Familiar face joins JCC in quest to strengthen adolescent engagement and bolster Diller program
Seven years removed from his own participation in Diller Teen Fellows, Zev Schreiber leans on experience and colleagues while leading leadership program
Some see how the sausage is made and choose to renounce meat. Others witness the process and elect to improve operations. Nearly seven years after participating in Diller Teen Fellows through the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill resident Zev Schreiber has returned to lead the program.
Guiding a cohort of adolescents through a yearlong Jewish leadership experience wasn’t necessarily Schreiber’s plan after graduating Case Western Reserve University in May. In fact, there was some “self-doubt” regarding his ability to manage such a serious task, he told the Chronicle.
Schreiber, 23, formerly participated in the Diller Teen experience. But seven years had passed and the reality of Jewish life for teens felt different now, he said. Equipped with a psychology and sociology degree, Schreiber was considering other professional opportunities. However, a series of conversations with a Jewish professional altered his trajectory.
Months before he graduated college, Schreiber spoke with Rebecca Kahn, then-director of teen leadership at the JCC. She needed a student intern — someone who would accompany teens to Israel for three weeks in the summer and aid other program aspects.
Schreiber was a member of Pittsburgh Diller Cohort 10 — the program is now on Cohort 17 — and understood the responsibilities involved. He agreed and began preparing for the pivotal summer trip. Often billed as Diller’s capstone experience, Israel Summer Seminar enables fellows from 32 participating communities to congregate in the Jewish state.
When last summer’s trip was canceled due to the Iran-Israel war, Schreiber pivoted with the program and accompanied Pittsburgh’s cohort to Washington, D.C., for a relocated seminar. He observed Diller’s operations and spoke with Kahn again before she moved to Massachusetts.
“We had a heart-to-heart,” he said. “A couple weeks later, I ended up applying for the position. She convinced me, you could say.”
Schreiber is now months into his tenure as JCC’s director of teen leadership. Apart from overseeing Diller — a program supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh — he’s part of a JCC team who manage other teen activities, according to Rachael Speck, JCC’s chief program and innovation officer.
Whether it’s Diller or other teen-centered endeavors, those working with the demographic understand “it’s been a challenging few years for the Jewish community,” Speck said.
COVID reduced gatherings to digital meetups and prevented Pittsburgh teens from traveling to Israel for summer seminars in 2020 or 2021. Once the pandemic ended, “we definitely found ourselves in a time of rebuilding,” Speck said.
Although the JCC redoubled efforts to serve constituents, the commitment to growth faced further adversity. Following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and the resulting Israel-Hamas war, changes were again made to the Israel Summer Seminar, as fellows spent summer 2024 in Spain and 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Meaningful alternate experiences were arranged by Diller International, but the “impact” was noticeable, Speck said.
Recognizing the backdrop and current pressures on teens is essential, Speck and Schreiber told the Chronicle.
“The program has always been grounded in a strong sense of Jewish peoplehood — particularly in building that connection with our partnership city, Karmiel/Misgav — but over the past few years the program structure has really evolved,” Speck said. Significant emphasis is placed on “empowering teens” and cultivating an opportunity to explore and create a “meaningful relationship with Israel.”
Growing, gaining awareness and developing new ties takes time. At this point in the year, Schreiber said last week, teens are focused on translating their Jewish identities into leadership skills. It’s all a leadup to the annual Jewish Community Mifgash, where teens from the Karmiel and Misgav region will travel to Pittsburgh for 10 days in March for home hospitality and joint activities with the Pittsburgh cohort.
Seven years removed from his own participation in the Jewish Community Mifgash, Schreiber is still in touch with the Israeli teens who stayed in his house and became his friends during the experience.
Pointing to a dated photo of him alongside two Israeli teens, Schreiber said a “bond” develops when people get the chance to sit, talk and watch each other’s lives.
Diller is predicated on building Jewish identity and a connection to Israel, and the peer-to-peer exchange is a key ingredient, Speck said.
Though she touted Diller for offering “it all,” the Jewish staffer noted there’s no one program that “fits every single teenager.” Best practices necessitate “meeting teens where they are at.”
Determining that place is imperative, she continued. “It’s important to ask teens what’s going to get them engaged, and what we can do as educators and leaders in the community to get them engaged. That’s a difficult thing to do, but it’s incredibly important.”
Since joining the JCC’s staff those thoughts keep swirling in Schreiber’s mind.
“What gets me excited about my job isn’t just the position I have as Diller coordinator — and working on these mifgashim, or monthly meetings with the fellows or planning workshops and Shabbatons — it’s the idea of thinking about Jewish teens in Pittsburgh and what is going to get them engaged,” he said. PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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