Does Security Trump Civil Liberties?

by: Bailey Frohlich for Fresh Ink for Teens

Teens respond to Donald Trump’s call to deny Muslims entry into the United States.

We are blessed to live in the United States in the 21st century. Our Founding Fathers fought a Revolutionary War to secure our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness — inalienable rights afforded to us by our Bill of Rights.

One of these rights is freedom of religion, a freedom which has shaped America from its inception when the pilgrims fled religious persecution and arrived 400 years ago.

When Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made seemingly anti-Muslim comments in early December he naturally caused immense controversy. In a statement posted December 7, 2015 on his campaign website, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States… until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses.”

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Song Of Life

by Lauren Ishay for Fresh Ink for Teens

Memories from childhood formed the teenager I am today.

Childhood came, only to so quickly disappear
Time rolled unremittingly on, with each passing year
But my time of youth, always remembered oh so well
And in the remembering there is a story to tell

My days of being young were mostly happy and carefree
Blissfully ignorant of life, were my friends and me
From chasing butterflies and picking flowers at 3 years old
To a trip to the doctor discovering my first cold

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Jewish Handiwork

by: Noa Rubin for Fresh Ink for Teens

The hands of many people shaped the person I am today.

Using a silver cup I pour water on my hands, once on my right, then on my left, three times. I watch the water rush down my hands and into the sink. Al netilat yadayim (on the washing of hands) — I reflect on my gratitude for the commandment to wash my hands as preparation for holy actions. I am ready.

My Jewish identity consists of many disjointed facets. Seeking commonality in my memories, I found one recurring image: hands. The people who appear in my memories used their hands to sanctify mine. The memory of my dad’s hands on the car’s steering wheel, fighting traffic to get me to school, brought dedication to me as a learner. The memory of my grandparents hosting Shabbat dinners for my cousins and me almost every week. Their hands set the table and cooked beautiful meals — a meaningful, intergenerational practice — and therefore, tradition matters to me.

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Top 10 Mitzvah Projects Of 2015

From Mitzvah Market

Long after the DJ’s name is forgotten and the imprinted sweatshirts outgrown, a young Jewish adult’s Bar Bat Mitzvah Project should be remembered.

We have profiled nearly 150 various Mitzvah Projects from children all over the country. Hopefully your child can get inspiration from others by reading what they have done.

Here are the 10 most popular Mitzvah Project stories from 2015.

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I'm 13 Years Old and Israel's Chief Rabbi Is Wrong About My School

Amnon Scharia for The Jewish Daily Forward

On December 1, Israeli Minister of Education Naftali Bennett visited my school, Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan (SSSM). During his visit, me and a couple of other fortunate middle-schoolers got to meet with him and ask him a couple of questions. Minister Bennett was very interested to learn about how our school teaches Judaism. Shortly after that he joined us for shira be’tzibur (sing-along), a gathering of the whole school once a month and on special occasions in which we come together and sing Hebrew songs as a community. Later that day Minister Bennett tweeted: “Meeting with the pupils of the wonderful Conservative school ‘Solomon Schechter’ in New York. So much love of Israel and so much love of Judaism.”

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Funny Girls

by: Sammy Stolzenbach for Fresh Ink for Teens

The zany stars of ‘Broad City’ taught me that being Jewish is no big deal.

Growing up in a tight-knit, supportive Jewish community, I seldom felt like part of an endangered minority. Despite constant reminders and awareness of the plight of the Jewish people — increasing rates of conversion, conflicts in Israel and the general threat of anti-Semitism — my life as a Jew has been a comfortable one. But the blessing of a secure community has always come with a catch; an ominous warning whispered by adults that the “real world” would not be the same.

As my time to leave the community for college draws close, I’ve felt as if I was being prepared for battle. Years of sitting through advocacy seminars and guest speeches on anti-Semitism on college campuses have made it abundantly clear that our weapon of choice should be knowledge. We can shield ourselves with facts; we can pierce the fallacies thrown at us with statistics. Objective truth will be our Iron Dome.

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‘Train’ Follows Its Own Track

by: Avigial Albert for Fresh Ink for Teens

Teens take center stage in this riveting Holocaust novel by Danny M. Cohen

There are many forgotten people scattered over the pages of history, and it’s a great privilege to hear from them like we do in “Train,” a novel by Danny M. Cohen published in January. The story is set over a 10-day span in 1943 Germany, and it chronicles the efforts of six teens — Marko, Tsura, Kizzy, Alex, Ruti and Elise — to escape and keep each other safe from the Nazi round-ups bursting almost spontaneously into existence all around them.

To tell the truth, in the beginning I was totally bewildered, mostly because the book's point of view switches between all those different characters.  It took a while to settle into the natural rhythm of the book, but once I did — well, I won't say I enjoyed it, because the Holocaust isn't an enjoyable theme — the story was just plain fascinating. The various plotlines began to make sense and the characters managed to separate themselves from the vague, overwhelming tangle of personas a reader often encounters at the beginning of a book.

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