By The North American Board

Over one hundred regional board members have descended upon the URJ Kutz Camp for Mechina 5772. This event is an important beginning for the teen leaders comprising the regional and North American board. Mechina is a leadership training and development event for board members to share their goals and plans for the upcoming year, all while creating and strengthening bonds between the regions.

Mechina actually started four days before our arrival at Kutz with learning trips for the Social Action Vice-Presidents (SAVP) and Religious & Cultural Vice-Presidents (RCVP). Our SAVPs headed off to Washington DC for 3 days of intensive workshops with leaders from the Religious Action Center, Congress, NAACP and other major organizations. The RCVPs spent 3 days at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City learning the fundamentals of their position and engaging in text study with scholars from HUC.

With everybody having finally arrived at Kutz, Mechina has begun in earnest – five days of a wide variety of creative worship services, informative workshops, cross-continental networking, lively discussions and, of course, a TON of fun. We’ll install the new NFTY North American Board members, while saying farewell to the incredible board of 5771-5772. We will convene Asefah, our general board meeting, and work through important NFTY business including constitutional amendments, resolutions and recommendations to shape the future of the Reform Youth Movement.

Mechina is truly the bridge between NFTY years; we close the chapter on the last twelve months and we lay the foundation for the incredible year ahead. Stay tuned to the NFTY Blog, Facebook and Twitter to see all the happenings during this important event!

- Evan, Jordan, Joy, Jacob and Marlee