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Editorial
Step Up To Making
Teens Feel Jewish
D
etroit is an important American city and
an important Jewish community. Detroit is
the birthplace of the American dream, the
automobile, the first paved road and the factories
that provided the arsenal to defeat the Nazis. While
Detroit has suffered more than its share of challenges,
I believe that it also can be the birthplace of the new
American dream — and that the Jewish community
will play an essential role in that rebirth.
In August, Liz Fisher and I, both of NEXT: A
Division of Birthright Israel Foundation, headed
to Detroit to explore new possibilities for the local
Jewish community, particularly those involving its
pioneering young adults. One thing was
immediately clear: Detroit's transformation
is already taking root. First, the city has
great, passionate people working for the
Jewish community. From Scott Kaufman,
the entrepreneurial Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's CEO, to Miryam
Rosenzweig, who runs the newly formed
NEXTGen and who is relocated from the
East Coast based on her belief in the pos-
sibilities in Detroit, to Rachel Lachover,
the effervescent personality driving
CommunityNEXT, to Leor Barak, the urban
activator of the Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue, and many more, the Jewish community
and the city are bringing real talent to the table.
Tell It!
Importantly, Detroit has a story. In the recent past,
people from Detroit wouldn't always claim it as their
hometown. I would meet people who said they were
from Michigan, West Bloomfield or Farmington Hills.
Now these same people are proud to be from "the D"
and they seem to keep the city close to their hearts.
As Jews, we often worry about our future and that
of our people. We are aware of the increasing demand
for social services, the declining American Jewish
population and rising threats around the world. Yet
we continue to dream big and create communities in
which unbelievable opportunities turn into reality.
In its 13th year, Taglit-Birthright Israel represents
one of the biggest ideas of this generation. For more
than 200,000 American Jewish young adults, a 10-day
Birthright Israel trip has offered an unparalleled
opportunity to create interest in Jewish identity and
connection to Jewish life and living. But turning the
spark of curiosity and emergent identity into engage-
ment on Day 11 and beyond is a process. Although
the "Generation Birthright Israel" study by Len Saxe
found that Birthright Israel trips affect participants
deeply, the trip is not a stand-alone event that guar-
antees community involvement. Nor should it be.
The Next Step
At NEXT, that process of moving from "spark" to
engagement serves as our platform for building
vibrant Jewish community for young adults. We're
partnering with communities like Detroit to help
make Jewish communal life more transparent and
accessible to Birthright Israel alumni and their peers.
Through this work, we also create
resources and opportunities for individu-
als to deepen their knowledge and experi-
ence of Jewish life. In fact, the 62 NEXT
Shabbat meals hosted by young adults
in Detroit have reached nearly 1,100
Birthright Israel participants and their
friends.
We also believe that professionals and
community organizations tasked with
engaging young adults are incredibly
important for their ability to impact and
grow Jewish community. We now work
directly with these engagement profes-
sionals and bring them together to share and learn
from each other.
This past June, two Detroit-based CommunityNEXT
staff members attended our NEXTwork Launch in
Chicago, and over the course of a day, 30 "engagers"
learned from each other and our presenters, covering a
wide variety of topics from social media listening tech-
niques to work-life balance.
With their appetites whetted on a Birthright Israel
trip, Jewish young adults are searching for vibrant
and diverse communities in which they can both play
and learn (and sometimes work). NEXT is committed
to both helping trip alumni express their needs, and
enabling professionals and organizations to respond
to those needs in order to create more vibrant, repre-
sentative, and meaningful Jewish communities — for
all of us.
Yoni Sarason is Midwest regional director of NEXT: A
Division of Birthright Israel Foundation, which connects
Birthright trip alumni and their peers with meaningful
Jewish living and learning opportunities here and in Israel.
ederation's Teen Mission took 100 local teens
to Israel for 41/2 weeks this summer. Its
Alliance for Jewish Education is working with
synagogues to make our congregational schools more
appealing to students. And its constituent agency
Tamarack Camps is marking 110 years as a favorite
provider of Jewish summer camp experiences.
Consider that tripleheader in the context of Israel
trips, Jewish learning and Jewish summer camps
all playing important parts in engaging our teenag-
ers, who are at a critical and formative stage in their
lives, including religiously. Notably, Jewish Detroit
once more stands as a national model for reaching
out to this pivotal generation – which represents our
Jewish future.
And that's significant.
As a Jewish community, we're shrinking in head
count and facing incredible demands on our commu-
nal resources. Yet we understand we must keep our
kids dialed in to a Jewish life if we expect them to
embrace their Jewish identity in college and beyond.
The 2010 demographic study commissioned by
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit shows
more than a quarter of our community's 67,000 Jews
is age 19 or younger. So how we approach making
our younger generations feel comfortable within the
Jewish people plays a crucial part in whether and
how vigorously they will express who they are as
Jews in the coming years.
That's well worth not only pondering, but also act-
ing on this High Holiday season.:_)
Declaration Annuls
Vows Made To God
I
t opens the Erev Yom Kippur service in dramatic
style and in an oh-so-moving way, but it's not
really a prayer.
Kol Nidre (All Vows) is chanted at the beginning of
the holiday, with the Torahs displayed and the congre-
gation standing. For many Jews, it defines the Yom
Kippur experience. But it's actually a legal formula.
That explains why it must be said before sunset; legal
matters are barred on Shabbat and major holidays.
On Kol Nidre night, the Aramaic rendition asks God
to annul vows we may make to God in the coming
year – whatever the reason for the vows. Declaring
up front that all vows in the new year are null and
void means any religious vow made is held to be with-
out sufficient intention and thus lacks binding power.
Kol Nidre is chanted three times to not only assure
that latecomers hear its famous melody of penitence,
hope and rejoice, but also because ancient Jewish
courts would say "You are released" three times to
release a person from a legally binding vow.
The haunting strains of the Kol Nidre set the
stage for the solemnity of Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement. ,__1
Contact him at Yoni.Sarason@birthrightisraelnext.com .
September 20 • 2012
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