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MSTY can mean many things
to 750 Reform teen-agers in
the Michigan area.
RUTH LITTMANN
F
Special to The Jewish News
Andy Lax is president of
Michigan State Temple
Youth.
fifteen-year-old Josh
Baru warily eyes Tem-
ple Emanu-El's foyer.
The synagogue has been
besieged by 135 teen-agers
kissing and hugging each
other.
"I don't know if I'm going to
fit in here," Josh says.
A member of Temple Beth
Emeth in Ann Arbor, Josh is
new to this crowd, which has
migrated to Oak Park for
Winter Conclave, a February
weekend retreat sponsored by
Michigan State Temple Youth
(MSTY).
"All last year I didn't want
to come," Josh says. "But a
bunch of my friends told me
MSTY's fun. They said I had
to come to an event, but I'm
nervous about meeting peo-
ple."
Josh's anxiety afflicts other
MSTY maybes. Ambivalent
teens worry that youth
groups will dramatize their
worst nightmare: drowning in
a sea of strangers. However,
MSTY members say new-
comers fret needlessly.
"MSTY is an organization
you can join if you want to be
yourself and make new
friends," says Jodi Berger, a
North Farmington High
School sophomore from Tem-
ple Israel.
"People who have been
pushed at first end up really
liking it," adds Rachel Jacobs,
a 15-year-old Winter Con-
clave co-chair who attends
Temple Emanu-El and
Berkley High School.
Unconvinced by the hype,
Josh nonetheless stuck
around and conceded he
might like it.
MSTY, created in 1939 by
the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, is one
of 21 regions of North
American Federation of Tem-
Ruth Littmann, a 1990
University of Michigan
graduate, freelances and
works as an assistant editor
at Gale Research Inc. in
Detroit.
92
FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1991
ple Youth. Until the middle of
World War II, NFTY and its
regions catered to college
graduates. During the mid-
1940s, however, high school
students were allowed to join
and they took it over.
Today, MSTY unites Jewish
youth between the ages of 14
and 17. Scattered throughout
the suburbs, they take advan-
tage of cultural opportunities
past generations took for
granted.
"When I was a little girl,
most Jews lived around Dex-
ter and Linwood. That was
our youth group. It's a whole
different life now," says
Muriel Sherbow, 65, a Temple
Emanu-El youth group
adviser.
Ms. Sherbow says MSTY
conclaves attract young peo-
ple to a Jewish forum where
they can develop friendships
with people who share their
religious beliefs and cultural
values.
Half the fun at the
conclaves is the interaction
between the teens.
"I pay for all the conclaves
by myself," says Andrea
Wiatrak, a junior at Troy
Athens High School, where
"there are very few Jewish
people. The conclaves give me
a sense of being religious, of
who I am."
Other MSTY-ites, like
Tracey Jackier, a 17-year-old
member of gemple Emanu-El,
says, "We always have ser-
vices. They're wonderful.
They make me feel like I'm
really Jewish."
To Andrea, Tracey and
others, the allure of Judaism,
MSTY-style, is a combination
of religion and recreation,
synagogue and self-expres-
sion.
"Kids don't normally like
going to services," Andrea ad-
mits. "But when you get to
write poems, put them in the
services and sing songs,
they're wonderful!'
"Meaningful fun," says
MSTY president Andy Lax.
"MSTY has given me a sense
of a whole heritage!' explains
the Cornell-bound senior
from Ann Arbor's Temple
Beth Emeth. "My parents
don't drag me to temple
anymore. I choose to go!'
MSTY consists of 14 youth
groups from temples in Grand
Rapids to Toledo. The consti-
tuent congregations take
turns hosting nine conclaves
through the year. Host
temples invite all 750
MSTYites to their
synagogues for services and
daytime programs. Between
35 and 150 show up, depen-
ding on the conclave.
Host families offer their
homes for room and board,
and parents act as chauffeurs.
The preparations usually
start weeks in advance.
Winter Conclave '91 touted
the theme: Am Echad Parim
Rabot, one people, many faces.
"The Winter Conclave pro-
gramming involved ap-
preciating those different
facets!' says Rachel Jacobs,
who conducted an interactive
exhibit depicting a Jewish
Ethiopian wedding. .
Leah Folb, a senior from