North American Federation of Temple Youth
Encyclopedia
The North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) is the organized youth movement of Reform Judaism
in North America. Funded and supported by the Union for Reform Judaism
, NFTY exists to supplement and support Reform youth groups at the synagogue level. About 750 local youth groups affiliate themselves with the organization, comprising over 8,500 youth members.
NFTY is the North American branch of Netzer Olami
, the worldwide Progressive Zionist Youth movement. This relationship was formalized at the biennial NFTY Convention in Los Angeles, California
in February 2005.
(now called the Union for Reform Judaism
), the then-titled National Federation of Temple Youth was a program to encourage college
students to engage in synagogue life. NFTY was originally focused in three regions - New York
, Chicago
, and Pennsylvania
; it soon expanded to all areas of the UAHC. The first national officers were: Richard Bluestein, president; Bernard Sang, first vice president; Lewis Held, second vice president; Daniel Miller, third vice president; Lenore Cohn, secretary. The executive committee of NFTY met in June 1939 in New York and discussed college activities, publications and social justice while also confirming cooperation with the UAHC as an affiliate and to cooperate with the National Conference for Community and Justice in interfaith work. The next convention was February 1940 in Chicago with former President Hoover as a Speaker. National conventions continued every two years until 1948 and the organization began to focus on High School
aged students.
In 1951, NFTY began Jewish summer camp
ing in the newly purchased facility in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
later called the Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute Camp (or OSRUI). In 1964, the Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York became NFTY's North American leadership camp and the site of North American board meetings. The successful Jewish camping movement expanded under the UAHC/URJ and NFTY to Jewish camps around the United States.
In the 1950s, NFTY began to focus on social action and mitzvah
themes, capitalizing on the vision, ideals, and energy of teenagers to help transform the world. Local, regional, and national social action efforts were commonplace on issues from the releases of Russian Jews to the fight against poverty
to hunger. Mitzvah Corps groups were established in many regions.
In 1961, NFTY began Israel programming with the Eisendrath International Exchange (EIE) High School semester in Israel. NFTY summer trips to Israel, often attended between sophomore and junior years of high school have been attended by thousands of Reform Jewish teenagers. Trips to Europe
, mitzvah trips to locations such as Puerto Rico
and Mexico
, and archaeological digs have also been sponsored by NFTY in recent decades.
In 1983, NFTY reintroduced the NFTY Convention in Washington, DC. Every other year on President's Day weekend, hundreds to thousands of Reform Jewish teenagers gather for study, prayer, music, and socializing in a major North American city. A youth advisor's professional training conference was added to run concurrently in 1999 with a youth clergy track added in 2001. Convention typically alternates between the East and West coast.
In the late 1980s at Mechina, a leadership training and policy setting gathering of the NFTY General Board, NFTY officially recognized itself as a North American movement, in response to a growing and influential Canadian population. To this day, the movement still works to get all of its membership, and more importantly, outside press to correctly identify the movement and its various events, i.e. NFTY Convention as opposed to National Convention and North American Executive and General Boards as opposed to National Board.
From the very beginning, the work of NFTY's Youth Leadership has been supported by the adult Professional Staff of NFTY and the Union for Reform Judaism. Directors of NFTY include Rabbi Sam Cook (1945–1967), Rabbi Hank Skirball (1962–1971), Rabbi Allan Smith (1983–2002), Rabbi Michael Mellen (2005-2011). Currently, Subie Banaszynski is the interim Director of NFTY. Melissa Frey is the Associate Director of NFTY and the Director of the URJ's Kutz Camp in Warwick, NY. Beth Avner is the NFTY Director of Education and Special Projects.
