OTHER VIEWS Incredible Fulfillment New York arlier this month, I attended what may have been my 50th National Conference of Synagogue Youth Shabbaton in the Central East Region of NCSY, based in Southfield and including Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. It all began when I was a sixth grader attending my first Junior Shabbaton. By eighth grade, I had earned a position on , the Junior Regional Board and by 12th grade, a position on the Senior Board. But my involvement didn't stop there. My first year of college, I began advising for the region — flying from New York to wherever in the region the Shabbaton was being held. My junior year in col- lege, I became the adviser coordinator for the region — responsible for close to 40 advisers — a position I still hold today. The overall impression that I have from participating in these Shabbatonim is a strong one: Central East NCSY is accomplishing the broad objective of National NCSY — kiruv (outreach) — with an incredible level of success. NCSY is a unique program of the Orthodox Union in which teenagers from all levels of religious observance can find common ground and have a very positive Jewish experience. But it's not just the NCSYers who benefit from these events. I, too, leave these Shabbatonim on an extreme spiritual high. Let me use the Shabbaton I attended in my hometown of Columbus earlier this month as an example. Although E Ben Goldberg is the adviser coordinator for the Central East Region of NCSYand public relations assistant at the Orthodox Union headquarters in New York. NCSY is part of the Orthodox Union, only a third of the approximately 280 participants were from Orthodox day schools. Half were from public schools, and another 20 percent from inter- denominational Jewish community day schools. For some, it was their first Shabbaton and for others, like me, only one of many. Regardless, each and every partici- pant felt a special connection to Judaism that weekend. To watch an entire group of teenagers — some with no Jewish background at all — stand arm and arm and sing dozens of Jewish songs with tears rolling down their faces gives an adviser and the entire Central East Region an amazing sense of accomplish- ment. Even more so, and unique to our region of NCSY, at Havdalah (the serv- ice to conclude the Sabbath), it has become a tradition for the regional and associate regional directors to jump into a large "mosh pit" created by the NCSYers. On Shabbat afternoon, Central East NCSY arranges a large circle of chairs, for everyone to sit and sing for two hours straight. But in the middle of the circle, a spot is left empty for NCSYers to get up and give divrei Torah (words of Torah). In the middle of this remarkable singing, Josh Diskin, a senior at the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield and also a Regional Board member, was asked by the regional director, Rabbi Bezalel Freedman of Oak Park, to say a few words. Josh's message epitomized the work that NCSY strives to achieve. "I stand here today still not knowing what my exact role on our regional board really is — I'm not the most reli- gious one on the board, and I'm not nearly the model observant Jew," that anyone can devote one's he declared. life to Judaism while at the "But NCSY has taught me same time maintaining a feel- something that three years ago ing of being just like any would never have crossed my other teenager. He's not only mind. Just a month ago, I was on an inspiration for other a cruise with my family and I met NCSYers, but also for the a girl. The instant I found out she countless advisers — like me wasn't Jewish, I realized I could — whom he has influenced. BEN no longer pursue a relationship Josh and his fellow GOLDBERG with her or even talk to her as NCSYers may not realize this, Special much." Commentary but they have a major affect Josh's message was stronger on the lives of all their advis- than he realized. Intermarriage is ers. They have not only been indeed a major problem weakening the our NCSYers, but have also become our Jewish people, and NCSY has helped friends and in doing so have enabled him realize the importance of marrying each and every one of us to become bet- within the Jewish faith. This young man ter, more Torah-observant Jews. plays a very important part on the By allowing us to create a deeply regional board, and he truly does Jewish environment for them, they have embody what NCSY is trying to accom- helped prepare us for college, marriage plish. and for life in general while still sharing Josh has spent the last few years grow- in the outside world. And in turn, from ing into a true Torah-Jew and has done my viewpoint, after 11 years in NCSY, so because of NCSY. His place on we, as advisers, are trying to do the exact regional board is to show others like him same thing for them. ❑ Singing during a youth group convention Havdalah service are NCSY regional board members Uri Bulter of Pittsburgh, Sidney Schechet of Southfielch Natan Cohen of Cleveland Josh Diskin of West Bloomfield and Steven Lefkowitz of Southfield. BESSER from page 25 difficult and fraught with complications. allocated, as well, including disputes over the relative shares going to big cities and smaller communities. How will the public react if Jewish day schools get money for closed-circuit cameras and additional police protec- tion, while local fire departments com- plain they still don't have the money to buy haz-mat suits and radiation detec- tors? That isn't to say that helping those institutions is inappropriate. But the fight for federal money for synagogues - and other religious institutions will be 4/16 2004 26 Jewish Push To avoid them, Jewish leaders will have to be at the forefront of efforts to expand the overall homeland security pie. A homeland security drive that is seen as strictly self-serving will fail, both legislatively and in terms of community relations. If Jewish leaders want money for schools and synagogues, they'll also have to be prominent in the fight for more money for local first responders. Regardless of the outcome in Congress, Jewish institutions are going to have to do a much better job raising money through philanthropic chan- nels. Assuming the $100 million IS approved, hundreds of synagogues, Jewish centers and schools are likely to apply — and thousands of other vulner- able nonprofits, religious and non-reli- gious. In the end, the payout to each successful applicant is likely to be rela- tively small. The hard question for Jewish leaders is this: will those small sums justify the public perception of a prosperous Jewish community going to the federal government with palms extended when police and fire departments say they are on a starvation diet? But the stakes in the security race are enormous; it would be reckless for Jewish leaders to turn away from the possibility of even modest federal con- tributions to the effort. It's a tricky balancing act; to keep from falling, Jewish leaders will have to be smart,. proactive and sensitive to the needs of the nation, not just a vul- nerable Jewish community. ❑