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Tag: NCSY

Teens bake for others

Teens bake for others

Teens from CTeens, NCSY and BBYO joined together for the Not Your Bubbies’ Babka Bake at Congregation Schara Tzedek on March 7. (photo from CTeens)

On March 17, teens from three local organizations – CTeens (Chabad Teens), NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth) and BBYO (B’nai B’rith Youth Organization) – joined together for a mitzvah. Around 30 teens from Richmond and Vancouver gathered for the Not Your Bubbies’ Babka Bake at Congregation Schara Tzedek, where they learned how to braid challah and make chocolate babka.

This wasn’t an ordinary get-together, it was a mitzvah event, timed to help celebrate Purim. The challot went to seniors in the Light of Shabbat Program, and the teens took the babkas home.

The Light of Shabbat Program is run by Chabad Richmond, in partnership with the Kehila Society. Every other week, a group of volunteers makes and delivers full kosher meals, along with Shabbat candles and grape juice, to Richmond seniors who are alone on Friday nights. To find out more about the program, visit chabadrichmond.com/lightofshabbat. Part of the meal is homemade challah, which was made by these teens as part of the mishloach manot (also referred to as shalach manot), or Purim food baskets, given on the holiday.

It’s a mitzvah and tradition for adults to send a gift basket of ready-to-eat foods to at least one friend during the day of Purim. The baskets should include at least two foods, often hamantashen, chocolate, fruit, cookies or candy. The source of mishloach manot is the Megillah, or Book of Esther, which talks about “sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.” The idea of sending gifts of food on Purim is to strengthen our bonds of friendship with fellow Jews, as one theme of Purim is friendship and unity.

Aiden, a 15-year-old CTeen, said the reason he joined the Not Your Bubbies’ Babka Bake event was to meet other Jewish teens, and help out. “I love to bake,” he said, “and it makes me feel good knowing that the challahs we’re baking are going to seniors in our community.”

A CTeen for two years, Aiden wanted to feel more connected to the Jewish community, so he started going to shul at Chabad Richmond. Then he met Rabbi Chalom Loeub, who leads the CTeen program. Among other things, the CTeens get together every Sunday to bake cookies and cakes for seniors. Aiden also mentioned going to the CTeen International Shabbaton in New York, which he said was “incredible.” He’s now trying to get other Jewish teens involved in CTeen, too.

Jillian Marks, 17, was another participant in the challah and babka bake. She came to the event through her involvement with BBYO. As a youth leader for the Vancouver chapter, she wants to create “a pluralistic environment for everyone who wants to meet other Jews and feel safe and be whoever they want to be.” BBYO holds different events, all of which have some Jewish element to them. For this particular event, BBYO joined with CTeens and NCSY to “work together, not compete. You can be in all of the groups, not just in one of them,” said Marks.

Each of the youth groups emphasizes leadership skills, and many of their events are teen-run initiatives. Marks added that “the purpose of this challah/babka bake was not just to meet other Jewish teens, but also to volunteer and help out the community.”

All the teens echoed the same sentiments – that making challah for seniors is a mitzvah and that it feels good to volunteer. It’s a nice perk, they said, that they also get to meet other Jewish teens, adding that they would “get the word out” to their friends.

Several teens from NCSY, including Neer, 16, Jessie, 17, and Romy, 16, also attended the challah and babka bake. They run Live to Give, a social action outreach program for the local NCSY chapter. One of their projects is to take homemade baking to Louis Brier Home and Hospital residents. One of the teens said, “For seniors who have no family, or very little, it’s special for them, and it brings a lot of light to their life.”

Members of the NCSY chapter also make and deliver food to people in Oppenheimer Park. “It’s a great opportunity to help out in the community and it’s very rewarding,” said the teen.

Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2019April 10, 2019Author CTeensCategories LocalTags baking, BBYO, CTeens, Judaism, NCSY, Purim, tikkun olam, youth
NCSY at Sheba centre

NCSY at Sheba centre

Dr. Amit Segev gets his heart checked out by one of the participants in NCSY Canada’s Jewish Journeys summer program. Segev gave all the teens a stethoscope to commemorate their visit to Sheba Medical Centre. (photo from SMC)

More than 30 teenage participants from NCSY Canada’s Jewish Journeys summer program were recently treated to a VIP tour of Sheba Medical Centre’s Olga and Lev Leviev Heart Centre.

Dr. Amit Segev, director of Sheba Medical Centre’s cardiac division, showed the group a short presentation of how the heart can malfunction and what doctors can do to save patient’s lives in such instances. As there is nothing like a dose of reality to enhance the experience, Segev showed the teens a live view of a medical procedure being performed on a patient suffering from a heart malfunction.

As a token of appreciation for their visit – and perhaps spur their interest in a future medical career – Segev gave each participant a Sheba Medical Centre stethoscope.

Format ImagePosted on August 18, 2017August 16, 2017Author Sheba Medical CentreCategories WorldTags Canada, health care, Israel, NCSY, Sheba Medical Centre
Making lasting connections

Making lasting connections

Salome Henry, second from the right, in Jerusalem on her Ambassadors to Poland trip with, left to right, Deborah Stein, Ashley Solomon and Zahava Rothschild. (photo from Salome Henry)

The Anne Samson Jerusalem Journey (TJJ) is trying to increase Jewish engagement among Conservative, Reform and non-denominational youth. A four-week summer program for public high school teens, TJJ takes participants on a Jewish heritage trip to historical and modern sites in Israel.

Participant Salome Henry, 16, was born in France and later made her way to Vancouver with her family, before recently moving again with her family to Boston. She went on TJJ – which is run by NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth, the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union) – two years ago. She stayed involved with NCSY after the trip, which she took while she was still living in Vancouver.

“I’m hoping to stay connected to the organization,” Henry told the Independent. “I ended up going on a second summer program after TJJ. I went on the Ambassadors to Poland trip, which was spending one week in Poland learning about Jewish history, followed by three weeks in Israel, which was really intensive.”

While Henry goes to public school, her school has a Jewish students union, which she helped get started this past year. “This is one way that I stay connected to the Jewish community, because it’s rather hard if you go to public school.”

Henry said, “Most of the friends I have at school who are Jewish don’t really associate with Judaism, or they don’t consider themselves Jewish, or they celebrate things in different degrees…. I thought to myself that it would be great to have something like this. I know I definitely wanted to be able to talk about Jewish issues that I usually discuss at NCSY, but I feel like a lot of other kids can benefit from it, too.’”

Henry’s school has a large Jewish population from Israeli, Russian and American backgrounds. “It’s a very diverse community,” said Henry. “I remember when I came to the school, I realized there were so many people who are Jewish.”

The Jewish student group is looking at planning a trip next year to Israel or a one-week trip to Poland. At board meetings, they talk about upcoming holidays and there is a rabbi on hand if people have any religious or spiritual questions.

“We just received a lot of funding for next year, so what we are going to be doing is getting speakers to come and speak on important subjects and people will be able to come after school and listen to them,” said Henry.

In addition to putting together the speakers program for next year, Henry is finding places where students can volunteer in conjunction with the local synagogues. “I think it would be nice to add that aspect to our club,” she said.

“I’m going to delegate some work to some younger kids, because I want the club to be able to grow afterwards,” she added. “If all the seniors in the club graduate and no one can take over, that would be unfortunate.”

Another thing weighing on Henry is to find ways to support Israel in the larger community. “When I was in Israel last summer, we talked a lot about what it means to be a Jew on a college campus and how to speak up for Israel, especially in terms of media,” she said. “It’s hard to really talk to people who are so against it.