Today, NFTY has over 450 local youth groups in 19 regions in the United States and Canada with over 150 regional events a year. Past NFTYites and NFTY leadership can be found as numerous rabbi
s, cantor
s, educators, social workers, synagogue leaders, and active Reform Jews across the world. For example, Eric Yoffie
, recent President of the URJ, was a member of NFTY-Northeast and served as their regional president in 1968.
has been at the heart of NFTY since its beginnings. In NFTY's early years, traditional Jewish and Yiddish melodies were common as well as spirituals such as "Elijah Rock
". In the 1950s, high school aged students sang songs composed by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer to promote social consciousness in young people, such as "Close Your Eyes and Point Your Finger" and "It Could Be a Wonderful World" and learned the dance steps and music then popular on Israeli kibutzim such as the water dance ("Mayim, Mayim"). In the 1960s, folk music
became dominants with guitar
-led teenagers leading the songs of Pete Seeger
, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Bob Dylan
, among others, as well as original compositions not usually recorded for posterity. Following the Six-Day War
in Israel
, a surge of Zionism
in Jewish life pushed Hebrew, Israeli, Chasidic, and liturgically based songs to the forefront. The Mi Chamocha hymn, for example, was set by NFTY participants to the melody of Bob Marley
's Redemption Song
. Similarly, the traditional Adon Olam
can be set to nearly any melody for any situation.
In 1968, Michael Isaacson
introduced a NFTY Folk Service at the Kutz Camp demonstrating the growing trend of participatory, informal, mixed Hebrew/English services and songsessions that have remained the hallmark of a NFTY service. This style of American-born Jewish music came to be known as "American Nusach."
As the number of original compositions, often usually traditional Hebrew prayers for lyrics, became widespread, the first NFTY album, "Songs NFTY Sings" was produced for about $100 at the then-UAHC Kutz Camp. It contained eight contemporary Jewish folk pieces and 10 songs from Isaacson's Folk Service. The album, produced by Loui Dobin, now the director of Greene Family Camp, was quickly followed by 5 more albums: "Shiru Shir Chadash" (1973), "Ten Shabbat V'Ten Shalom (Give Us Sabbath and Give Us Peace)" (1974), "Eit Hazmir, The Time of Singing" (1977), and "nfty at 40: this is very good" (1980). In 1989, "Fifty Years in the Making 1939-1989" was released with new music and retrospective hits. The 7 albums are often also referred to as "NFTY I," "NFTY II," "NFTY III," and so on.
In recent years, as individual artists, many of them former NFTYites themselves, found it easier to produce their own solo-albums, NFTY has shied away from producing records. However, in 2003 released all of the original 7 albums on compact disc
in the 5-disc set "The Complete NFTY Recordings 1972-1989". At recent NFTY Conventions, NFTY has highlighted some contemporary artists and recordings on CD releases "Ruach 5761," "Ruach 5763,", "'Ruach' '5765"which focused on music from and about Israel
, "'Ruach 5767,'" "Ruach 5769," and most recently, "Ruach 5771,"
Performers popular within NFTY include Debbie Friedman
, Kol B'Seder, Ramie and Merri Arian, Doug Mishkin, Peri Smilow, Julie Silver
, Dan Nichols
, Josh Nelson
, Bryan Zive, Chana Rothman Noam Katz, and Rick Recht
.
TYG level: Individual youth groups affiliated with Reform congregations are the foundation of NFTY. TYGs are youth-run and offer participants educational, social, and religious programs. Each TYG has a youth group board and an adult advisor appointed by the congregation. The youth group advisor or director is sometimes a volunteer in the congregation, a parent, a part-time staff person, or, in a small, but increasing number of synagogues, a full-time position. While the board structure is at the direction of each group, most are modeled after the regional or North American board.
Relations between regions range from friendly "rivalry" to "alliance" and are subject to combinations and divisions that occur due to membership fluctuation. For example:
The current regions are:
Three North American gatherings are held: NFTY Convention (held every other year and open to all members), Mechina and NFTY Veida, formerly known as Mid-Year Boards, (held in non-Convention years for regional boards).
The North American Board for the year 2011-2012/5771-5772 is as follows:
President - Forrest Yesnes
Programming Vice President - Liza Moskowitz
Social Action Vice President - Avra Bossov
Religious & Cultural Vice President - Austin Zoot
Membership & Communications Vice President - Taylor Lyles http://nfty.rjblog.org/2011/03/23/nfty-veida-5771-summary/
ending in "FTY" (Federation of Temple Youth) such as LIFTY (Long Island Federation of Temple Youth) or OVFTY (Ohio Valley Federation of Temple Youth). Many synagogue youth groups had similar names based on the name of their city or synagogue.
