RJ Blog

Last fall, the URJ received a matching grant from The Jim Joseph Foundation to support the development of a strategic plan for youth engagement. Over the past four months we have been intensively working with two consulting firms to develop this plan: BTW informing change and The Center for Leadership Initiatives. The first phase of the consultancy was the learning phase, which brought extensive data collection from across the movement including: A review of both internal and external documents Two days at the NFTY Convention/Youth Engagement Conference in Los Angeles conducting focus groups with teens, youth professionals, and camp directors, [...]

magine a place where individuals from across the globe join together for the same purpose: to create music and learn from one another. This place exists as the annual Hava Nashira music conference

To celebrate Shavuot last week I joined with friends at a nearby community-wide tikkun leil Shavuot (an all night Torah study) hosted by our congregation, Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. As in so many communities, it was a lively scene as people gathered together, listened, learned, questioned and challenged each other. This inclusive form of community gathering is a foundation of Reform Judaism and has served as a core element for the Campaign for Youth Engagement. Following the launch of the campaign at the Biennial in 2011, the URJ began reflecting on NFTY, URJ camps, Mitzvah Corps, Israel programs, and [...]

Allison recently wrote this heartfelt letter to her daughter, Logan, after dropping her off at her first Spring Kallah. She speaks of the gratitude she feels and retells her own NFTY experience over 25 years ago in the same region.

by Loui Dobin As I am writing these words, I am on a plane home from Israel. We took off a couple of hours ago and have just crossed the coast of France. Now that we are “feet-wet” over the North Atlantic, I have had a little time to think about my trip. I landed on the eve of Yom Ha’atzmaut and was picked up at the airport by Amira Bar-Shalom, during Yom Hazikaron (Israeli memorial day) just in time to stand in silence as all of the sirens in Israel sounded for two minutes to commemorate those who had died. That evening, I found my way on the [...]

Every camper has their own spark, something that makes them tick, their burning passion. An ineffable desire that makes them excited to wake up each morning. One action item for the counselors is to help each camper find and ignite their spark.

It’s been just about a year since Jordan Magidson joined the team here at Camp Kalsman! Check out her perspective on the year and the experience of wearing two different hats in the same community.

by Josh Miller, Steven Green, Leah Nadich Meir and Joel Einleger  Collaboration and partnership have become the buzzwords of our time. The business world as well as the nonprofit sector heralds the advantages of collaboration: sharing resources, bringing multiple perspectives to address difficult issues, eliminating duplication, learning from one another and pooling assets. The Jim Joseph and AVI CHAI Foundations, as funders interacting with multiple organizations across sectors, have a bird’s-eye view of what can result when organizations function from within their own separate silos: duplicate efforts on the one hand and unaddressed needs on the other. This led us [...]

by Rabbi Dan Medwin Last week, I was given a wonderfully challenging task as the CCAR rabbinic staff member at the NFTY Convention:  Take fifty participants from the Youth Engagement Conference and a two-hour prayer lab session, and plan multiple services for about 900 NFTY Convention participants.  While seemingly impossible, I jumped at the opportunity.   After all, we produce Visual T’filah and all the prayer books for the Reform Movement – I could do this! Working with my colleague Rabbi Noam Katz and Jewish musician Dan Nichols (and joined by rabbis Erin Mason and Ana Bonheim), we were tempted to [...]

by Jeffrey Kagan With the 2013 Youth Engagement Conference in the books, I’ve been processing what exactly happened for four days in Los Angeles. Having attended seven previous conferences dedicated to honing the skills of NFTY’s youth workers, I’ve seen many different approaches, all with the best of intentions but with varying degrees of success. One of the issues that consumed me during the conference, and even now in the hours following it, is what it means to be truly “engaged” in working with our teens.I’ve held many roles over the years as a youth group adviser—counselor, mentor, guide, collaborator, [...]

URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs delivered a message to open Shabbat at NFTY Convention 2013 to a crowd of over 1,000 people.

by Lindsey Morgan Youth Advisor A asks, “Are you going to the URJ’s Youth Engagement Conference?” Youth Advisor B answers, “Well, I’m not entirely sure yet. I haven’t talked to my temple, board and it hasn’t been approved. To be perfectly honest, I also have no idea what ‘youth engagement’ really means and whether there’s a comprehensive enough understanding of what it is to meaningfully present a program I’ll get something out of.” Confession, full-disclosure: I was Youth Advisor B.

Recently, Congregation Or Ami sponsored two teens – 10th graders Sophie Barnes and Josh Gellerman – to attend the NFTY NASHIR Songleading Weekend in Seattle, Washington. As Cantor Doug Cotler has made it a priority to nurture new Jewish songleaders, musicians, composers and singers, we were excited to send these musical teens for training. Both Josh and Sophie recently reflected on their experiences. Sophie writes: In early January, I attended a NFTY NASHIR Song leading weekend with about 30 teenagers from all over the country and Canada. We learned all about being a song leader in a Jewish community and [...]

By Stephen Weitzman Amazing! Absolutely amazing! Those are the only words that immediately come to mind to accurately describe all that took place at Camp Chazak, the URJ’s program for children whose social development makes it difficult for them to function in a “typical” camp environment, which is held each year at Eisner and Crane Lake Camps. Then again, the word exceptional also comes close!