The Akiva Fellowship
Some of the most meaningful Jewish communities begin with one person saying: come over, let’s learn together. The Akiva Fellowship is for people who want to gather their friends, neighbors, or peers for meaningful Jewish conversation—no rabbinic title or teaching background required. You bring the people. We’ll help you build the circle.
A Small Group Can Change Everything
Through hundreds of IYUN Circles, we’ve learned something simple: small-group Jewish learning, when it’s designed with intention, becomes something more than a class. It becomes a catalytic engine for deep Jewish community.
We also know that leadership isn’t just for the person with the title. We believe in empowering regular people to invite their neighbors, their friend group and even the barista with a Jewish star tattoo for some soul quenching Jewish conversation. That’s why we’re equipping passionate peer-community-builders (people like you) to convene and facilitate learning circles that generate depth, relationships, and real Jewish substance.
Who Are We?
The Akiva Fellowship is brought to you by IYUN, a project of Assembly, in partnership with the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah (LKFLT). It’s led by Melissa Werbow, Erica Frankel, and Leah Kahn — who have built Jewish learning communities for thousands of adults of all backgrounds, and who have trained hundreds of rabbis and Jewish educators to do so, too.
As an Akiva Fellow, you’ll be equipped, coached, and supported to convene your own micro-community for meaningful Jewish conversation and learning.
What You'll Get
We’ll give you everything you need to lead with confidence: a highly scaffolded IYUN Leader Guide with exact prompts, framing language, timing guidance, and even ideas for setting the vibe, plus a low-barrier virtual training before your Circle begins.
You’ll also have people in your corner. You’ll join a small peer “havurah” of other Akiva Fellows and receive light-touch coaching and mentorship from IYUN’s Learning & Facilitation Coach, Leah Kahn.
And we want to help make your gatherings delightful. Fellows will have access to $200–$500 microgrants for shared food, supplies, and hospitality, as well as an optional (but awesome!), all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago for Assembling Community, our October gathering for Akiva Fellows and other community builders.
Along the way, you’ll also help shape a national experiment—sharing what you learn with IYUN and the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah as we explore what helps lay-led Jewish learning communities flourish.
What You'll Contribute
The Akiva Fellowship is a learning partnership, so we’re looking for Fellows who are ready to genuinely give it a go. You’ll complete a virtual onboarding training, gather a group of at least 8 people, and facilitate at least 8 gatherings by June 30, 2027, meeting at least monthly and no more than weekly.
You’ll use IYUN’s materials to create meaningful Jewish conversation in whatever setting best suits your people—a living room, café, park, community space, or somewhere else entirely.
Because this Fellowship is also part of a larger research and learning project, we’ll ask you to participate in occasional reflection sessions, interviews, surveys, and brief monthly meeting snapshots; to help your participants engage with the research process; and to respond to IYUN and research-team check-ins in a reasonable amount of time.
Questions? We're Here
If you have questions about whether this is right for you please reach out to Melissa Werbow, at . If you are ready to join us, you can self-nominate. Or help us spread the word by nominating other amazing community builders.