make it the perfect Wag

Orchard Place

Orchard Lake Road, South of 14 Mile

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Rabbi Mark Cohn speaks to NCSYers at a recent Shabbaton in
Columbus.

,

National Conference of
Synagogue Youth is another
Orthodox youth group
reaching success in the
Detroit area.
"Eighty percent of NCSY
members come from non-
religious homes," said Rabbi
Mark Cohn, regional director.
"Primarily, we focus on
Jewish identity," Cohn said.
In this way, NCSYers are dif-
ferent from B'nei Akiva
members, who focus primari-
ly on Israel.
"Our goal is to have each
youth be as Jewish as he can,"
noted Cohn. "Whether it's by
keeping kosher, keeping
Shabbat giving to tzedaka or
by honoring their parents."
"NCSY members come
from all different Jewish
backgrounds," said 10th
grade Akiva Hebrew Day stu-
dent Abby Eisenberg, vice
president of programming
and organization for the
Detroit chapter. "When some
kids join, they know very lit-
tle about Judaism; they learn
so much through NCSY"
Every month 10,000 pieces
of literature containing the
Torah portion, parashah, are
completed by 11th grade
Akiva Hebrew Day student
Noam Koenigsberg, regional
vice president of education.
NCSYers assist Koenigsberg.
In addition to the parashah,
which is distributed monthly
to members, NCSY offers a
way for Jews to reach out and
touch 2000 years of history by
calling the NCSY Halachah
Hotline, open 24 hours — six
days a week.
Every Monday night is
"Torah Study Night," an in-
depth analysis of contem-
porary issues using tradi-
tional Jewish sources, led by
Cohn at Young Israel of
Greenfield.
Thursday evening meetings
are held in members' homes.
There, the ninth through
12th grade members discuss
social as well as educational
Jewish themes. Last Thurs-
day, however, they met at
Akiva Hebrew Day School

and held a Yachad program.
Yachad is NCSY's program
for the developmentally
disabled, focusing on the
abilities rather than the
disabilities of mentally han-
dicapped young adults by
mainstreaming them into
regular NCSY Sabbath pro-
grams and activites.
NCSY also sponsors "Our
Way," a friendship and rIbrah
correspondence program in-
volving hearing impaired
children and hearing
NCSYers in the United States
and around the world.
"Because I go to a public
school, I don't have any way
to learn in school about
Judaism, so I use NCSY as an
educational outlet and a
social outlet," said Esther
Bodzin, a 12th grader at
Berkley High School. Bodzin
is regional vice president of
organization; she is in charge
of membership for the five
states in the region — Ken-
tucky, western Pennsylvania,
eastern Indiana, Ohio and
Michigan.
"It's helped her with her
religious background and
given her responsibility," said
Ms. Bodzin's mother, Helen.
"NCSY has made her a well-
rounded person. She's just a
happier child."
"NCSY brings me closer to
my religion, and at the same
time it's fun," said Dan
Berkove, an 11th grader at
Southfield-Lathrup High
School. Berkove is the vice
president of outreach and
recruits members from
secular schools.

NCSYers in the ninth
through 12th grades par-
ticipated last month in a
Shabboton weekend in In-
dianapolis. , "Everybody had
such a great time at the Shab-
baton. The theme was Jewish
Heroes, Past and Present.
When members left for In-
dianapolis, they really didn't
know too much about Jewish
heroes; once the weekend was
over, they could tell you so

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