In 1994, to create greater connection to the North American movement, the names of all NFTY regions became a two- or three- letter region specific abbreviation, preceded by "NFTY-"—thus, LIFTY became NFTY-LI, OVFTY became NFTY-OV, JFTY became known as NFTY-GER (NFTY-Garden Empire Region) and PaFTY (Pennsylvania Federation of Temple Youth) became NFTY-PAR (NFTY-Pennsylvania Area Region). While resisted at first, regions adapted to the new names and sometime began to pronounce the geographic abbreviation. For example, TOFTY (Texas-Oklahoma Federation of Temple Youth) became NFTY-TOR (Texas-Oklahoma Region) and is often called simply "TOR" . During the conversion, SEFTY became NFTY-SER, and then in 2001 split into two regions: NFTY-SAR (the previous Northern Region of SEFTY/NFTY-SER, plus the Jacksonville and Tallahassee TYGs) and NFTY-STR (the remainder of the Southern Region of SEFTY/NFTY-SER; STR is pronouned "star").
In several regions it is traditional for TYGs to have acronyms that resemble real English or Hebrew words; for example (e)YGOW, PARTY, FROGY, GLTY, SCRUFY, BATY, BISY, ARTSY, STARY, EDJY, SMRTY, TASTY, TECHY, MatehFTY, etc.; however some are just acronyms, for example, SchZFTY. Sometimes these words are very suggestive: DRTY, OARJY, NASTY, TSXY , and TESTY are prime examples. However, sexual acronyms are meant mostly as jokes and do not reflect on the quality of the TYG. Attempts to change a TYG name to something more suggestive are usually voted down.
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
in North America. Funded and supported by the Union for Reform Judaism
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
, NFTY exists to supplement and support Reform youth groups at the synagogue level. About 750 local youth groups affiliate themselves with the organization, comprising over 8,500 youth members.
NFTY is the North American branch of Netzer Olami
Netzer Olami
Netzer Olami is the worldwide youth movement of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and is affiliated to Arzenu . "Netzer" is an acronym in Hebrew for Reform Zionist Youth , and Netzer Olami means 'Global Netzer'...
, the worldwide Progressive Zionist Youth movement. This relationship was formalized at the biennial NFTY Convention in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in February 2005.
History
Founded on January 15, 1939 by the Union of American Hebrew CongregationsUnion for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
(now called the Union for Reform Judaism
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
), the then-titled National Federation of Temple Youth was a program to encourage college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
students to engage in synagogue life. NFTY was originally focused in three regions - New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; it soon expanded to all areas of the UAHC. The first national officers were: Richard Bluestein, president; Bernard Sang, first vice president; Lewis Held, second vice president; Daniel Miller, third vice president; Lenore Cohn, secretary. The executive committee of NFTY met in June 1939 in New York and discussed college activities, publications and social justice while also confirming cooperation with the UAHC as an affiliate and to cooperate with the National Conference for Community and Justice in interfaith work. The next convention was February 1940 in Chicago with former President Hoover as a Speaker. National conventions continued every two years until 1948 and the organization began to focus on High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
aged students.
In 1951, NFTY began Jewish summer camp
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
ing in the newly purchased facility in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Oconomowoc is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The name was derived from Coo-no-mo-wauk, the Potawatomi term for "waterfall." The population was 12,382 at the 2000 census. The city is partially adjacent to the Town of Oconomowoc and near the Village of Oconomowoc...
later called the Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute Camp (or OSRUI). In 1964, the Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York became NFTY's North American leadership camp and the site of North American board meetings. The successful Jewish camping movement expanded under the UAHC/URJ and NFTY to Jewish camps around the United States.
In the 1950s, NFTY began to focus on social action and mitzvah
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
themes, capitalizing on the vision, ideals, and energy of teenagers to help transform the world. Local, regional, and national social action efforts were commonplace on issues from the releases of Russian Jews to the fight against poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
to hunger. Mitzvah Corps groups were established in many regions.
