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Much like the congregation, Monica Saks was moved.

Sitting in the black Baptist church with 11 other Jewish and 12 black teenagers, the clapping rhythms of the choir were like those of a cantor at her synagogue, the pastor's sermon like a text her rabbi might read.

But the differences did not make them unrelatable.

"I could really understand their passion," Saks, 16, of Potomac, said of her experience with the First Baptist Church of Georgetown, which she attended through Operation Understanding D.C. last month. The yearlong program uses experiences such as going to temple and then to a black church to unite black and Jewish youth in a study of their common histories so they may become leaders that can speak against racism and anti-Semitism.

"We all stood up and clapped and kind of moved, they were singing up front and when [the preacher] gave a sermon, it really kind of touched me," Saks said.

Twenty-four teenagers, many from Montgomery County, will spend a year together with the program, which began in 1995 and is modeled after a similar program in Philadelphia, according to Rachael Feldman of Operation Understanding D.C. The program is exclusively for blacks and Jewish high school juniors, who are selected through essay questions and letters of recommendations from clergy and other members of their respective communities. Many students who participate do so because they know someone else who has. Operation Understanding D.C. is funded through donations.

The 2010 class kicked off its year with a retreat that included the worship visits. The group will spend the next six months on identity and history-based activities, then take a three-week trip through New York and then the Deep South to see firsthand the stages upon which their stories have been told.

"That's when all the things they've been talking about for the last six months really comes alive," Feldman said. After that trip the students take speechwriting and public speaking workshops so they can become social justice leaders within their communities, Feldman said.

Russell Crock, 17, of Chevy Chase, said he is looking forward to teaching others what he has learned in the program, which has rewarded him with a "new way of thinking." For example, the group observed interactions within the segregated groups during last month's retreat. They observed "fishbowl" conversations, in which members would watch the Jewish girls or just the black boys converse with one another.

"Most of the black guys had a lot of meaningful things to say, they've been through a lot of different things but they way they talked was with optimism and their outlook was positive," Crock said.

Sam Edelman, 16, of Silver Spring, is Jewish and said he looks forward to creating shared experiences with black students while learning about their shared history of persecution and courage with slavery, the Holocaust and the civil rights movement.

"Because of those shared experiences it creates a strong bond so we can come together and fight for each other and for the rights of any group that is discriminated against," Edelman said. "I have had, before this, very limited experience with black kids. I just haven't had many black friends."

Piper Spellman, 16, of the District, however, has had many Jewish friends. Piper is black and attended Georgetown Day School in middle school, and now goes to the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington.

"I had a lot of Jewish friends and I went to their bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs and got to learn a lot about my friends that way," Spellman said of her middle school experience. Even with a jump start on some of her Operation Understanding peers, Spellman said she wanted to expand her relationship with the Jewish community.

"I hope to be able to advance the relationship between African-Americans and Jews," Spellman said. "It's amazing to be able to experience diversity and understanding. It's more productive."