“A lot of kids have these ideas – they see it [Israel] in the media, which is captured very differently from what the reality is, so they immediately assume that what Israel is doing is wrong. If they took the time to analyze, they’d see what Israel is doing is logical and is what any other country would do.

“If they knew more about the IDF [Israel Defence Forces], they’d know it’s one of the most moral armies out there. So, I think that’s really something that we … today, as American Jewish youth, if we have the resources to learn about it … we really have the duty to tell others around us who don’t know about it, because it’s for the good of the Jewish community. It’s also our reputation that is at stake. Hopefully, we can focus on that next year.”

Being from France, Henry is keeping a close watch on what is unfolding there, as well – and more so as of late, as she will be there this summer. “I’m so concerned, because I know that things in Europe are so much worse for Jews,” said Henry. “With current events, people are starting to realize the intensity of the situation.”

From conversations with her family, Henry has become more aware that this current situation is not a new one for French Jews – something she feels people need to be educated about. “It’s horrifying to think the Holocaust has already happened, but people are still saying the same things that they were in the in 1940s. There’s still so much hate out there.”

Henry’s parents are very proud and happy with her involvement. “Both my parents love my NCSY friends and they are happy that I have that community near me,” she said. “They are thankful, because they know how much they mean to me.”

Seeing her go to Israel last summer with TJJ while Israel was in the midst of a conflict did not overly concern her parents, as they knew she was in good hands with a great group of kids, said Henry. And, indeed, everyone returned home safe.

Positive TJJ stats

According to a recent study commissioned by NCSY, 92% of the Jerusalem Journey “alumni feel emotionally attached or very attached to Israel.”

“The results suggest that TJJ – the trip, the subsequent educational activities and other consequences of participation – played a major role in generating increased Jewish engagement in these areas, and undoubtedly many others as well,” said the report, called The Jewish Impact of the Anne Samson Jerusalem Journey (TJJ): Increasing Jewish Engagement among Conservative, Reform and Non-Denominational Youth.

Conducted by Prof. Steven M. Cohen of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Ezra Kopelowitz, chief executive officer of Research Success Technologies in Israel, the internet survey portion of the study took place last spring. Non-Orthodox alumni who had participated in summer programs since 2007 were contacted. Of the 1,784 alumni surveyed, more than 20% provided responses that could be used in the analysis.

Questions focused “on behaviors and attitudes considered to be important to Jewish leaders across the denominational spectrum” in an attempt to answer the question, “Does the Jerusalem Journey help make non-Orthodox-raised Jewish youngsters ‘more Jewish’?” Responses from the TJJ survey were compared with the Pew Research Centre survey of Jewish Americans (2013), the Jewish Community Study of New York 2011 and the Birthright survey of applicants for 2001-05 but who never participated (2010).

According to the report summary, “86% of TJJ alumni said it was very important to raise children as Jewish, compared with 69% of Birthright applicants; 80% of TJJ alumni fasted for the whole of Yom Kippur, compared with only 48% of the 18-to-29-year-olds in the statistically adjusted Pew survey; 75% said it was ‘very important to marry a Jew,’ compared with 55% of Birthright applicants; and 73% of TJJ alumni usually attended a Shabbat meal, compared with only 34% of Birthright applicants.”

As well, “94% of TJJ alumni said they attended a Passover seder last year, 61% said they participate in Jewish learning on a weekly or more frequent basis and 41% said they returned to Israel after attending TJJ…. In general, the survey found that TJJ attracts significant Jewish engagement and identity among young people who were not raised in Orthodox homes.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Format ImagePosted on July 31, 2015July 28, 2015Author Rebeca KuropatwaCategories WorldTags Jerusalem Journey, NCSY, Orthodox Union, Salome Henry, TJJ
Vancouver NCSY welcomes Steins

Vancouver NCSY welcomes Steins

Rabbi Josh and Laura Stein with their daughter Yehudis at Niagara Falls. (photo from Josh Stein)

Josh and Laura Stein come from similar backgrounds – both grew up as unaffiliated Jews just a few kilometres from each other in Toronto, both became more interested in their Jewish heritage as teens through National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), and both ended up learning in Israel, where they met. Now, the married couple (along with their 10-month-old daughter Yehudis) has moved to Vancouver as Rabbi Josh Stein takes on a new role as the NCSY chapter coordinator in Vancouver, hoping to give back what they both gained from NCSY.

