I was struck by the juxtaposition of reading Shira Hanau’s excellent article “Jewish Teens: ‘We Don’t Want Our Parent’s Judaism’” (June 7) the same day I received a memo from Rabbi Micah Greenland, international director of NCSY [the Orthodox Union’s youth group], who was quoted in Hanau’s piece.
NCSY, as I learned, will break a record this summer by bringing more than 1,700 Jewish teens to overnight summer camp; most will be in Israel. Further, more than 600 of our teens are coming from public schools, with little to no formal Jewish education. It suggests something important and encouraging. Judaism does not need to be reinvented. Our values and lessons are timeless. However, what I think NCSY continues to prove is that with an extraordinary sense of innovative content delivery that resonates with teens, more and more ask us to “count them in.”
Director of Development, NCSY Highland Park, N.J.
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