EDITORIAL BOARD:
Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar

points of view

Editorial

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Israel Must Respond
To Palestinian Guile

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Contributing Editor

Talking 2 Teens

Helping the young engage their Judaism.

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ver the years, the Jewish
News has strived to help
our teenagers learn more
about what it means to be a Jew
as well as embrace their Jewish
identity.
We've done this through
Teen2Teen, our Jewish com-
munity's only mass-distributed
monthly teen publication. Written
for teens by teens, T2T features
an array of topical issues, includ-
ing the Middle East, social justice,
Federation, religion, BBYO, the
social media, etc. The full-color,
pullout supplement has appeared
in the centerfold of
the JN since May 2007.
But publication of
T2T has temporarily
ceased as we struggle
to find modest funds
essential to cover
costs.
Our teenagers are
precious in so many
ways, not the least of
which is one that we
don't appreciate as
much as we should: The teens of
today will play a central role in
Jewish continuity, in the passage
of our heritage from one genera-
tion to the next.
Given the threats of assimila-
tion and apathy, we stand to lose
big-time as a community if we
don't assure that teens relish pur-
suit of Jewish continuity.
So Jewish federations, orga-
nizations and newspapers are
busy strategizing about how to
make themselves more relevant,
constructive and inviting for
teens — a critically formative
age where peer pressure, parental
influence and Jewish identity all
converge.
It would be shortsighted to
ignore the impact that teens
could have on the Jewish commu-
nal landscape if they're given the
proper motivation and training.

When Numbers Talk
About 75 percent of teenage
Jews celebrate a bar or bat mitz-
vah and are well positioned for
the next phase of their Jewish
journey. "And yet," says Lynn
Schusterman of the Tulsa-based
Charles and Lynn Schusterman
Family Foundation, "it is at
this particular moment, when
Judaism has so much to offer
and when teens need our guid-
ance most, that far too many are
turning away from involvement
in Jewish experiences.
"In fact, it is estimated that
by the time they reach
their last two years of
high school, only half,
at best, continue to
be involved in Jewish
life."
Nineteen percent of
Jewish Detroit's esti-
mated 2010 popula-
tion of 67,000 consists
of 6- to 17-year-olds
(nearly 14,000 people)
— meaning teens
constitute a large percentage
of us. Some teens attend day
school. Others are enrolled in
a synagogue school. Still oth-
ers only participate in a Jewish
youth group or attend a Jewish
summer camp.
But all have a part in the
grand script to dispel the illu-
sion that it's not cool to be
Jewish.
A Jewish day school educa-
tion is a documented way to stay
involved Jewishly. Schusterman
maintains that youth groups and
summer camps also stem the
trend of disaffiliation because
"they know what teens want;
provide it in a compelling,
meaningful and value-added
manner; and capitalize upon and
integrate the hyper-connected,
fast-paced, ever-changing envi-
ronment in which teens live."

This backdrop matters in the
wake of an important study com-
missioned by the Schusterman
Family Foundation. The study
validates that a BBYO youth group
experience "results in young adults
who are more inclined to remain
involved in Jewish life, hold lead-
ership roles in their community,
invest time and money in Jewish
causes, develop a strong Jewish
network and give their children a
Jewish education."

Learning From BBYO
In a compelling essay follow-
ing release of that study in May,
Lynn Schusterman wrote: "Recent
research on Jewish teen experi-
ences makes clear that investing
in Jews during their teenage years
pays significant dividends toward
ensuring their involvement in
Jewish life well into adulthood."
She underscores recent stud-
ies from the New York-based
Foundation for Jewish Camp and
the Pennsylvania-based Moving
Traditions (an organization help-
ing Jews engage more deeply with
Judaism). Those studies support
similar underlying findings: "that
effectively designed Jewish teen
experiences successfully reach
and engage youth, helping them
feel pride in their Jewish identity,
encouraging them to contribute
to Jewish life and even ensuring a
greater resiliency against the pres-
sures that are commonplace in
teen years.
"It is clear," Schusterman wrote,
"that fun, meaningful, affordable
Jewish experiences have a deep and
significant impact on teens. It is
clear that they are vital to ensuring
our teens stay engaged with our
community and develop the neces-
sary skills to lead it."
She added, "And it is clear that it
is time for us to elevate, as a prior-
ity on our communal agenda, our
investment in the teen years —

W

ithout a recommendation of "yes" from the
Security Council, the U.N. General Assembly
cannot initiate a proclamation declaring
Palestinian statehood. But that technicality likely won't
stop the G.A. from passing a resolution supporting the
Palestinian bid for U.N. recognition of statehood this
September.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concedes
that point.
But make no mistake: A G.A. resolution without the
weight of Security Council support would not yield
Palestinian statehood.
Anti-Israel resolutions are a given when they come to a
G.A. vote; they number about 20 a year. The Palestinians
routinely rely on the bloc of Arab and Muslim states and
their allies in the non-aligned movement of mostly Third
World countries to pass such resolutions. The combined
opposition of the European Union's 27 states could suf-
ficiently influence some developing nations to avert a
resolution on Palestinian statehood from securing U.N.
support, JTA reports.
G.A. resolutions do not have international legal stand-
ing; Security Council resolutions do carry the force of
law. The Security Council must recommend new U.N.
members, without a veto from any permanent mem-
ber: the U.S., Great Britain, France, China and Russia.
President Obama has said the U.S. would cast a veto and
would call for a Palestinian state only as a result of direct
negotiations with Israel.
G.A. Resolution 181 of 1947 provided for the creation of
two states, one Arab and one Jewish, at the end of the
British Mandate in Palestine. Jews in the region support-
ed that plan, but neighboring Arab armies invaded Israel
as soon as the Jewish state was declared. Israel has con-
fronted Arab forces and terrorists off and on ever since.
In recent weeks, the Arab League made it clear it "sup-
ports the appeal to the U.N. asking that Palestine, within
the 1967 borders, becomes a full-fledged state."
That appeal is almost a sure thing: JTA reports that at
least 112 nations have recognized an independent state
of Palestine, including a number of Latin American and
European countries.
Even without legal standing, G.A. approval could
coarsen Palestinian resolve to avoid negotiating with
Israel – a major obstacle to peace. There would be a back
draft. Anti-Israel propaganda could increase. And Israel
could suffer economic sanctions, including stepped-up
divestment. The Palestinians also could seek overrule of
Security Council opposition by seeking a rarely invoked
Uniting for Peace two-thirds majority vote in the G.A.
Peace talks are unlikely to resume before September;
the Palestinians figure they hold the trump card toward
symbolic statehood through the G.A. even if the Security
Council doesn't allow the formal status of sovereignty.
And that's problematic; statehood absent negotiation
would derail the peace process.
Between now and the inevitable September vote, Israel
must do more to educate the world why Palestinian
refusal to achieve statehood at the negotiating table
must be construed as an illustration of how it would
function as a state: using smoke and mirrors rather than
diplomacy. Ti

Talking 2 Teens on page 22

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