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Four Questions to Ask Ourselves When It Comes to Youth Engagement
After spending time with more than 3,000 teens – as well as many youth professionals and other stakeholders – at the 2015 NFTY Convention and Youth Summit, I am more convinced than ever that everybody is a winner when it comes to youth engagement.
I don’t mean that we all get little plastic trophies to keep on our shelves, nor do I mean that we will divide and distribute the prize so that we each get a bit of cake or a trinket. What I mean is that it is in the interest of the entire Jewish community to engage our young people and to build a strong youth community. When we delve deeply into the “why” of youth engagement, we find that doing so creates profound meaning for teens, their parents, and their families, for the professionals who work with them, for their congregational communities, and for the larger Jewish community.
The reasons to allocate time and resources to build a vibrant Jewish youth community aren’t complex, but those of us who are passionate about youth engagement don’t always state our case simply enough. With Passover approaching, I came up with four questions – and their answers – that may help us make our case.
Mazal Tov to the Recipients of our Travel Justly grants!
On Wednesday, the Religious Action Center announced the eleven congregations and Reform Movement affiliates across the U.S. and Canada who won "Travel Justly" grants, which they will use to put into action a wide variety of sustainability and environmental initiatives. The projects include congregational gardening, donating eco-friendly light bulbs to a Mitzvah Corps volunteer site in Costa Rica and an initiative to create a ride-sharing program for synagogue events.
Blessings for Festival and Yom Tov Candle Lighting
These blessings are recited for candle lighting on Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.
How to Use the URJ Reflection Tool
We recently introduced the URJ Reflection Project, a tool for the High Holidays that can be found at reflect.reformjudaism.org. Here, we share suggestions of how to use its many ideas with your congregation.
With Wounds Still Open, We Ask: Where is God?
I do not believe that God sent us COVID-19, and I do not believe God will cure it. That is for humans to do, using our God-given intellect and ambition to develop the vaccines and treatments that will help stop the spread of this natural virus.
We Ourselves Went Forth from Egypt
Our encounter with the offerings made in the Tabernacle is interrupted on the Shabbat of April 4th by a description of the Exodus that we celebrate on this day, the first day of Pesach.
Your Guide to Fasting (or Not) on Yom Kippur
For many Jews, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a fasting holiday – a day during which we abstain from eating, drinking, and even brushing our teeth or using perfumes. (Learn more about what we abstain from and why.)
How to Turn Your Home into a Sanctuary for the High Holidays
Like our ancestors before us, we must again bring worship “inside” and create a sacred space at home while we are in front of our computers.
What Jewish Tradition Says About Health and Wellness
Sh'mirat haguf – literally, guarding the body – is the religious imperative to take care of our body and soul. Learn how you can fulfill this mitzvah.
How to Get into the High Holidays State of Mind
It's a challenge and necessity, especially during this pandemic, to set boundaries between work time and family or personal time, between home office and home. How do we do that, emotionally?