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By Ilene Weismehl For as long as I can remember, it was a given that my brother and I would go to Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute, commonly known as OSRUI (pronounced Os-roo-ee), and even more commonly known as Oconomowoc (the camp's Wisconsin town name).  Although none of the above-mentioned names hint at the Debbie Friedman prayers or Hebrew immersion programs or after-meal songs, I always had a notion of what the names might hold (courtesy of my parents' stories of their own time at Union Institute in the fifties) and I couldn't wait to claim it. Forty years later, many of my camp memories have grown as faded as the photo below. But the memory of Shabbat at camp remains vivid! On Shabbat, all camp activities ended early so we had time to shower off the weekday grime of lake and sweat and craft projects. We donned our nice Shabbat clothes and shoes. Then, clean and shiny, and a bit shy for our newly-scrubbed appearance, the girls and boys would meet just outside the dining hall for Kabbalat Shabbat. 

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor. By Jen Whitman The congregation I work for has been hosting the JOSTY Shul In, a region-wide 7^th and 8^th grade junior youth group event, longer than I have been alive.   After the event last year, I was disappointed to hear from some of my own students that they spent most of the shul in feeling uncomfortable, overwhelmed and bored, or worse - that they never wanted to be at a NFTY event again.  And this was coming from the kids who already knew where the bathroom was when they got to the event.

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor. By Timna Burston and Felice Miller Baritz Picture this scene: 3^rd gradeStudents learning about the Negev desert as part of their Israel unit enter a classroom, which has been transformed into a Bedouin tent. They practice the Mitzvah of welcoming others by handing out tea and acting out short conversations welcoming others in Hebrew. The students hear the biblical story of Abraham and the visit of the three angels at his tent in Hebrew, and learn about Ben Gurion moving his whole life to a small kibbutz in the desert to make the desert bloom. They finish by making their own tiny greenhouses and planting sprouts in them to learn about Negev culture – in Hebrew.

When I was growing up, I never met any rabbis other than my congregation’s rabbi. Dr. Renov (we never called him ‘rabbi’) was a scholar. Our congregation, Temple Judea, was small and he served there part-time. Dr. Renov also taught college and perhaps the academic arena was his first love. While he was a nice man, Dr. Renov did not exactly have a way with children or teens. He was formal and reserved. Our confirmation class was made up of three boys. On Sunday mornings, we would meet with Dr. Renov in his small overheated office. I don’t remember what we studied in his class, but I do remember the musty smell of the room, the hiss of the radiator, and struggling to stay awake.

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor. By Beth Lipschutz and Julie Marsh When we were growing up in NFTY, the only thing better than being with our temple youth groups was when our advisors would plan an event with other youth group advisors.  This gave us the opportunity to see our friends outside of our temple walls.  Still today, teens in our congregations enjoy seeing their friends outside of regional events and outside of their own congregations. Teens today are looking for the “congregation-to-congregation” interaction.

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor. By Lisa Friedman When I first began my tenure at Temple Beth-El, I met David, a student in grade 5 with a significant learning disability and attention issues. Members of the Child Study Team at David’s public school suggested that David not attempt to learn a foreign language as it would be too overwhelming for him. This wasn’t acceptable to his parents, who wanted David to both learn and love Hebrew so that he could become a bar mitzvah.  We met David’s academic needs by individualizing his instruction, and his bar mitzvah was a highly meaningful experience.  But for me, this is where David’s story begins.  I always knew that David could learn Hebrew and become a bar mitzvah; we just needed to meet his needs appropriately.

Shalom from Eretz Yisrael! I’m thrilled to be here in Jerusalem as part of the first URJ Board of Trustees Mission to Israel, led by Rabbi Rick Jacobs. This is a critical, working trip to advance the goals of our movement. We just arrived Tuesday night, but here’s a rundown of some of the highlights so far. We met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit at the Prime Minister’s office. The PM was visibly moved by Rabbi Jacobs' introduction and reiterated his support of the Reform Movement in Israel and throughout the world. Rabbi Jacobs has developed a strong, working relationship with his office, and it was an honor for our board to continue to further that relationship through an in-person visit.

By Louis J. Dobin Recently I flew in from Israel and stopped in New York on my way to Texas to attend the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) Gala. It was a wonderful evening, and put me in touch with people from every generation of my life – those with whom I work now, those who once worked with me, and those from my past who are still working to try and change the world. What struck me about the Gala (in addition to the outstanding honorees – Paul Reichenbach, Peri Smilow, and Rabbi Kroloff), was the primacy of music in the life of modern-day Israelis. When I first attended the URJ (then UAHC) Eisner Camp-Institute in the 1960s, camp music as we know it today was still in its infancy. Debbie Friedman was a kid at the time, Dave Nelson, Jeff Klepper, and Danny Freelander were my age. Josh Nelson and Dan Nichols had not yet been born. No one had put a guitar on the pulpit of a synagogue, and the Board of my synagogue had to vote on whether to allow me to play guitar on the bimah.

Our friends from the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) offered their sympathy this week for those affected by Sunday’s deadly shootings at two Jewish communities in a suburb of Kansas City, KS.