RJ Blog

by Rabbi Elisa F. Koppel It’s been a week since I returned home from NFTY Convention and the Youth Engagement Conference. Between catching up, Purim, and exhaustion, I haven’t yet gotten the chance to post some reflections. I had hoped to blog during the event, but seemed to use every moment for catching up and networking with old friends and cherished colleagues.  Today, thanks to Jury Duty, I have some time to sit and write. I actually started writing this while at the convention! Roll into dark Roll into light Night becomes day Day turns to night On Friday night, [...]

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, [...]

by Hope Chernak I’ve spent the last four days at my eighth NFTY Convention/Youth Professional Conference (now known as the Youth Engagement Conference), and I can’t help but reflect on events past. In 1999, there were 13 of us full-time “youth workers.” We came from all over the United States, and this was the first time we had a chance to meet in person. A few sessions were offered to us for professional development, and we attended song sessions and worship with our temple teens who were attending NFTY Convention. I remember vividly a special meeting hosted by J.C. Cohen, [...]

by Rabbi Kimberly Herzog Cohen It was 10:30 at night (12:30 Dallas time). We were in another windowless room, and it had been a long day of travel. But I was pumped. Why? Because I just witnessed 860 teens sing their heart out and delight in being together. The energy is palpable here at the Youth Engagement Conference, and I feel blessed to be part of it. I entered the windowless room and encountered the question posed to the participants in the conference, made up of educators, youth group leaders, clergy and more: Why are you here?

Since starting my blog, Jewish Special Needs Education, I realize that I am noticing inclusion – and the absence of inclusion – all the time. It kind of reminds me of being pregnant and noticing other pregnant woman everywhere you go! But more on this in a moment. I spent this Shabbat in Los Angeles at the URJ Youth Engagement Conference and NFTY Convention. To be honest, I was a little bit skeptical about coming to the conference. I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a full-time educator, my role is certainly one of engaging our youth. I understand the value [...]

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.

by Rachel Kasten Within an hour of the official kick-off of the Youth Engagement Conference, I was already inspired. Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, the URJ’s Director of Youth Engagement, informed us that each of our presenters were asked to give a talk they had never given before, in order to model the conference’s goals of thinking new thoughts and taking risks. Our first speaker, Allison Fine, an author, blogger, and speaker, recounted a story that she said has stuck with her for some time. It is now stuck with me, too. A young Jewish adult attended services at the local Chabad [...]

The time has come! Today marks the start of the 2013 Youth Engagement Conference, and 130 participants – Reform Jewish professionals and lay leaders invested in youth work – have arrived in Los Angeles to kick off four and a half days of learning, teaching, experimenting, and relationship-building. We at the URJ view this conference as a laboratory for developing the field of youth engagement and a unique opportunity for dialogue, development, and networking. So what’s different about this year’s Youth Engagement Conference? Our staff imagined and crafted this year’s gathering to be, above all else, an opportunity for experimentation, [...]

by Rachel Kasten In a few hours, we’ll be hopping off a plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan, but right now we’re a youth professional and an involved teen getting excited about attending the Youth Engagement Conference and NFTY Convention, respectively. I’m the Assistant Director of Education & Youth Programs at Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati, OH, attending the Youth Engagement Conference while Alyssa Weisman, a NFTY-Ohio Valley Regional Board member and a madricha at Wise Temple’s Religious School, attends NFTY Convention. This is my third time attending NFTY Convention – once as a student, and [...]

by Robin Messing Bogdanoff It started in August 2011 with, of all things, a shirt pocket. It was a very small pocket on a child’s striped tee shirt that caught my eye, because the shirt had been miraculously reinvented into a tote bag. What an inspired idea, to turn an iconic T-shirt into a bag! Strong and compact, yet expandable, colorful, playful, infinitely useful – and not difficult or expensive to make. For my $10 purchase, Massachusetts textile artist Crispina ffrench included instructions on how to make more bags and gave me permission to share the instructions with our synagogue community [...]

by Steven Portnoy The mission of the Men of Reform Judaism’s (MRJ) Reform on Campus (ROC) committee is “to assist students in creating meaningful Reform Jewish experiences on campus that will lead them to being active and involved Reform Jews for life.” Because I have been an involved member of this committee for eight years, the last five of which I have served as chair, I am intimately familiar with the committee and its work.

Recently I had the good fortune to offer a workshop for educators that I called, “Parents as Partners: Working with Parents in Jewish Special Needs Education.” I was well aware, from the start of the workshop, that the educators assembled wanted pointers on how to handle difficult conversations with parents. They were eager to help their students, but seemed to feel great apprehension around how to potentially develop open and supportive communication with parents. Open and supportive communication with parents is essential for a successful Jewish supplemental school experience for any child, especially those with special learning needs. However, my [...]

by Jennifer B. Perlick Two years ago I realized, “Wow, my daughter’s bat mitzvah is coming up!” Of course, I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be really meaningful for her – and for me and the whole family – but I wasn’t super-inspired by the b’nai mitzvah ceremonies I was attending at my synagogue. Don’t get me wrong, I love my congregation, Har HaShem in Boulder, CO. It offers the largest community of Jewish families in Boulder, its religious school is extremely well-run, and the rabbi and cantor are both young and hip. But the b’nai [...]