“I attended Jewish elementary day school and a public high school. I had no affiliation really,” he told the Independent. After becoming involved with an NCSY rabbi, he said, he learned about a Jewish heritage that he never had experienced before. After high school, Stein chose to spend two-and-a-half years in a yeshiva in Israel, where he became Orthodox.

“Going to Israel for the first time really opened my eyes to a different aspect of Judaism that I never experienced before,” said Stein. “That, coupled with a week in Poland [through a trip organized by his yeshiva], really opened my eyes to my Jewish heritage and kind of endowed with me the exploring of Judaism further from there.”

At the same time, his wife to be was going through a similar journey: she also had left her native Toronto to study in Israel, eventually meeting her husband through the same rabbi who they both met in high school and had sparked their Jewish quests.

After graduating with smicha, a bachelor of arts in Judaic studies, a bachelor of talmudic law and a teaching certification from the Israeli Ministry of Education, Josh Stein and his family moved back to Toronto. Recently, they found their next role, joining the Vancouver Jewish community.

“There are so many people who have helped us along the way in becoming Orthodox that we really felt that it was part of our duty to give back to the community and allow other students to be as fortunate as we have been in discovering our Jewish heritage,” said Stein.

As part of his new role, he’ll be organizing educational and social events for Jewish students in Vancouver, from Shabbatons to paintball sessions and weekly learning classes.

“Essentially, my job is to work alongside Rabbi [Samuel] Ross and bring in new energy to the younger kids coming in,” said Stein. They’ve already held the first Vancouver Shabbaton of the year, which brought together about 100 kids from Western Canada, as well as Seattle and Portland, to spend a Shabbat together in Vancouver.

“The kids had a blast, there was so much camaraderie and this feeling of being part of a greater community,” he said. They have also started weekly Torah High learning classes and have many programs lined up for the year.

NCSY, which has been in Vancouver for about 50 years (and is now in its 60th year nationally), aims to help Jewish teens discover and connect with their Jewish roots through fun, informative and educational programming and mentorship. Although Vancouver is known for its high intermarriage and assimilation rates, the number of Jewish youth involved in NCSY has grown in the past few years, which is one of the reasons why the chapter brought in the Steins.

“We brought them in due to sheer growth,” said Ross, NCSY Vancouver city director. “We are now seeing well over 200 kids a year. Perhaps five [or even two] years ago, kids were coming in here and there; now, the kids are coming in for two, three, four or five times every week for programs.

“In order to be able to continue our growth, we felt this was the right time to bring in the next couple who would complement what Gila, my wife, and I are presently able to offer.”

The Steins are looking forward to being part of the growth of Vancouver NCSY.

“NCSY to me is a family that unites our community as a whole. It’s an organization that really brings Jews together from all different aspects of life and makes them feel like they’re part of a family, no matter their religious level,” said Stein. “We hope to allow each student to find their own uniqueness about Judaism and internalize it for themselves.”

Vicky Tobianah is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. Connect with her on Twitter, @vicktob, or at vtobianah@gmail.com.

Format ImagePosted on October 17, 2014October 27, 2014Author Vicky TobianahCategories LocalTags Josh Stein, Laura Stein, National Conference of Synagogue Youth, NCSY
NCSY Vancouver celebrates organization’s 60 years

NCSY Vancouver celebrates organization’s 60 years

Graduates of NCSY’s Impact leadership program at the spring regional awards banquet in Harrison Hot Springs, with Rabbi Samuel Ross. (photo from Rabbi Samuel Ross)

In a Jewish community with one of the highest assimilation rates, the role of youth groups such as the Vancouver chapter of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) has become more important over the years. NCSY Vancouver’s parent organization was founded in 1954 and the local chapter, which emerged about a decade later, is helping celebrate the 60th anniversary milestone.

