details,
please see our website:
masortigrundtvig.weebly.com