By Kenny Goszman, NFTY-STR Programming Vice President

Walking into PARTY’s BART Shabbat event last Friday, I had no idea what to expect. Little did I know, I was about to witness the coming-together of seven Broward Country reform congregations in food, in song, in prayer, and in welcoming a very special guest.

The night began with a youth group dinner, where the TYG’s from each of the seven congregations that make up BART, or the Broward County Area Reform Temples, all joined for a delicious meal. This was an awesome reunion with NFTY friends, some of whom I saw last week at NFTY Convention in LA, but also some that I hadn’t seen since Winter Regional in December.

Following the meal, we filed into the large sanctuary with the congregants from the seven Broward congregations where we sang and prayed. It was a true honor to see rabbis and cantors from seven different temples collaborating and producing wonderful music and prayer experiences for us all. The NFT Y section in the back corner of the sanctuary cheered on as current T YG Presidents Brandon Marks, Matt Kessler, Avi Matarasso, and Hanna Santo were called up to the bimah to light the Shabbat candles and lead the congregation in the kiddush.

Later on came the moment we had all been waiting for—the guest of honor at this BART Shabbat, URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacobs, came forth and spoke to us all. Beyond his great Jewish wisdom and his remarkable sense of humor, Rabbi Jacobs made some extremely important points that set a direction for Reform Judaism:

• We must continue to be accepting and open-minded of others who may want to join our community
• We must strive for greater engagement, especially for youth, through creative means
• We must unify and work tirelessly for peace,  and reach out to government officials about issues such as gun control reform
• We must work together to ensure the growth and viability of Reform Judaism everywhere

After the service, both the NFTY group and Rabbi Jacobs stayed behind for a bit so that we could present him with a small gift to show our appreciation for him (he loved his new NFTY-STR travel mug!). We took a few pictures together and he told us that we are the future leaders of Reform Judaism and that it is we who will carry the Reform movement in years to come.

That is a lot on our plates, NFTY-STR, but I know we can do it. Are you ready?

By Jacob Georginow, NFTY Religious & Cultural Vice-President

I’ve wonder why the majority of people that I’ve talked to said that they “hated their first NFTY event.” I know I did.

My first NFTY event was at a temple in Boca Raton, FL, which, coincidentally, was actually where my final NFTY event in the Southern Tropical Region was. It’s funny how things come full circle.  Anyway, I’m at my first NFTY event and I get there and the registration line is huge, full of people hugging and pushing to get their nametags. If you think outside of a NFTY setting, wearing your ID in middle school was never a really cool thing, and I was an eighth grader at the time, so you could understand my reservations about this identification card swinging from my neck on a weekend, when I had to have one all week at school. Beyond this, being an extraordinarily introverted person, I was not going to throw myself into a meeting and greeting kind of situation if I didn’t have to.

Most of the event was really a blur, but I do remember bits and pieces about being in the wrong room for track time, or getting lost in the three-story synagogue. It was a struggle being in a foreign place for a weekend.

—-

Fast forward four years. I’m in the middle of one-hundred and fifty sweating, screaming NFTY-STR men in a gender program in the Orlando Marriott Airport Hotel, screaming Adonai S’fatai as loud as I can. I am on my second term as NFTY-STR Religious and Cultural Vice President, and my three board brothers Lucas, Jordan and Michael are there with me in the middle, supporting each other like family.

In that moment, in the two years as RCVP , all of the things that I had been doing finally made sense, and I couldn’t just stop in June of 2012 when I was to graduate from high school. No way was I ready to be done creating meaningful relationships with reform Jewish high-school teenagers across North America. No way was I done working and struggling with advisors who pushed me past my limits in programming and in life lessons; no way was I done bridging the gap between NFTY and BBYO and the other great youth movements of our time. There was still work to be done, and there ARE still youth that are not yet engaged.

Fast forward two months. I’m back at URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi, where I spent my summer. I’m already back after six months- which only felt like a few days. I’m reading my speech to the General Board of NFTY regarding my candidacy for the next Religious and Cultural Vice President of NFTY. My speech was over the allotted time if I spoke it at the normal speed, so I rushed with a combination of excitement, nervousness and the time-allotment on my mind.

Fast forward two days. After a very fulfilling, all day Asefah session, where we decided the next NFTY study and action themes, where we passed resolutions and recommendations on NFTY’s use on polystyrene and launched the resolution to add Mitzvah Day to our calendar each year, it was time for the voting procedures.

Fast forward 45 minutes. Evan Traylor is the next NFTY President. The room is buzzing, and I am sitting just two tables away from the next President.