In 1961, NFTY began Israel programming with the Eisendrath International Exchange (EIE) High School semester in Israel. NFTY summer trips to Israel, often attended between sophomore and junior years of high school have been attended by thousands of Reform Jewish teenagers. Trips to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, mitzvah trips to locations such as Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and archaeological digs have also been sponsored by NFTY in recent decades.
In 1983, NFTY reintroduced the NFTY Convention in Washington, DC. Every other year on President's Day weekend, hundreds to thousands of Reform Jewish teenagers gather for study, prayer, music, and socializing in a major North American city. A youth advisor's professional training conference was added to run concurrently in 1999 with a youth clergy track added in 2001. Convention typically alternates between the East and West coast.
In the late 1980s at Mechina, a leadership training and policy setting gathering of the NFTY General Board, NFTY officially recognized itself as a North American movement, in response to a growing and influential Canadian population. To this day, the movement still works to get all of its membership, and more importantly, outside press to correctly identify the movement and its various events, i.e. NFTY Convention as opposed to National Convention and North American Executive and General Boards as opposed to National Board.
From the very beginning, the work of NFTY's Youth Leadership has been supported by the adult Professional Staff of NFTY and the Union for Reform Judaism. Directors of NFTY include Rabbi Sam Cook (1945–1967), Rabbi Hank Skirball (1962–1971), Rabbi Allan Smith (1983–2002), Rabbi Michael Mellen (2005-2011). Currently, Subie Banaszynski is the interim Director of NFTY. Melissa Frey is the Associate Director of NFTY and the Director of the URJ's Kutz Camp in Warwick, NY. Beth Avner is the NFTY Director of Education and Special Projects.
Today, NFTY has over 450 local youth groups in 19 regions in the United States and Canada with over 150 regional events a year. Past NFTYites and NFTY leadership can be found as numerous rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s, cantor
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
s, educators, social workers, synagogue leaders, and active Reform Jews across the world. For example, Eric Yoffie
Eric Yoffie
Eric H. Yoffie is a Reform rabbi, and president of the Union for Reform Judaism , the congregational arm of the Reform movement in North America which represents an estimated 1.5 million Reform Jews in more than 900 synagogues across the United States and Canada...
, recent President of the URJ, was a member of NFTY-Northeast and served as their regional president in 1968.
Music
MusicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
has been at the heart of NFTY since its beginnings. In NFTY's early years, traditional Jewish and Yiddish melodies were common as well as spirituals such as "Elijah Rock
Elijah Rock
"Elijah Rock" is a traditional spiritual. It bears some lyrical similarities to another spiritual, "Mary Don't You Weep."-Lyrics:"Elijah Rock" is a traditional spiritual. It bears some lyrical similarities to another spiritual, "Mary Don't You Weep."-Lyrics:"Elijah Rock" is a traditional spiritual...
". In the 1950s, high school aged students sang songs composed by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer to promote social consciousness in young people, such as "Close Your Eyes and Point Your Finger" and "It Could Be a Wonderful World" and learned the dance steps and music then popular on Israeli kibutzim such as the water dance ("Mayim, Mayim"). In the 1960s, folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
became dominants with guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
-led teenagers leading the songs of Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, among others, as well as original compositions not usually recorded for posterity. Following the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, a surge of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
in Jewish life pushed Hebrew, Israeli, Chasidic, and liturgically based songs to the forefront. The Mi Chamocha hymn, for example, was set by NFTY participants to the melody of Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
's Redemption Song
Redemption Song
The song urges listeners to "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery," because "None but ourselves can free our minds". These lines were taken from a speech given by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia during October 1937 and published in his Black Man magazine:...
. Similarly, the traditional Adon Olam
Adon Olam
Adon Olam is a strictly metrical hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Sabbath liturgy since the 15th century...
can be set to nearly any melody for any situation.
In 1968, Michael Isaacson
Michael Isaacson
Michael Isaacson is an influential composer of Jewish synagogue music, as well as one of the originators of the Jewish Camp Song movement...
introduced a NFTY Folk Service at the Kutz Camp demonstrating the growing trend of participatory, informal, mixed Hebrew/English services and songsessions that have remained the hallmark of a NFTY service. This style of American-born Jewish music came to be known as "American Nusach."
