Tivnu: Building Justice Gap Year Program

The Tivnu Gap Year Program is a 9-month residential experience for high school graduates, ages 17-20. Participants work, study, and live together in Portland, Oregon, building homes and doing other hands-on service work, creating community, and exploring the connections between Judaism and social justice.

At Tivnu: Building Justice, we are driven by a sense of commitment to the Jewish concept of tzedakah. Often mistranslated as charity, the term derives from the Hebrew word for justice and fairness. Our goal is not to “give” our time and energy to those who are “less fortunate,” but to work together with others for a better world for us all. We act from the conviction that housing is a human right, intertwined with other vital rights including food security, environmental justice, and the overall health of neighborhoods and communities.