Annual Programs

My Family Story (MFS), now in its 28th anniversary year, is a meaningful and fun Jewish heritage program that involves 20,000 Jewish youth from over 30 countries around the globe. Students research their roots and use their creative skills to design original, artistic installations that capture the essence of their family history. Top entries are selected for display in an international exhibition.

My Family Story goes beyond the typical family tree. It connects the younger generation, between 10-14 years old, to their personal stories, their family stories, and the broader story of the Jewish people.

My Family Story is one of ANU – Museum of the Jewish People’s most innovative flagship programs. Through a yearlong curriculum, young participants in Israel and worldwide Jewish communities embark on a fun and meaningful, personal, experiential, international and multigenerational Jewish heritage project. Through rigorous research and inspiring creativity, the students produce a final art display illustrating their personal exploration into their family roots and connection to the greater story of the Jewish people.

Our society embraces the young and tends to minimize – or overlook – significant past and current contributions that seniors and aging loved ones have made to their family, community and society.

There is often a wide gap between the generations. When the younger generation asks “Ma Nishtana?” at the Passover seder, it is a key moment in Jewish tradition because our collective memory is being relayed from generation to generation.

Telling a personal story can often bridge the gap between the younger and older generations, enabling seniors to share their family and community’s collective Jewish history that is replete with traditions, memories, knowledge and moving stories.

Com.unity is a new, one-of-a-kind database of Jewish communities throughout the world. On this website you will discover a plethora of communities from across the Jewish spectrum: old and new, traditional and progressive, religious and secular, in Israel and throughout the world, in-person and online.