As the number of original compositions, often usually traditional Hebrew prayers for lyrics, became widespread, the first NFTY album, "Songs NFTY Sings" was produced for about $100 at the then-UAHC Kutz Camp. It contained eight contemporary Jewish folk pieces and 10 songs from Isaacson's Folk Service. The album, produced by Loui Dobin, now the director of Greene Family Camp, was quickly followed by 5 more albums: "Shiru Shir Chadash" (1973), "Ten Shabbat V'Ten Shalom (Give Us Sabbath and Give Us Peace)" (1974), "Eit Hazmir, The Time of Singing" (1977), and "nfty at 40: this is very good" (1980). In 1989, "Fifty Years in the Making 1939-1989" was released with new music and retrospective hits. The 7 albums are often also referred to as "NFTY I," "NFTY II," "NFTY III," and so on.
In recent years, as individual artists, many of them former NFTYites themselves, found it easier to produce their own solo-albums, NFTY has shied away from producing records. However, in 2003 released all of the original 7 albums on compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
in the 5-disc set "The Complete NFTY Recordings 1972-1989". At recent NFTY Conventions, NFTY has highlighted some contemporary artists and recordings on CD releases "Ruach 5761," "Ruach 5763,", "'Ruach' '5765"which focused on music from and about Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, "'Ruach 5767,'" "Ruach 5769," and most recently, "Ruach 5771,"
Performers popular within NFTY include Debbie Friedman
Debbie Friedman
Deborah Lynn "Debbie" Friedman was an American composer and singer of songs with Jewish religious content. She was born in Utica, New York but moved with her family to Minnesota at age 5. She is best known for her setting of “Mi Shebeirach”, the prayer for healing, which is used by hundreds of...
, Kol B'Seder, Ramie and Merri Arian, Doug Mishkin, Peri Smilow, Julie Silver
Julie Silver (musician)
Julie Silver is an American folk musician who has been traveling throughout the world and performing for the last 20 years. She has released eight albums which have sold over 80,000 copies without the help of a major label....
, Dan Nichols
Dan Nichols
Daniel Nichols is a Jewish rock musician and founder of the band, E18hteen.-Biography:Dan Nichols was born in 1969 in Indiana. He attended Pike Township Schools in Indianapolis. He and his parents converted to Judaism when he was 7, and he attended Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and camped at...
, Josh Nelson
Josh Nelson
Josh Nelson is an American jazz pianist and composer.Nelson produced his independent debut album First Stories at age 19. His second album Anticipation was released in 2004 with all his compositions. In 2007, Nelson signed with the jazz label Native Language Music and released his third album Let...
, Bryan Zive, Chana Rothman Noam Katz, and Rick Recht
Rick Recht
Richard Samuel "Rick" Recht , is a Jewish rock musician who is especially known for his live performances at Camp Poyntelle and for groups of youth all over the United States as well as performances at synagogues and Jewish rock festivals...
.
Structure
NFTY is divided into three levels: Temple Youth Group (TYG), Regional, and North American. At each level, authority is divided between elected youth boards and supervisors employed by the URJ or local synagogue. Boards vary widely between youth groups and regions, but typically include positions such as: President, Programming Vice-President, Social Action Vice-President, Religious & Cultural Vice-President, Membership Vice-President, Communications Vice-President, NFTY-Representative, Treasurer, Secretary, Historian, and Grade Level Representatives.TYG level: Individual youth groups affiliated with Reform congregations are the foundation of NFTY. TYGs are youth-run and offer participants educational, social, and religious programs. Each TYG has a youth group board and an adult advisor appointed by the congregation. The youth group advisor or director is sometimes a volunteer in the congregation, a parent, a part-time staff person, or, in a small, but increasing number of synagogues, a full-time position. While the board structure is at the direction of each group, most are modeled after the regional or North American board.
