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United Synagogue Youth

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The USY Logo

United Synagogue Youth is the youth movement of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism or USCJ.

United Synagogue Youth, more commonly known as USY, is a youth group with members from the United States and Canada dedicated to creating a fun, educational environment where Jewish teenagers can connect in hopes of meeting other Jewish teens in a comfortable atmosphere, combating assimilation, supporting Israel and giving and performing charity. The organization is open to all Jewish teenagers. While synagogue membership is not a requirement, most affiliate with the Conservative movement.

The goals of USY

The general aim of the United Synagogue Youth program is to bring about a meaningful and fully reciprocal encounter of Judaism, the Jewish people, and the synagogue on one side, and the Jewish teenager on the other. As a result of this encounter, the Jewish teenager will, firstly, demonstrate and experience how the Jewish way of living, through study, action and fellowship, leads to personal fulfillment and growth while meeting his spiritual and social needs, and secondly, make a significant contribution to his synagogue, community, society and the Jewish people.

Regions

Name of region Details of name Areas covered Regional President Website
CRUSY Central Region USY Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia Shira Rascoe www.crusy.org
CHUSY Chicagoland USY Northern Illinois, Milwaukee, Madison Hannah Miller www.chusy.org
ECRUSY Eastern Canadian Region USY Ontario, Quebec Sarah Goldberg www.ecrusy.org
Emtza USY Hebrew: אמצע, "middle" Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Western Wisconsin, Manitoba Elana Goldberg www.emtza.org
EPA USY Eastern Pennsylvania USY Eastern and Northern Pennsylvania from Harrisburg to Scranton Rachael Penfil www.epausy.org
Far West USY Region stretches furthest west. Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Hawaii, Utah Sarah Tudzin www.fwusy.net
Hagalil USY Hebrew: הגליל, "the Galilee" (a region of the North District of Israel) Northern and Central New Jersey Jonathan Steinberg www.hagalilusy.com
Hanefesh USY Hebrew: הנפש, "the soul" Connecticut and Western Massachusetts Max Beede www.hanefesh.org
Hanegev USY Hebrew: הנגב, "the Negev" (a region of the South District of Israel) Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Southern North Carolina, South Carolina Jacob Ludin www.hanegevusy.org
METNY USY Metropolitan New York USY Greater New York City and Long Island Benjamin Guzik www.metnyusy.org
NERUSY New England Region USY Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Stevie Aaron Gillman www.nerusy.org
New Frontier USY Based on the 1939 film "New Frontier" with John Wayne[citation needed] Northern California, Reno, Nevada Jessie Bricker www.newfrontierusy.org
Pinwheel USY Pacific Northwest USY Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta Oliver Jacobson www.uscj.org/pacnw/usy
Hagesher USY Hebrew: הגשר, "the bridge" Delaware Valley, Greater Philadelphia Tyler Dratch www.hagesher.org
Seaboard USY "the area bordering the sea; a coastline"[1] Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Northeastern North Carolina Michelle Kerbel www.seaboardusy.org
SWUSY Southwest USY Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana Eliana R.Z. Gershon www.swusy.org
Tzafon USY Hebrew: צפון, "north" Upstate New York, Western Massachusetts, Southwestern Vermont Lauren Kaufman www.tzafon.org

Specialty Clubs

USY provides its members with optional membership to any or all of its three specialty clubs. Admission to such clubs requires either a small monetary payment to the USY international office, or fulfillment of various standards. Each club represents a specific quality of USY; respectively, in the order below, religious education, Israel awareness, and social action.

Abraham Joshua Heschel Honor Society

The Heschel Honor Society is a club for USY members of secular and religious academic excellence. The club is named after Abraham Joshua Heschel. A.J. Heschel Honor Society members often have Heschel meetings during regional conventions in which they discuss and debate topics that AJ Heschel wrote about. The Heschel Honor society holds a convention in March each year for a group of about 75 involved members. The Abraham Joshua Heschel Honor Society Convention was held in West Hartford, Connecticut last year and will be held in Wayne, New Jersey this year.

HeChalutzim

HeChalutzim is a club for USY members interested in Israel Affairs and Religious Zionism. Members of HeChalutzim often attend unique regional weekends for the club, or enjoy special programming at regional conventions and International Convention. In addition, every year one HeChalutzim member from each region goes to Israel with the HeChalutzim Israel Seminar, and returns to the regions to advocate for and encourage others to visit Israel.

613 Mitzvah Corps

The 613 Mitzvah Corps is the Social Action club for USY memberships interested in the ideals of social action and the Tikun Olam program. It deals with helping out the Jewish and general communities.


Summer trips

USY runs a large number of summer trips and programs through the "USY: Great Escape" initiative.

Israel Pilgrimage

USY sends hundreds of teens to Israel each summer. Trips vary in locations, programming, and mood, but every trip stays in or visits at least the following locations: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Eilat, kibbutz Sa'ad, Masada, the Dead Sea, and Rosh HaNikra. Security is provided by Israeli staffers with military experience and the Jewish Agency.

Israel Adventure

Israel Adventure is a four-week, Israel-only trip which consists of three weeks touring around Israel and one week spent in a mock army training called Gadna.

Eastern Europe/Israel Pilgrimage

Eastern Europe Israel Pilgrimage consists of exploring the history and cultures of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania for two weeks and spending the remaining four weeks touring Israel. The trip's itinerary before 2008 included Hungary instead of Lithuania.

Spain/Israel Pilgrimage

Spain/Israel Pilgrimage consists of one week touring prominent historical locations in Spain and Portugal and then four weeks touring Israel.

