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Happy New Year! Check Out the URJ’s Top 18 Stories of 2016
What a year it’s been. With 2017 fast-approaching, we’ve rounded up the top 18 Reform Movement stories of 2016, listed below in no particular order. Looking for even more major Jewish moments?
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Yallah Israel Club!
Growing up in Hebrew School, I remember talking about Israel – the land, the people, and our connection to it. We talked about Israel as a Jewish state, why that should matter to us, and what it means to love this far away homeland.
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Reform Temples Toss Area Teen Tycoons into ‘Shark Tank’
Every pitch had to relate to social justice or tikkun olam. Teens chose topics including Israel, gender and sexuality, and mindfulness. “I realized there are so many issues in this world, things that are taken for granted and that are simply wrong and need to be addressed and changed,” said Shaina Morrel, a junior at Wachusett Regional High School in Holden. “I am bringing back my own excitement and passion for repairing the world, and my hope is to spread this to others.”
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What Happened When I Walked to Shul
I am lucky I can walk to shul. Having that time to transition from the everyday to a more spiritual place is a tradition I grew up with. As a kid, walking to shul involved five of us children, so to keep us focused and moving, my mother introduced us to the game “punch block, no punch back.”
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How 250 Jewish Teens Are Changing the Face of Youth Engagement
The inaugural Dana Gershon and Rabbi Jonah Pesner Northeast Leadership Summit focused on creating a new and innovative structure to enable Jewish teens to find their purpose and bring it to life. Attended by more than 250 teens and 60 faculty members and staffers from 20+ organizations, we came together to learn, ideate, and elevate a new cohort of Jewish teen leaders.
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TaSTY’s Rosh HaShanah Sermon 5777
My team, which included Sam S-T, decided that a major social change issue that needed to be addressed was racial injustice. I attended a workshop called “Privilege, Power, and Jews” that forced me to think deeply about my white privilege, but also how being Jewish can connect me to this issue in some specific ways.
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Building Upon Our Strengths
Jewish education and youth engagement are in the midst of a paradigm shift. One powerful reality of this shift is the desire of individuals, of all ages, to be prosumers, co-creators of their Jewish experiences. With the formation of the Northeast Teen Collective, these URJ camps are providing a new, year-round, youth engagement and outreach strategy to support Jewish teens in the creation of their own Jewish experiences.
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Emily Messinger Director of the Northeast Teen Collective
Please join Louis, Director of Eisner Camp, Debby Shriber, Director of Crane Lake Camp and Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, Director Campaign for Youth Engagement, as we welcome Emily Messinger and a new program initiative to the Northeast. The Northeast Teen Collective will be the URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camp’s new year-round youth engagement initiative.
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