Regions
Regional level: NFTY is currently divided into nineteen regions which hold events to bring together different TYGs based on geographical distribution. For example, NFTY-NE (Northeast), the most populated region, includes 72 TYGs and over 800 members. Each region has an elected executive board, who coordinate the efforts of their TYG counterparts and provide support to regional events. There is also an adult NFTY Regional Advisor, a paid staff position, who supervises the executive board and is a liaison with TYG advisors.Relations between regions range from friendly "rivalry" to "alliance" and are subject to combinations and divisions that occur due to membership fluctuation. For example:
- Until 2001, NFTY-SAR and NFTY-STR comprised one region, known as NFTY-SER (formerly known as SEFTY). The regions still work together to run certain social action projects. Additionally, until 2003/2004 NFTY-NAR (New York Area Region) comprised three regions, NFTY-NYC (New York City, formerly known as CRaFTY), NFTY-LI (Long Island, formerly known as LIFTY), and NFTY-W/F (Westchester/Fairfield and parts of Connecticut, formerly known as WooFTY). Additionally, a 21st region, NFTY-Central New York (formerly known as CNFTY) existed until 1995. In that year, the Central New York region, which included synagogues along the Hudson Valley from Rockland County, N.Y., north to Albany and west to Syracuse, N.Y., was split among the Northeast region, the Northeast Lakes region, and the New Jersey region (formerly known as JFTY).
The current regions are:
- NFTY-CAR: Chicago Area Region
- NFTY-CWR: Central West Region
- Northern California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Utah.
- NFTY-GER: Garden-Empire Region
- Northern and Central New Jersey and parts of downstate New York.
- NFTY-MAR: Mid Atlantic Region
- Most of Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Northern North Carolina
- NFTY-MAR is split into four subregions: East (Washington, DC and most of the Maryland suburbs), West (Northern Virginia and one congregation in Maryland), North (Baltimore, Delaware, and the surrounding area), and South (North Carolina and Southern Virginia)
- NFTY-MI: Michigan
- NFTY-MV: Missouri Valley
- Illinois (except Chicago), Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming.
- NFTY-MV is split into two Subregions: Western, which comprises Kansas City, MO, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming, and SLIID (St. Louis Illinois Iowa District), which comprises Missouri (except for Kansas City), Iowa, and Illinois.
- NFTY-NAR: New York Area Region
- Long Island, New York City, Westhchester and Fairfield County, Connecticut
- NFTY-NE: Northeast
- New York's Greater Capital Region, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and parts of Canada.
- NFTY-NEL: Northeast Lakes
- Around the Great Lakes (both in the US and Canada) including parts of the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and all of Ontario, Canada.
- NFTY-NO: Northern
- Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
- NFTY-NW: Northwest
- It is physically the largest region, spanning Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
- NFTY-OV: Ohio Valley
- Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia
- OV is split into two sub-regions, Northern and Southern. The North or "OI" subregion includes all of Indiana and Ohio except for Cincinnati. The South or "KiTOWV" subregion is Cincinnati, most of Kentucky, most of Tennessee and corner of West Virginia
- NFTY-PAR: Pennsylvania Area Region
- All of Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, parts of West Virginia and Binghamton, NY.
- NFTY-SAR: Southern Area Region
- North Florida, Georgia, the South Carolina, Charlotte, NC, Chattanooga, TN and Alabama (except for Birmingham).
- NFTY-SO: Southern
- Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Tennessee, Pensacola, Florida, and Birmingham, Alabama
- NFTY-SoCal: Southern California
- From Atascadero to San Diego
- NFTY-STR: Southern Tropical Region
- All of Florida outside of the panhandle, except Pensacola
- NFTY-SW: Southwest
- Las Vegas, Arizona, New Mexico, El Paso
- NFTY-TOR: Texas-Oklahoma Region
- Texas and Oklahoma
North America
North American level: A North American executive board (generally) of recent graduates is elected each year to establish general policy and themes for the organization as a whole. The board currently consists of a President, Programming Vice-President, Social Action Vice-President, Religious & Cultural Vice-President, and Membership & Communications Vice-President.http://www.nfty.org/leadership/board/Three North American gatherings are held: NFTY Convention (held every other year and open to all members), Mechina and NFTY Veida, formerly known as Mid-Year Boards, (held in non-Convention years for regional boards).
