This month marks a new partnership between Mythic Imagination Institute and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life creating a program called Celebration Initiative. Jacob Schreiber, who is heading up this project on behalf of the Steinhardt Foundation, attended Mythic Journeys and immediately said to himself, this is working, this is the energy and point of view I need to make the Shabbat Celebration strong for both Jews and non-Jews. So he asked us to partner and that project is underway with Mythic Journeys stalwart Ellen Kushner and a group of the MII leadership staff.

Pushing against the walls of tradition, which have largely defined the Jewish sabbath, Celebration Initiative hopes to re-inspire young Jews who may not have much knowledge or connection to their own tradition and include anyone else in the Celebration as a way of intercultural understanding. It is our goal for MII to provide this service to groups from other traditions, bringing them into the Mythic Imagination gathering of the tribes.

Initially, Celebration Initiative will be activated on college campuses. Young people need to understand themselves and figure out how their lives fit into a larger world. Celebration Initiative connects people to the threads of wisdom and joy within Judaism that provides a way to begin answering these inner questions. Story and ritual can touch the lives of students and help them navigate their journeys aided by Jewish tradition and community. The pilot program launches this month on two university campuses, Indiana University in Bloomington, and Emory University in Atlanta. Currently, the structure forms an integrated arc of seven separate evenings occurring over the course of the first year.

Celebration Initiative's content is based on foundational Jewish cultural and religious strengths expressed through participatory and thematic music, story, art, comedy, film, theatre and dance. Using authentic experiences, young Jews may come to enjoy their religion in new and relevant ways. Mythic Imagination Institute understands the power of stories and rituals; together with Hillel International, we hope to help others realize that these stories and rituals aren't just old, inapplicable lore. Myth can provide guideposts for personal journeys, helping people find and follow their heart's desire.

Additionally, the Celebration Initiative provides a vibrant community of peers and elders within the University wherein new ideas and experiences can be explored. Relevance and wisdom combines with companionship, food, music, intellect and expression.

We're also creating a structural template that, over time, will be refined through the execution and experience of the Shabbat Celebrations. We expect it to become more and more useful for groups wishing to pursue creating the celebrations of their own. Each Shabbat will be a stand-alone experience, but they will also fit together and build upon each other in order to create rhythm, expectation, opportunities for participation and greater depth of content.

In order to do all this, Celebration Initiative enlists talented people of inner and outer stature. The first Celebration Initiative event will feature award-winning author and host of PRI: Public Radio International's Sound & Spirit Ellen Kushner, hip-hop slam poet Kevin Coval, and music under the direction of Craig Taubman.