The Many

FAC E S

The National
Conference
of Synagogue
Youth exposes
teen-agers
to a Torah
lifestyle.

RUTH LITTMANN
STAFF WRITER

42

loor boards shook as a whirl
of feet danced, danced,
danced around the rustic
ballroom. Israeli music
augmented the frenzy.
Boys linked arms and spun
with boys. Girls with girls.
After awhile, the spirited en-
claves became breathless. Weary,
but still exuberant, the young people
moved outside, near a campfire glowing
orange against the midnight sky. They
sang Hebrew melodies and shared
memories. Some spoke of their first
youth-group retreat. Others recalled the
year they spent in Israel or the day they
decided to observe Shabbat.
The National Conference of Syna-
gogue Youth (NCSY) drew a diverse
crowd of 130 Jewish teen-agers to its
26th spring convention in May. Held
over Memorial Day weekend at Camp
Wise outside of Cleveland, Ohio, the
four-day Shabbaton aimed to bring
young people closer to an observant life.
"The purpose of the event is to really
jolt them into Jewish awareness, to give

them the flavor of their Top:
grown since its inception,
religion and heritage," As music resonates throughout
targeting teen-agers with
the Camp Wise lodge, NCSYeis
said Rabbi Tzali Freed- form
or without religious back-
unisex circles for a dancing
man, NCSY regional di- frenzy.
grounds. NCSY offers
rector.
scholarships, sponsors
Far Left:
A busload of 29 metro Jana Wolock embraces fellow
trips to Europe and runs
Detroit teens joined Detroiter Chaya Leah Blumenfeld summer-camp programs
other NCSYers who at a campfire after Havdaiah
in the United States and
hailed from cities within services Saturday night.
Israel.
the youth group's Cen- Above:
tral East region. There Yachad members: (Front row)
dvisers and youth
Debra Nelson, Refoel Weisz,
were representatives adviser
groupers emphati-
Jeff Lazar, Scott
from Cleveland, Cincin- Hershkovit, Ahuva Taub, Libbie
cally deny their
nati and Columbus, Schwartz. (Back row) adviser
organization's
Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Shayndee Lasson, Matthew
stereotype. NCSY, they
Blumberg, Marcelo Weiss, Jon
Indianapolis, Ind.; Lipoff,
say, is not an Orthodox
adviser Elliot Kwestel,
Charleston, W.Va.; and Sarah Taub.
clique, and its members
Windsor, Ontario.
aren't missionaries, either.
NCSY is a national organization,
"Any time you have people going out
formed in 1954 as part of the Union of and talking about religion, you're going
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of to have others calling it fundamental-
America. The group began as a syna- ism," said Shayne Zucker, adviser to the
gogue movement in Savannah, Ga., Detroit chapter.
where Jewish young people had few
"I get a big kick out of it when NCSY
opportunities to socialize in a religious is called a cult. It's not true. We want
context.
people to go in eyes open, feet first," he
The privately funded organization has said. "We understand that conventions

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