The North American Board for the year 2011-2012/5771-5772 is as follows:
President - Forrest Yesnes
Programming Vice President - Liza Moskowitz
Social Action Vice President - Avra Bossov
Religious & Cultural Vice President - Austin Zoot
Membership & Communications Vice President - Taylor Lyles http://nfty.rjblog.org/2011/03/23/nfty-veida-5771-summary/
Names
Originally, all NFTY regions were known by short acronymsAcronym and initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
ending in "FTY" (Federation of Temple Youth) such as LIFTY (Long Island Federation of Temple Youth) or OVFTY (Ohio Valley Federation of Temple Youth). Many synagogue youth groups had similar names based on the name of their city or synagogue.
In 1994, to create greater connection to the North American movement, the names of all NFTY regions became a two- or three- letter region specific abbreviation, preceded by "NFTY-"—thus, LIFTY became NFTY-LI, OVFTY became NFTY-OV, JFTY became known as NFTY-GER (NFTY-Garden Empire Region) and PaFTY (Pennsylvania Federation of Temple Youth) became NFTY-PAR (NFTY-Pennsylvania Area Region). While resisted at first, regions adapted to the new names and sometime began to pronounce the geographic abbreviation. For example, TOFTY (Texas-Oklahoma Federation of Temple Youth) became NFTY-TOR (Texas-Oklahoma Region) and is often called simply "TOR" . During the conversion, SEFTY became NFTY-SER, and then in 2001 split into two regions: NFTY-SAR (the previous Northern Region of SEFTY/NFTY-SER, plus the Jacksonville and Tallahassee TYGs) and NFTY-STR (the remainder of the Southern Region of SEFTY/NFTY-SER; STR is pronouned "star").
In several regions it is traditional for TYGs to have acronyms that resemble real English or Hebrew words; for example (e)YGOW, PARTY, FROGY, GLTY, SCRUFY, BATY, BISY, ARTSY, STARY, EDJY, SMRTY, TASTY, TECHY, MatehFTY, etc.; however some are just acronyms, for example, SchZFTY. Sometimes these words are very suggestive: DRTY, OARJY, NASTY, TSXY , and TESTY are prime examples. However, sexual acronyms are meant mostly as jokes and do not reflect on the quality of the TYG. Attempts to change a TYG name to something more suggestive are usually voted down.
NFTY Convention
NFTY Convention is a biennial convention where over 1000 teenagers travel to a hotel and experience 4 days of social, educational, charitable, and religious programming. The conventions also feature competitions in music, art, and oratory. Each convention is held in conjunction with the URJ Youth Workers Conference and a plenary session, or asefah, for regional board members. NFTY Convention is the largest convention of its kind.| Year | Location |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Dallas, TX |
| 2009 | Washington, DC |
| 2007 | Philadelphia, PA |
| 2005 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 2003 | Washington, DC |
| 2001 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 1999 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 1997 | Washington, DC |
| 1995 | Washington, DC |
| 1993 | New Brunswick, NJ |
| 1991 | New Brunswick, NJ |
| 1989 | Washington, DC |
| 1987 | Washington, DC |
| 1985 | Washington, DC |
| 1983 | Washington, DC |
| (no conventions 1949–1982) | |
| 1948 | Boston, MA |
See also
- Netzer OlamiNetzer OlamiNetzer Olami is the worldwide youth movement of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and is affiliated to Arzenu . "Netzer" is an acronym in Hebrew for Reform Zionist Youth , and Netzer Olami means 'Global Netzer'...
- Reform ZionismReform ZionismReform Zionism, also known as Progressive Zionism is the ideology of the Zionist arm of the Reform or Progressive branch of Judaism. The Association of Reform Zionists of America is the American Reform movement's Zionist organization. Their mission “endeavors to make Israel fundamental to the...
- Union for Reform JudaismUnion for Reform JudaismThe Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
(URJ) - KESHERKESHERKESHER is the college outreach arm and campus student organization for Reform Judaism.Its directors have included Paul Reichenbach , David Terdiman , Rabbi Jonathan Klein , Rabbi Andrew Davids, Rabbi Marc Israel, and Lisa David...
, the college outreach arm of URJ