H EADLINES
Teen Groups Work to Bridge Pandemic Gap
L OCA L
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
THE LIBERTY REGION of
BBYO made an exciting change
on Oct. 5: Aft er a few months
of outdoor events limited to 10
or fewer masked participants
going off without a hitch, it
expanded that number all the
way to ... 18.

It’s been that kind of year.

For Jewish teen groups with
both international footprints
and a local presence like BBYO,
United Synagogue Youth and
NFTY: Th e Reform Jewish
Youth Movement, 2020 has
been a wrench in best-laid
plans. Conventions and
conferences were canceled at
every level, long-awaited trips
were postponed, local events
were moved to Zoom and the
in-person relationships that
the groups foster have been
tested by distance.

But professional staff and
students leaders from each
group say that with a few months
of experience under their belts,
they’re prepared to make the
most of the fall. And better yet,
they said what they’ve learned
during this time could lead to
reinvigorated versions of their
organizations when life resem-
bles normalcy again.

Jami Fogel, a senior at
Radnor High School, is the
regional “s’ganit” with the
Liberty Region of BBYO,
a title that covers her duties
as vice president and head
of programming for an area
that covers the eastern half
of Pennsylvania, parts of
Delaware and southern New
York, excluding New York City.

She has found it to be fertile
ground for people looking to
Name: Cong. Adath ADULT
Jeshurun EDUCATION AT AJ
Width: 3.625 in
Depth: 5.5 in
Color: Black plus one
Comment: JE
Ad Number: 00091924
The 6 Ws of Judaism
WHO WHAT
WHEN WHERE
WHY HOW
The journalist squeezes 6 Ws into the first paragraph of her
article. We’ll take 24 sessions.

Many of us gravitate toward the why, the who, or the how questions.

But what, where, and when are important, too! This series covers all
the Ws and starts at the very beginning. After taking this foundational
course, you’ll have the background to better understand, appreciate,
and critique our own Jewish world.

WHEN: First Semester (12 classes): Tuesday evenings, October 20,
2020 through January 26, 2021; Second Semester (12 classes):
Tuesday evenings, February 2, 2021 through April 27, 2021.

All classes will be from 7:45 PM to 9:15 PM.

WHERE: Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Elkins Park, PA (via Zoom)
COST: $120 per semester per household (free for AJ members);
includes links to readings and supplemental materials.

Sign up at www.CongregationAJ.org/6Ws. Please register by October 18.

Shai Cherry, Ph.D. is rabbi of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, PA.

Formerly on the faculties of Vanderbilt University and the University of
San Diego, he is the featured lecturer for The Great Courses’ “Introduction
to Judaism” and author of Torah through Time: Understanding Bible
Commentary from the Rabbinic Period to Modern Times. His forthcoming
book, Coherent Judaism, will be available this November.

6 OCTOBER 8, 2020
make new friends outside of
their schools. Th e past few
months, she said, threatened
to make that ground grow arid.

“It’s hard to make friends
when you’re not actually creating
a human connection with them,
as much as you are over the
internet,” she said. “Obviously,
social media is a great help with
that, because you can connect
with people through text or
through Snapchat or through
Instagram. But it’s defi nitely not
the same.”
Fogel has worked closely
with Liberty Region Senior
Regional Director Jared
Rosenbloom to bridge the
gaps. Th e relatively recent
addition of outdoor events for
small groups has been part of
a nationwide eff ort to connect
BBYO participants who may
have otherwise met at regional
and national conferences.

Rosenbloom helped connect
Fogel with BBYO leaders in
Wilkes-Barre, Rochester, New
York and Harrisburg, and now,
Fogel said, she’s spoken with many
more BBYO participants during
this period than she otherwise
would have. Locally, Rosenbloom
and BBYO participants are
planning an Olympics-style event
for the coming weeks to bring
people together.

“We try to be really innova-
tive, we try to listen, to do our
best to listen to our teens and
meet them where they’re at,”
he said.

A similar dynamic is at play
with NFTY. East Area Manager
Emily Messinger said the
sacred cows of the organization
are to develop programming
with Reform values and teen
leadership, with adult support.

Even through the pandemic,
that has remained the case.

Because NFTY is supported
by the Union for Reform
Judaism, it fi nancial status is
tied to the health of the latter;
after URJ summer camps
became pandemic victims,
the reverberations of the lost
revenue bounced throughout
JEWISH EXPONENT
Teens at the West Chester BBYO Kickoff . Their region of BBYO, which
includes the eastern half of Pennsylvania, recently expanded its cap on
in-person participants from 10 to 18.

Photo by Janine Ure
the movement. Staff members
from NFTY were laid off , and
Messinger fi nds herself advising
many more teen leaders than
she had in the past.

Not that she’s complaining.

“I always tell the presidents
this, and I don’t know if they
believe me or not, but the
highlight of my week is when
I have my weekly presidents’
meeting,” Messinger said. “It’s
so fun seeing the culture of
all the diff erent regions come
together, and see them learn
from each other.”
Anna Schwartz, president
of the Pennsylvania Area
Region of NFTY and a senior
at Mt. Lebanon High School in
Pittsburgh, expected the new
arrangement to be bumpy.

“But Emily’s been amazing,
and it’s proved to be a successful
system,” she said. Th e NFTYx
online platform, which allows
for seamless planning and
interaction between NFTY
networks, has become an
invaluable resource to her and
other NFTY leaders.

“We spent a lot of time in
June and July, organizationally,
thinking about what needed to
still be the same, despite all of
the changes that are happening
around us,” Messinger said. As
a result, she believes, teens are
growing into their positions of
leadership. Corey Bass, the branch
director for the Mizrach and
Seabord regions of USY, based
in Elkins Park, said that one of
most positive lasting changes
for the teen leaders he oversees
is that it’s forced them to think
more creatively about the time
between conventions. Rather
than function as a “convention
factory,” as Bass put it, teen leaders
have been a part of arranging
online events such as esports,
pen pal programs, racial justice
speakers, SAT prep courses and
even a Disney singalong event.

And that’s just the start.

“Th is was the fi rst time that
we were literally forced to do
everything to meet them where
they are, and not just run those
conventions,” Bass said. “And
it’s created more space and
more time to have that more
niche programming, because
we’re not so focused on the
other pieces.” ●
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM