Were you able to get out of town at all during this past holiday break? We took our kids on a brief but lovely visit to our nation’s capital. Our older daughter, Eve, is studying American history. It was neat showing her the major monuments and memorials and going to the National Museum of American History.
It is something that I learned outside of the monuments and museums, however, which I want to share with you. We timed our family trip to D.C. to join some old friends from when we served North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL near Chicago. They were visiting their son Marc, who remained in Washington after graduation George Washington University two years ago. We are all very proud of Marc, who was not only the GW Hillel President, but last year served as a Legislative Assistant/Intern at the Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement and this year works as an advocacy coordinator for the American Jewish World Service (an organization that has been likened to the Jewish Peace Corp; see www.ajws.org) What I discovered from speaking with Marc is that he is not living in Washington on his own but in a house with a group of friends, themselves part of a network of friends all doing terrific things. Marc’s girlfriend, Zoe, works at Children’s National Medical Center as a teen program specialist, helping children with cancer and sickle cell anemia. Their friend, Xani, teaches pre-school at the JCC in downtown D.C., and runs teen philanthropy programs at the JCC and a local Temple. Another friend, Jeremy, works in Planned Parenthood’s international office. Yet another friend, Eric, is beginning an internship on Capitol Hill for Congressman Carney of Delaware.
We had dinner with these friends and joked that they could probably be the basis of a sit com like “Friends” except the show would only get aired on Shalom Television. You see, all of these young people are Jewish. To be specific, they are all from Reform Jewish families. To be even more specific, they all know one another and became friends while attending and serving as staff at the Union for Reform Judaism camp in Oconomowoc, WI - Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute.. Marc explained that there are actually about a dozen kids from this URJ camp living within 15 minutes of one another in D.C. In addition to hanging out (in the little time they have when they are not working) they sometimes have Shabbat dinners together, celebrate holidays and a number of them attend a liberal Jewish Shabbat minyan called, “Tikkun Leil”. In my Sentry article this month, I explained that at the URJ Biennial, the new URJ leadership introduced the “Campaign for Youth Engagement.” Studies have shown that approximately 80% of the children who become b’nei mitzvah in our congregations have no connection of any kind to their Jewish community by the time they reach 12th grade, far fewer after they graduate college. There is so much we need to do to reverse this trend. But, there are some things we know for sure make an enormous difference: Jewish teen trips to Israel and Jewish summer camps, i.e. camps that consciously and creatively develop Jewish identity, like the Union for Reform Judaism summer camps.
It is no mystery why these summer camps and Israel trips make such a difference. It’s all about friends. Young people’s identities are shaped by their friends. Camps and Israel trips create instant communities for young people where friendships are formed; the longer and more sustained the program the deeper the bonds. If those friendships are formed in a place where being Jewish matters, those friends are apt to be people for whom being Jewish matters. It is those friendships that are the fertile ground for a deep, abiding and meaningful Jewish identity for our young people as they grow into adulthood.
What did you see on your winter vacation? I saw the future of our Reform Jewish community. It was dynamic, bright and beautiful. But, it’s up to us to give our children the chance to be part of it. It’s never too early or too late. For more information on how to do this go to http://urj.org/youth. For information on our regional URJ summer camp and how to register your child go to http://harlam.urjcamps.org. (This just in, a great video: http://harlam.urjcamps.org/video) You can contact Jonah Zinn, our rabbinic intern and youth advisor reached at jonahzinn@gmail.org and, of course, I am available as well. You can also speak with me about scholarship money that is available to attend these programs.
Shabbat Shalom,
Jordan
P.S. If you have a high school student in grades 10-12 it is not too late to sign up for our trip to Washington, D.C., where our teens will participate in the L’Taken Seminar, a Jewish leadership and social justice weekend run by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the URJ office in D.C. Email Jonah today. You never know where this might lead!
pp.s. - Check out my blog at the address above to reply to my message and engage in dialogue with other members of our community on any issue you choose!
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