NCSY works to develop a connection with Jewish youth before they embark on their university and professional lives. Rabbi Samuel Ross, NCSY Vancouver director, spoke about the “unique, beautiful situation” in which the chapter works. He said they “cater to anyone and everyone, which is an ongoing challenge but it’s really reaping rewards.” Indeed, many of those who join or take part in NCSY activities develop lifelong connections to Judaism and Israel, which was Nicole Grubner’s experience.

Grubner grew up in West Vancouver and became involved with NCSY when she was in Grade 9. She started attending their Shabbatons, and loved the warm atmosphere and Jewish connection that she felt at these events. By the end of high school, she was on the NCSY student leadership board, began keeping Shabbat, and had signed up for a post-graduate year at a seminary in Israel.

“I think the goal of NCSY is for it to be a jumping off point for you, so I used it as that and continued my Jewish education after high school,” said Grubner, 25. “It brought a lot of meaning into my life and week and I enjoyed the sense of community that it brought.”

NCSY Vancouver hosts a mix of educational and social programs, everything from a mock casino night to sushi in the sukkah to Shabbatons, trips and leadership programs.

“The city is growing, the chapter is exploding, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’m actually bringing in someone else to come work for me next year,” said Ross, who has been leading NCSY Vancouver for the past three years. “We do the best we can to inspire them enough so that they’ll want to continue their Jewish growth once they get to university.”

In Grubner’s case, after her year in Israel, she studied at Stern College in New York, returning to Israel every year.

“I actually went back to NCSY and staffed summer programs in Israel for three years,” she said. “I had an amazing Israel experience and it was important for me to give that to someone else.”

Her love of Israel and connecting with the Jewish people didn’t dampen after university ended. In October 2012, she made aliyah.

“In Vancouver, we know that assimilation is a really huge problem, so NCSY is really important to the Jewish community in Vancouver because it’s a connection point, one that many kids don’t get the opportunity to be a part of.”

“It had a very big impact on my life, so much so that I made my best friends and closest connections in NCSY. I’m really grateful for the base it gave me, for the fact that I was able to get so involved and so connected in high school,” she said. “In Vancouver, we know that assimilation is a really huge problem, so NCSY is really important to the Jewish community in Vancouver because it’s a connection point, one that many kids don’t get the opportunity to be a part of. NCSY has really changed the face of Vancouver’s Jewish community,” she said.

NCSY is a globally recognized organization that connects Jewish youth through social, recreational, educational and spiritual programs.

“It’s about connecting kids to their roots and to their Jewish identity. Whether kids become religious or not, to me, that’s almost less important than kids thinking about their Judaism and it being something important to them in whatever way they choose to practise,” said Grubner. “It shouldn’t be a part of their identity that passes them by because of apathy or lack of knowledge.”

In Vancouver, the number of Jewish youth involved in NCSY programming has been growing. This year, they’re sending 16 youth to programs in Israel. Some of their programs draw 100 kids, and there are already 25 applicants this year for the NCSY Vancouver youth board.

“When I first came three years ago, we had to beg kids to be on that board,” said Ross. “Now, it’s really hard to get on. The kids have to write an essay why they like NCSY and what they can add, and it’s beautiful. You see how they write how Judaism has made such a difference in their lives and how passionate they are and how much they enjoy coming.”

Vicky Tobianah is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. Connect with her on Twitter, @vicktob, or at vtobianah@gmail.com.

Format ImagePosted on July 4, 2014July 2, 2014Author Vicky TobianahCategories LocalTags NCSY, NCSY Vancouver, Nicole Grubner, Samuel Ross
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