Passover: The Next Generation

by Jessica Baar for FreshInkForTeens.com

The honor of reciting the four questions transitions from the oldest cousin to the younger ones.

“Frogs here, frogs there, frogs are jumping everywhere!” I must have heard this song, specifically this line, at least 100 times.

As I stand in my cousins’ dining room in New City, in Rockland County, I am surrounded by familiar faces. All are singing along to this amphibious tune. The song is your traditional Passover jam about the slaves in Egypt and the many plagues used to free them. Singing this song is one of many family traditions on Passover.

Let me paint the scene here. Every year my family drives two hours up to New York from our town in Pennsylvania and spends one day of Passover with my cousins. We have a seder, nosh on some food, sing songs and more. When I was little some of my most prominent holiday memories were from Passover. I’d always look forward to going to my cousins’ house because it was so much fun. They’d always sing songs, tell funny stories about the holiday and let the little kids perform for everyone. What child wouldn’t enjoy that?!

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Teens' tweets on killing, bombing Jews deemed no threat

Kevin Pentón, Asbury Park Press

JACKSON – A State Police sergeant's teenage daughter who dressed like Hitler and posted on social media a picture of a popular gathering spot for Orthodox Jews — with the caption "perfect bombing time" — may have behaved offensively, but not criminally, authorities said.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office examined the Twitter post and a cache of other pro-Hitler images by the Jackson teen and her associates and concluded that they did not amount to any credible threat.

"There was never any danger being posed to the community," said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the office. "It didn't rise to anything criminal."

He added that the one teen's connection to law enforcement afforded her no special treatment — even as police remain on heightened alert for terrorism and threats conveyed through social media.

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One: A Poem for the Jewish People

A poem by Shayna Lowenstein, winner of NFTY's 2015 creative writing competition.

One.

One voice against the world.

One community linked together like the stars forming constellations in the sky.

One journey.

One thousand journeys.

One million journeys taken from the beginning of time, each different than the one that came before it.

One nation, a Jewish nation,

Building a foundation with self-determination to grow stronger,

Stronger than we were the day before and stronger than our ancestors in the desert could have ever imagined.

We are a blank canvas and each journey is a colorful marker.

As we each take our journey we create pictures.

Beautiful lines connecting us, one by one, day by day,

Pictures that will show us the world,

Pictures our grandchildren will one day look at and ask stories about,

And we will tell them.

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8 New Summer Programs for Jewish Teenagers in New York

This New York Teen Initiative is jointly funded by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jim Joseph Foundation. The Jewish Education Project serves as lead operator of the Initiative.

February 10, 2015 (New York, NY) In order to expand the marketplace of options for New York’s Jewish Teens, The Jewish Education Project and UJA-Federation of New York are launching a cohort of 8 new summer programs designed to match specific interests and needs of Jewish teens in New York.  The programs will all be part of a nurturing Incubator experience and will receive start up support from the newly formed New York Teen Initiative for Immersive Summer Experiences for Jewish Teens, a $9.2 million, four year initiative supported by the Jim Joseph Foundation and UJA-Federation of NY.

These 8 new Jewish learning experiences include local opportunities—like a Jewish surf camp and a theater program—and travel opportunities including an interfaith trip to Israel and a Teen Institute for Innovation centered around a trip to Panama, amongst others. The summer programs also will be strategically designed to connect to year-round meaningful Jewish learning opportunities for teens.

The programs in the Incubator will receive financial support, personalized coaching, marketing assistance as well as a broad series of interactive educational workshops.

The full list of new programs include:

•   Sababa Surf Camp –Temple Israel of Great Neck and Forest Hills Jewish Center
•   Intergenerational Jewish Service-Learning Teen Internship Program – Dorot, Inc.
•   Intern NYC – JCC Manhattan
•   JustAct NYC – Union for Reform Judaism in partnership with Irondale Theater
•   JAM (Judaism Action Mitzvot): Memphis – American Jewish Society for Service
•   Jewish Teen Institute for Innovation: Panama – PresenTense and Think Impact
•   Interfaith Israel Teen Fellowship –Big Tent Judaism and Interfaith Israel
•   AЯTEL Teen Fellowship – Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst and
• JCC Association

Discussing God In The Chemistry Lab

by: Lizzie Zakaim for FreshInkForTeens.com

Will my lab partners hate me for being Jewish?

Being absent from school certainly has its drawbacks. After taking off for the first two days of Sukkot, I returned to Paramus High School bright and early on a Monday morning for period one chemistry. We were assigned partners to complete a lab that I had not been in school to begin. My lab partners were more than willing to get me up to speed on what I missed. One of them asked why I was absent.

A small part of me immediately tensed at this harmless question. In my four years of public school, no matter how many times I have been asked a question that requires an explanation involving Judaism, I immediately recoil. It is an irrational fear that I will somehow be ostracized for my faith. My lab partners are good-natured girls, though, and they seem curious, so I venture a short, but concise, explanation.

I explained Sukkot. How the Israelites constructed huts as shelters in the desert. How Jews eat, and sometimes sleep, in these huts as a demonstration of our faith in God. The hut is not a well-constructed shelter, though we have faith that God will shelter us from any danger, just as our ancestors believed in the desert.

“So you believe that God kept them safe then, and will keep you safe now?” asked one of the girls.

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