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Motor City USY

Conservative youth group, revitalized
with new director, will offer teens
programming, social action, "ruach."

Alexis Zimberg

Special to the Jewish News

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10

January 30 • 2014

otor City USY is back. After

a decade of near-dormancy,
the Conservative Jewish youth
group is experiencing a major revival.
Dwarfed by BBYO, Motor City USY
(MCUSY) struggled with outreach for
many years. But, perhaps influenced by
the popularity of Conservative summer
programs like Camp Ramah, MSUCY's
membership woes are no more.
In fact, at an October USY convention
in Toledo, the group won accolades for
bringing not only the largest chapter to
the convention, but also the most incom-
ing freshman.
MCUSY kicked off the academic
year with a new board, headed by co-
presidents Brian Dickstein of Farmington
Hills, a North Farmington junior, and
Jesse Adler of Farmington Hills, a Frankel
Jewish Academy senior. They also have
a new youth director, David Lerner,
Congregation Shaarey Zedek's director of
youth and young adult programming.
The group pools resources from
six Detroit-area congregations: Adat
Shalom and B'nai Israel Synagogues
and Congregations Shaarey Zedek, Beth
Ahm, B'nai Moshe, and Beth Shalom.
While Shaarey Zedek pays Lerner's
salary, the other synagogues contrib-
ute through marketing, recruiting and
hosting chapter events. By blending
traditions from Detroit's Conservative
synagogues, MCUSY helps to define a
unified Conservative Jewish identity for
teens, one that goes beyond the walls of a
certain synagogue.
Only halfway through the school year,
the group already has reached a sustain-
able momentum. To ensure its future,
MCUSY has resurrected its Kadima
chapter designed to introduce younger
teens (grades 6-8) to the youth group
through Shabbat dinners, regional con-
ferences and social events.
MCUSY is about more than just Jewish
ritual; it is about exploring social action
and leadership from a Jewish perspective.
For example, a recent event was
held at Beaverland Farms in Northwest
Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood.
There, the group spent a Sunday after-
noon building a beehive and helping
with the season's final harvest.
What drew the group to this particu-
lar farm was its farmer, Scott Unger.
Between tending to his crops and chick-

Brian Dickstein of Farmington Hills
and Eden Lichterman of Huntington
Woods at Beaverland Farms in Detroit

ens, Unger is an observant Jew, who
kosher, observes Shabbat and spent his
off-season at a yeshivah in Israel.
This month, 30 members met at the
Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, put-
ting their arms around one another's
shoulders and singing Havdalah prayers
to end Shabbat. The teens then marched
down Woodward Avenue to Campus
Martius. They spent the evening bonding
over ice skates, hot chocolate and the pop
radio songs playing overhead.
"My favorite moment of the night was
when I stopped on the side of the ice and
watched the others:' Adler said. "It was
like watching the future of USY in front
of me, and it was beautiful:'
By bridging Jewish tradition, Detroit-
based tikkun olam and the infrastructure
for Conservative Jewish teens to social-
ize, MCUSY offers something different,
including ruach, Hebrew for spirit..
"We're the middle ground between
NCSY and BBYO," said Atara Krakoff of
Southfield, communications vice presi-
dent. "We like to think we are helping
kids learn to love being Jewish:'
With discernible pride, Dickstein wrote
a note on the group's Facebook page in
October: "Let's ride on this momentum
and continue to show everyone from the
community, and the ones that may not
know about us yet, that USYers are future
Jewish leaders, fun and will make a differ-
ence in the lives of others. Let's make this
a year of inspiration:'

❑

Upcoming events: Feb. 23, Israeli culture
night; and March 15, Purim-style limo
scavenger hunt. To RSVP or to learn
more about getting involved, contact the
MCUSY Youth Director David Lerner at
DLerner@ShaareyZedek.org.