Israel Pilgrimage/Poland Seminar

Israel Pilgrimage/Poland Seminar consists of nine days spent touring prominent Jewish locations, former Jewish communities, and concentration camps in Poland before spending four weeks touring Israel. Past groups have visited Sobibor, Majdanek, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka, Warsaw, Kraków, Lublin, Kielce, and many others.

Etgar! Outdoor Adventure: Israel

Etgar! Outdoor Adventure: Israel is a five-week program that goes beyond the souvenir stands to discover the Israeli side of Israel, combining volunteer work with challenging nature hikes in the Galilee, Golan Heights, and the Negev.


USY on Wheels

USY on Wheels is a six and half-week bus tour across the United States and Canada, which visits different Jewish communities and tourist attractions across America, including the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Mount Rushmore, and many others. In addition to several buses simply touring, there is one Mission Mitzvah bus, which focuses on community service projects and social action. Wheels East, a four-week East Coast trip for entering 9th graders, was added in Summer 2007.

Summer in the City

Summer in the City is a co-ed, four week pre-college program that takes place in New York City. The USYers live in the List College dorm. Participants choose a class to take at Barnard College in the morning with students participating in Barnard's Pre-College Program and the entire group takes a class at the Jewish Theological Seminary in the afternoon. In the evenings and on weekends, the group goes out to see the various sights and activities New York has to offer, including a New York Yankees game, a Broadway show, museums, and other social attractions. The group spends one weekend at the New Jersey shore. There is also some community service once a week.

School year programs

USY International Convention

International Convention, also referred to as IC, is a yearly gathering of over 900 USYers from across North America in a different city each year. They gather for study sessions, specialty club meetings, Summer Program reunions (see above) and socializing. The new officers of United Synagogue Youth are also elected at this time. The convention takes place in December, and the 2009 convention is in Chicago, IL, with CHUSY as the host region. Past International Conventions have been held in:
1987 - Baltimore, MD
1988 - Chicago, IL
1989 - Philadelphia, PA
1990 - Tampa, FL
1991 - Boston, MA
1992 - Baltimore, MD
1993 - Irvine, CA
1994 - East Brunswick, NJ
1995 - Toronto, ON
1996 - Orlando, FL
1997 - Philadelphia, PA
1998 - Chicago, IL
1999 - San Jose, CA
2000 - Boston, MA
2001 - Washington, D.C.
2002 - Orlando, FL
2003 - Toronto, ON
2004 - Chicago, IL
2005 - Philadelphia, PA
2006 - Boston, MA
2007 - Anaheim, CA
2008 - Washington, D.C.
2009 - Chicago, IL

USY High

USY High is an eight-week program in which high schoolers (juniors and seniors) live at the Goldstein Youth Village in Jerusalem, studying and exploring Israel. In the campus classroom, participants are introduced chronologically to each historical period. Campus class time is interspersed with time experiencing the "classroom without walls" - the Land of Israel. Participants learn in an ancient cave, a mountain fortress, an army bunker, riding on a camel, or at the beach. It is the sister program of Tichon Ramah Yerushalaim (TRY), which is done by Ramah. TRY is seventeen weeks long and is for sophomores and juniors.

Nativ

Nativ is a 9-month program in Israel for recent high school graduates. Paticipants go on trips around Israel, attend leadership seminars and study at either Hebrew University or the Conservative Yeshiva (aligned with the Masorti movement in Israel). Participants also choose between living on a kibbutz (specifically, Kibbutz Sa'ad or Kibbutz Ein Tzurim) or living and volunteering in a developing community.

International Leadership

There are six officers on the International Executive Board (IEB). These USYers are responsible for the executive leadership of the organization. They are elected to one year terms at the yearly International Convention. The 2009 Leadership is as follows:[1]

  • President: David Helfand (Emtza)
  • Israel Affairs Vice President: Ron Shapiro (Hagesher)
  • Religion/Education Vice President: Judah Kerbel (Hanegev)
  • Social Action/Tikun Olam Vice President: Stefanie Groner (METNY)
  • Membership/Kadima1 Vice President: Block Josh (NERUSY)
  • Communications Vice President: Maxwell D. Marmer (ECRUSY)

¹Kadima (translated literally as "forward") is the middle school age affiliate of USY and USCJ. [2]

These positions are mirrored in Regional and Chapter Executive Boards when possible.

The USY office in New York, NY is home to the professional leadership of USY which collaborates with the above USY officers. They have greater responsibilities in summer programs, Nativ and long-term planning. Jules Gutin is currently the International Director of USY.[3]

Alumni

Project Reconnect

The official alumni association for all Conservative Movement Programs including USY is Project Reconnect.

Project Reconnect includes groups for USY Regions, Nativ, Pilgrimage and Wheels Groups.

By registering (for free) and including your program participation information, you can become part of on-line discussion groups, use the People Finder to look for specific people, or those who were in USY with you by region, program and/or year. Use the Community Finder to find groups in social networks all over the Internet - Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, Flickr albums, etc..

Project Reconnect provides many services to alumni including an online Yellow Page, a Mentoring Program, home hospitality for Passover seders and High Holiday meals as well as free synagogue tickets for twenty-something alumni - and more!

Eligibilty

USY welcomes everyone regardless of race or ethnicity. The only reason in which one may not be accepted into USY is if one is not Jewish.

Notes

  1. ^ International Executive Board :: Directory Information :: United Synagogue Youth
  2. ^ Kadima :: United Synagogue Youth
  3. ^ International Staff :: People & Places :: United Synagogue Youth

See also

External links

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