Fast forward an hour. Jordan Rodnizki is the next NFTY Programming Vice President. The room explodes, and I’m overwhelmed at how proud I am of my fellow STRite, board member and close friend. Now that I’m between both the President and PVP, things start becoming more and more real.

Fast forward 45 minutes. Joy Nemerson is the next NFTY Social Action Vice President, she steps forward and shes smiling so big and people are crying and hugging and her radiance fills the room. Three-fifth’s of the next NAB was just elected, and I’m asked to leave the room to go to a holding room with three of my very best friends. It felt like an eternity until Forrest Yesnes, the NFTY President at the time, came in and announced to us that there was a run-off. When he said my name I was so stunned and everything hit me like a ten-ton truck. Jesse Paikin started to read us descriptions of movies backwards, and it eased the room a lot. 25 minutes passed.

Suddenly, I am the next NFTY Religious and Cultural Vice President of NFTY. Walking. Embrace. Tears. Laughter. Happiness. Zoot. That’s basically all I remember from that 5 minutes of trying to reach my table to vote for the MCVP.

Fast forward another 30 minutes and I am in the middle of the Asefah room, holding Marlee, Joy, Jordan, Evan and Beth so tightly and so happily.

If you had to ask me why I came back to NFTY I would tell you that I didn’t want to. I skipped a fall event, and was signed up without a choice by a boy in my youth group and my mother in my temple youth lounge. At that event were a few defining moments. One of which, I met my would-be president of my first regional board, Jenna Gorlick, and the NFTY-STR President at the time, who would soon be the NFTY PVP, personally handed me a Kutz flyer and said, “Jacob, I think this opportunity will be good for you. I challenge you to look into it.”

Fifteen minutes later I was in my hotel room on the phone with my mother asking her to sign me up for the Kutz: NFTY’s Summer home for reform Jewish teens. And now, two camper-summers later, I’m on staff here.

Mike Fuld, the assistant director of the Kutz camp runs a program for a small group of campers called Advanced Leadership Seminar. One of the intense things we did in this minor was something called a “This I Believe” statement. Looking back, my This I Believe still rings true.

Time, place and people are everything- this I believe.

By Jordan Rodnizki

On Tuesday, May 8^th, 2012, the state of North Carolina enshrined bigotry, ignorance, and hatred into their constitution. Many adults who hold the power to vote abused this opportunity by deciding to hurt others to protect their own feelings of morality. This angers me, but I do not fear.

Why?

Because on Tuesday, May 8^th, 2012, I wasn’t consumed by bigotry, ignorance, or hatred. I was a witness to hundreds of my closest NFTY friends publicly banding together to denounce the passage of the amendment. Some shared compelling statuses urging for full equality for all Americans; others displayed comparison pictures to the interracial marriage fight. My entire Facebook news feed was flooded with compassionate testimony, genuine words of encouragement, and love.

Teens from the URJ Camp Newman's Avodah session take part in the 2011 San Francisco Pride Parade

Love. Isn’t that what this is all about?

I joined the North American Federation of Temple Youth because I felt openly embraced for my differences. I wasn’t a statistic or a laboratory experiment or a generalized stereotype. I connected with people who valued k’vod, or mutual respect, above all else. After all, it’s highlighted within our Brit Kehilah that we sign before each NFTY event.

We often describe NFTY as a bubble or a utopia. Our environments at school aren’t nearly as warm, crazy, deep, rewarding, or meaningful as our camps, regions, or TYGs. If only the world we live in could emulate our kehilah kedosha, we’d have legalized same sex marriage universally years ago.

Nine year ago, to be exact. In 2003, Max Chaiken, then NFTY-GER RCVP and current URJ Kutz Camp Songleader major co-teacher, wrote a resolution affirming NFTY’s support for gay marriage. It passed that summer, and it wasn’t even the first instance of inclusion adopted by this movement. It wasn’t even the second or third either. In 1983, NFTY boldly spoke out against discrimination of homosexuals. In 1993, NFTY issued a boycott of the Boy Scouts of America because they did not – and STILL do not – allow troupe members and adult leadership to identify as gay. And in 1991, NFTY actually chastised the CCAR for not allowing gay rabbis to fulfill covenantal obligations.

Youth have always been on the right side of history; it’s just our parents that need to listen. And it appears we’ve finally been loud enough: On Wednesday, May 9^th, 2012, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to publicly announce his full support for same sex marriage. Maybe, perhaps in the (near) future, the world we live in will become a little bit more like our NFTY communities.

I’ve always been proud to be Jewish, and I’ve always been proud to be gay. But today, I can confidently say that I am proud to be an American.

Jordan Rodnizki is the Programming Vice President of NFTY-STR and the incoming Programming Vice President of NFTY.