feature by Nate Strauss inner transformation BBYO Kallah provides support for Jewish spiritual journey. Metro Detroiters at Kallah: bottom row, Ava Jacobs, Nicole Davidson, Rachael Goldberg, all of Farmington Hills; Brandon Klein of Bloomfield Hills, and Alex Weiss and Jon Schiff, both of West Bloomfield. Top row: Derek Wolfe of West Bloomfield, Maxx Achtman of Walled Lake, Maddy Soltz and Alyssa Stone, both of West Bloomfield, Michael Niger of Farmington Hills, Austin Goodman of West Bloomfield, Daniel Firsht of Bloomfield Hills, Josh Breuer of Farming- ton Hills, Josh Morof of West Bloomfield and Nate Strauss of Farmington Hills A s a Jewish teenager, I worry about school, extracurricu- lar activities, homework, walking the dog, and, of course, sleep. During the summer, I have no worries (well, I still walk the dog). This summer, instead of sleeping till noon and staying up until 2 a.m., I chose to discover my Jewish identity. I attended Kallah 2010, an inter- national summer experience offered by BBYO held for 19 days at Camp Perlman in Starlight, Pa. To prepare myself for Kallah, I did a lot of thinking about who I was and what kind of a Jew I recognized my- self as. Yet going into Kallah, I was still very confused. I had had a bar mitzvah and was raised Conserva- tive, but I couldn't be sure that was what I wanted. Walking into Camp Perlman on the first day, I was anx- ious to get started on our spiritual journey. That spiritual journey anxiety ended when I was awakened at 7:15 a.m. to prepare for morning services by some guy from Ohio. Was I re- ally the kind of Jew that woke up so early to pray? Did I really want to start my day with prayers I didn't understand? These questions swirled around in my head. I couldn't make any sense of them. I was scared for what I had gotten myself into. But, after getting used to waking up so early, the "interesting" camp food and taking cold showers, I completely forgot about my spiritual journey. In- stead, I learned about different Judaic cultures, Jewish traditions, the Holo- caust and even some Israeli dancing. I took classes with incredible educators about Jewish philosophy and Jew- ish heritage. By the halfway point of the program, I hadn't thought about what kind ofJew I was. I prayed every morning before breakfast, prayed ev- ery afternoon before dinner and said prayers before and after all meals. Throughout my time at Kallah, I ex- perienced so much. I met three kids from Israel and a boy from Bulgaria who told me all about their lives. I was amazed by the adventure these teens had taken to attend our program. I also joined the Kallah-capella, an a capella singing group. I love to sing and joining this group allowed me to release any stress from my day out through song. We sounded very good and we were all excited about the suc- cess of our group. During the last four days, every- thing clicked. I was given the opportu- nity to make my own tails. I tie-dyed teen2teen staff • my fabric and even learned how to tie tzitzit. Wearing my tallis was amaz- ing. I had created this sacred Jewish symbol with my own two hands. We also were given a siddur of our choice to take home. I chose the Orthodox prayer book because I felt that read- ing from it was very cool. While praying from my very own prayer book and wearing my hand- made tallis, I realized who I was. I was Jewish. It didn't matter what type. It didn't matter how much I prayed; I had made a spiritual jour- ney during these 19 days that would stick with me forever. I did stay Con- servative, however. On our final day, we put together a show called Cafe Kallah. Many acts performed as well as my sing- ing group. The show lasted until 2:30 a.m. and was the perfect way to end such an amazing few weeks. Kallah was easily the highlight of my summer. I would recommend for anybody to attend. After I returned home, my worries came back. Sleep, dog and school. But this time, I could tackle them with a new force inside of me; a new force I could definitely get used to. Nate Strauss, 17, is a junior at North Farmington High School. hotline: (248) 351-5144 • kcohen@thejewishnews.com Reporters I Chaviva Bluth, Molly Grossman, Avi Mendelson, Avielle Movsas, Stephanie Schulman (Akiva Hebrew Day School, Southfield); Yona Isaacs, Gabriella Ring, Claire Sinai (Berkley); Nechama Tawil (Beth Jacob, Oak Park); Madeleine Gonte (Birmingham Finding Common Ground from page TT1 Groves); Rachel Gorosh, Emily Schottenfels, Mara Stein, Rachael Vettese, Rachel Wein (Bloomfield Hills Andover); Abby Hyman (Bloom- There was a strong feeling in the room that next year the panel should be broadened to include other religions and races in an at- tempt to widen the discussion and further tighten the community. { Emily Goodman, Helene Glickman, Rachel Goutman, Jessica Kahn, Rachel Klein, Andrew Milgrom, Maddy Soltz, Sara Weinfeld, Samantha Zwick (Frankel Jewish Academy, West Bloomfield); Rachel Hollander, Ad Well (Harrison, Farmington Hills); Daniel Chandross (Hillel, Farmington Hills); Mayer Schneider (home schooled); Robert Axelrod (Huron, Ann Arbor); Rachel Berlin, Sam Gringlas, Elie Neuman, Nate Strauss (North Farmington); Rob Pasick (Novi); Jordana Hoffman (Oakland Early! College, Farmington Hills); Lily Grier. Liza Kohlenberg (Orchard Lake Middle, West Bloomfield); Liz Nagle (Walled Lake Western); Jennifer Finkel, Abigail Jankelovitz, Heather Rosenbaum (West Bloomfield); Liza Kohlenberg (West Bloomfield Orchard Lake Middle School); Mackenzie Coden (West Bloomfield Walnut Creek) Photographers I Jessica Avery Polk (Frankel), Colton Graub (Cranbrook-Kingswood ) supervising staff Chief Operating Officer I F. Kevin Browett Editorial Director I Robert Sklar Executive Editor I Keri Guten Cohen Rachel Gorosh, 15, Is a sophomore at Bloomfield Hills uwalgiNf llsiA field Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood); Mad Cohen (Community, Ann Arbor); Emily Zussman (Detroit Country Day, Beverly Hills); Polina Fradkin, Creative Director I Deborah Schultz IT Director I Deanna Spivey Teen Consultant I Jon Layne Jewish Renaissance Media — 29200 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034 Andover High Moderator mop from 95.5-FM asks Jewish School. student Alex Wolf what comes to mind when he hears the word Chaldean. TT4 teen2teen October 21.2010 r Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit ALLIANCE FOR JEWISH EDUCATION Supported by a generous grant from the Stephen H. Schulman Millennium Fund. AJewish Renaissance Media publication © 2010 DEWS NEWS