Voices in Jewish Education

Spiritual
Richness

We Are
The Youth

The end result depends

Personal experience best illustrates

on the materials and effort.

Jewish education's impact.

Q: What will it take
to make Jewish
learning exciting,
meaningful and
ongoing for all ages?

SIMCHA TZIPPY
COHEN

Special to the

Jewish News

O

nce there
was a
wealthy,
old couple
who decided to
build themselves a big, beautiful
house.
They hired contractors, builders
and interior
decorators. After months of hard
work, the house was completed and
it was a magnificent work of art. The
couple moved in. They filled their
days by taking care of the house,
making sure that it always looked
new and beautiful. Whenever anyone
would come into the house, they
would marvel at its beauty and
upkeep.
But the old couple finally passed
on. A young couple moved into
that house. They were very busy
with themselves and had no time to
take care of the house. Within a
short time, the house began to look
old and ugly.
One day, a grandchild of the old
couple came to see the house. She
was horrified at the change the house
had undergone. The house her grand-
parents had spent so much effort on
was now a shambles! She bought the
house from the young couple, and
slowly, through many years of hajd

9/15
2000

42

work, was able to
restore the house
to its original
beauty.

Investing In
Judaism

Judaism is com-
parable to the
house in this
story. It can't be
kept alive with-
out a lot of effort
being put into it.
Just as the house
decayed when
the young couple didn't have time
to take care of it, so, too, has the
Torah been neglected with Judaism
dying out of people's lives.
If we want the beautiful house
of our ancestors to shine and
sparkle as it did when they lived in
it, we must be ready to invest the
time and energy to restore it. In
order for Judaism to become mean-
ingful to Jews today, we must put in
the time it takes to make it shine.
I feel fortunate to have been
brought up with Judaism since I
was born. I go to a school where
half the day is devoted to religious
subjects. I learn the practical Torah
laws that apply to everyday life.
Just like the house, when taken
care of, is beautiful — when we
start to take better care of Judaism,
it will also be beautiful. ❑

Simcha Tzippy Cohen, 15, is the

daughter of Rabbi Avraham and Golda
Cohen of Oak Park. She is an 11th-
grade student at Yeshiva Beth. Yehudah's
Sally Allan Alexander Beth. Jacob School
for Girls in Oak Park.

Q: What will it

take to make
Jewish learning
exciting, mean-
ingful and ongo-
ing for all ages?

JAKE KANDER
Special to the
Jewish News

hen I
was
first
asked

to answer the
question, "What will it take to make
Jewish learning exciting, meaningful
and ongoing for all ages?" I had no
idea how to begin. How could I even
start to answer such a broad question
and how I could possibly keep it
within the prescribed word length?
Then, something amazing happened
to me, and I knew what I would write
about.
Hi! My name is Jake Kander and I
am president of the North American
Federation of Temple Youth Michigan
Region (NFTY-MI). My inspiration
for this article came to me when I was
at a meeting with the other 2000-
2001 regional board members. We
were planning for Summer Kallah, a
weeklong NFTY retreat in August.
Everyone was throwing ideas at
each other on how to make all of our
programs and services flow together.
Everything was coming together at
this point. Everyone had a sort of
frenzied excitement as we bounced
ideas off each other, and put together
what will be an incredible week for
everyone who is involved.
At that moment, I was inspired,

seeing everyone
around me filled
with a deep love
of our religion, its
history and cul-
ture. We were all
working together
to find ways to
share that love
with others. I
thought to myself,
"This is it! This is
the future of
Jewish education."
We were all teens.
We were all excit-
teachinab , and learning from,
ed about
other teens — learning about our
Judaism, our past and our future. For
people who are our age, Jewish learn-
ing will mean the most to us when we
learn it, teach it and live it with our
peers. Sharing views, ideas and opin-
ions with each other, we are able to
grow and learn together.
We were, at that point, a commu-
nity — all working together for the
enrichment of the future of Judaism.
What we came up with was a com-
plete process of learning, religious
experience and social action, creating
a complete community for the week.
We are the youth. We are the next
generation of Judaism. Yes, everything
is coming together, and I can tell that
we will keep Judaism alive into the
next millennium. ❑

Jake Kander, 17, son of Lisa and Ken

Kander of Holly, is president of the
North American Federation of Temple
Youth Michigan Region. He is a senior
at Clonthra High School in Ann Arbor
and a member of Congregation Shir
Tikvah in Troy.

