by Alexa Horowitz

I didn't know that Jews were a minority until I was 10 years old. Everything I had ever known was Jewish. I went to Jewish day school, all my friends were Jewish, and my parents' friends were Jewish. I live in Northbrook, a well-off and prominently Jewish community, so whenever I went to activities outside my school life, I still assumed that everyone was a Jew. When I was eight, it was natural to me that I was going to attend Camp Young Judaea Midwest, a Jewish overnight camp.

Back then, I didn't realize what an impact Young Judaea would have on my life. I was simply having fun, tubing on the lake, dancing on Saturday nights and laughing with my friends. I kept returning to Camp Young Judaea year after year, and kept on having a blast. As I grew up in the movement, I realized that I knew more about the history of Israel and Zionism than my friends did at home. I started asking questions about different aspects of Israel and Judaism that they never considered and weren't even interested in discussing. Making new friends every year at camp helped me to make better connections with people within my own community. Still, only with my Young Judaea friends did I find people who were just as interested in discovering their spiritual identity as I was.

My experiences in Young Judaea have molded the person I once was into the person I always wanted to be. Not only did attending camp give me the independence that most young teenagers lack, it helped me to develop a sense of community that goes beyond camp boundaries to the entire Jewish community. I fell in love with the kids who cared about discovering their individualities and their selves. The same kids who I had profound discussions with until 2am, and that I gossiped with until 2pm. I fell in love with the kids who I saw once a year, but understood me better than the ones who saw me every day.

Since my first year, I attended camp nine additional years and became a part of the greater Young Judaea year round movement. Sophomore year, I became actively involved in Young Judaea in the Midwest region, helping to plan educational and group activities for Jews throughout the area. By junior year, I was elected as Bogrim (high school) Programmer, a high position on the Regional Executive Board. My election meant that I was now in charge of running activities and providing leadership training for Jewish high school students throughout the region. As a movement, Young Judaea helped me to give back to my community, and I wanted to help my peers do the same for theirs. Through my active leadership role I found a way that I could bring those feelings of belonging I achieved at camp home with me. I helped arrange and plan two successful conventions, one focusing on the Zionist thinkers, and the other on Jewish Identity. Along with the rest of the Board, I asked the participants to examine their thinking and their beliefs.

This summer, I went on Machon, a five-week program in Israel. With the thirty-three people on my bus, I investigated and discussed how Judaism is relevant to our lives, the Arab-Israeli conflict, why we matter to the country and why Israel matters to us. We traveled around the country, from shopping in Tel Aviv, to praying at the Western Wall, to scuba diving in the Red Sea. When we went up north, we examined the checkpoint issue, and in the south we learned about the new solar panels that were installed. The most memorable part of the trip for me was special interest week, where I hiked from The Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean Sea. I have been to Israel many times before, but I had never seen the actual terrain in that way before. I now understand what the land truly is and what it means for it to be ours.

Now, as a senior in high school, I am president of Young Judaea Midwest. This means that I am responsible for executing the conventions, coordinating with the other regions, and overseeing other events held within the area. I am lucky enough to have the ability to give others a chance to feel the excitement that I feel whenever I am with fellow Judaeans. Year-round programs are the best way to keep the spark of enjoyment, exhilaration and enthusiasm lit.

When I first decided to attend Camp Young Judaea Midwest, I did not expect much more than four weeks of fun. But since that first summer, Young Judaea helped shape me into the passionate person I am today. I have learned about Judaism from many different angles since kindergarten, but only at Camp Young Judaea did my perceptions of the world and of myself change forever. Fortunately, my Young Judaea career is not ending with high school. Next year I will be attending Young Judaea year-course, where I will be studying, volunteering, and experiencing Israel for ten months. Everybody should have the opportunity to feel the same sense of belonging that Young Judaea has given me. Forward together, we are building Young Judaea.

To learn more about Young Judaea programs in the US and in Israel please go to: www.youngjudaea.org.

Meet Becca Helbraun, our blogging correspondent who recently returned from a kibbutz in Israel, where she spent a semester abroad during her junior year of high school.  Becca is one of twelve Chicago Jewish Teen Leadership Award winners, taking on a community leadership role during her senior year.

September 23, 2011

You know how people say "time flies when your having fun?" Well, I say time zooms when you are surrounded by your best friends in the world, in the place that you love. Nobody will ever be able to understand the sensation of days feeling like weeks, weeks feeling like months, and months feeling like years, until you engage in an experience that takes you so out of your comfort zone that it makes you rethink their identity. When put in a situation where nobody knows you and you don't know anyone else; where you can be whoever we want to be and you decide your own outcome. The experience in which you bond with others so deeply that you can read the other's thoughts and know how they are feeling. This experience of wholeness; this lifetime adventure obtained in only four months occurred to me through the program I went on last semester called EIE.

I was so lucky to be a part of this program my second semester of Junior year Spring 2011. Honestly, this program is all I think about being back at school. Constantly I'm in class or doing my homework when I catch myself daydreaming about my life back in Israel. Being back, I miss Israel and all it had to offer terribly. However, I know that its important to keep my stories, keep in touch and then continue on with my life and look forwards to the events I that I know will be unbelievable that I'll plan for myself in the future.

There is a piece that an old comedian named George Carlin wrote talking about paradoxes in current human life. He said, "We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years." First semester of last year was very hard for me and I felt myself questioning. I simply couldn't understand how America sets society up and that in order to make a good life for yourself you have to go to junior high to go to high school to go to college to get a job to support a family to have a good life. I hated people telling me to do things because it would look good for a college resume. I disliked having to think for tomorrow when I was only on today.

And then I went on EIE. And I discovered that we are granted life to live it. To go out and enjoy the world; to live in the moment. I learned that you can do what you want to do with your life - you just have to make it happen and go out and do it. EIE made me more aware of so many things, but mostly it made me conscious of what living life to the fullest really is. It helped me discover to not be afraid of where life may take me, but to go out and take risks. It showed me what true happiness really is - being so happy that people even comment about how often you smile. I know that life is meant for us to be daring, and even occasionally to be rebellious. To make exciting experiences worth telling stories about later on in life. To love myself for who I am. To never regret - it's those things that make you into the person you are today. I am so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to participate in this amazing program that changed my life.
 

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Voices: The Chicago Jewish Teen Foundation Kicks Off 8th Year and New Alumni Program

Voices: The Chicago Jewish Teen Foundation kicked off its 8th year last Sunday at Chicagoland Jewish High School! Thirty Jewish high school students from all around Chicago will spend the next year learning the ins and outs of grant making and will eventually allocate over $30,000 to Jewish charities. This year is going to be the most rigorous in Voices history and the teen board members are up for the challenge! For the first time ever, Voices will launch its first all day intensive retreat aimed at laying the grant making foundation for the rest of the year. In one day, board members will accomplish what was typically done in the first three months of the program, and will even spend some time volunteering at Pushing the Envelope Farm. Though it is up to the board members exactly how they will operate their grant cycle and which charities will receive the funds, they will learn to work as a cohesive team and make all of their decisions thoughtfully, strategically, and based on Jewish values and ethics. In addition to the updated curriculum, Voices is also launching its first ever Alumni Foundation for teen board members from last year's grant making cycle. These 8 returning students will work together to translate the skills they learned last year into their own independent philanthropy foundation. They will engage in a year-long fund raising campaign to fund their grant making and will also act as peer educators and mentors for the incoming Voices cohort. This is going to be the most excited year of Voices yet and we can't wait to see all of the amazing work the teen board members accomplish! Stay tuned for more updates!

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