July 17, 2003

New ‘Volunteers for Israel’ Group Does Non-Military Work on Army Bases:

OU’s NCSY Summer Youth Programs Show Dramatic Enrollment Growth, as Offerings Respond to Needs of Different Audiences and Varied Interests

From Israel to Northern Ontario, from the California coast to Ukraine, as well as in many locations in between, the Orthodox Union’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth’s (NCSY) summer programs have experienced vibrant growth in enrollment this year, with more teenagers than in recent memory having signed on for offerings that combine typical summer enjoyment with Jewish growth.

Under the direction of Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch, NCSY Director of Education and Summer Programs, registration in the ten programs has increased from 450 to 700 this year, while a new “birthright Israel” trip has added an additional 300 registrants, bringing the NCSY total to 1,000.

The reasons for the growth in enrollment are two-fold, declares Moshe I. Bane, the OU leader who serves as Chairman of the NCSY Youth Commission, and who lauds Rabbi Schonbuch’s work in promoting the summer offerings. The Israel programs have expanded, Mr. Bane explains, because parents are less fearful of sending their children to Israel than in past years. Secondly, programs in both Israel and elsewhere have grown because of NCSY’s increasing success in creating offerings targeted to a certain audience and then reaching that audience.

One of those audiences consists of young men who want to work on behalf of Israel. As a result, NCSY this summer established its newest entry in Israel, Volunteers for Israel, in which 35 boys – coming from both yeshiva and public school backgrounds – are serving on two Israel Defense Force bases, working alongside IDF soldiers in a non-military capacity.

According to program director Rabbi Barry Goldfischer, the boys are working in supply services on the bases, packing food, clothing and fuel for troops on the front lines, while also working to enhance the beauty of the bases – in addition, of course, to daily group and individual learning sessions. Reveille is 6:00 a.m., lights out 11:00 p.m., the boys are subject to military discipline, and they are loving it all, Rabbi Goldfischer says. “The boys have been incredible,” he declares.

Their work has not gone unnoticed. “The IDF soldiers on the bases for the most part are secular Jews,” Rabbi Goldfischer says. “Seeing religious boys giving up leisurely summers at the swimming pool in the United States to do this work on Israel’s behalf makes a tremendous impression on them.”

Other programs appeal to other audiences. The Summer Kollel for Boys, for example, which is at its maximum enrollment and has had to turn away applicants, is directed at yeshiva high school students who continue their learning under the imprimatur of renowned Torah scholars in Israel, such as Rabbis Hershel Schachter and Meyer Twersky, Roshei Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University; they are joined by the recently retired Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. At the same time, the program provides plentiful opportunities for touring and organized sports.

Thousands of miles away, and populated by a very different kind of teenager, Caravan West for public school students is a bus tour throughout Los Angeles and California and on to the Grand Canyon, while including daily informal sessions on Jewish topics.

Teens interested in leadership training are participating in JOLT – Jewish Overseas Leadership Training – at the OU/NCSY Camp for Jewish Youth in Ukraine, a program of the Joseph K. Miller Torah Center in Kharkov, Ukraine. In addition, the program includes stops in Poland to learn about the Holocaust and then in Jerusalem and Safed to afford an opportunity for the students to reflect on their experiences before returning home. JOLT has been so successful, Mr. Bane reports, that a second group was added this summer.

Michelet is a learning program for girls in Jerusalem, while Camp Canada for girls emphasizes physical fitness; Outward Bound, also in Canada, duplicates this experience in both girls and boys groups. At Camp Sports in Baltimore, boys are given the opportunity to exercise both their physical and intellectual muscles.

The Summer Experience for Girls, located at dude ranch in the Northern Catskills of New York State, combines daily learning sessions with traditional camp activities and trips. A highlight is a “midrasha” track for girls who want more serious learning, similar to the Michelet program in Israel.

These programs are examples of the niche marketing concept employed very successfully by NCSY, that is, creating programs to satisfy a certain audience and then recruiting participants. “We knew that there was a certain group that wanted to express their love for Israel through service on a military base,” explained NCSY Chairman Bane. “We created the Volunteers in Israel program for them.” Outward Bound is also new, he said, another example of what Mr. Bane calls “creative programming to identify new niches.”

Each niche involves a Jewish component, but this experience may be “Jewish growth,” as in Caravan, rather than “Jewish learning,” as in Kollel.

“As opposed to the marketplace in general, NCSY is unique in that it can create programs to satisfy the spiritual needs of teens, without concern for the profit-motive,” Mr. Bane said. “We do whatever is valuable for the young people, fashioning programs for different levels of observance, while always keeping in mind the enjoyment component summer requires.”

Zale Newman, NCSY’s newly appointed National Director, who brings a substantial background in marketing to his new position, welcomes the success of the summer programs while declaring that planning is already underway for new offerings for the summer of 2004 to fill more niches. Meanwhile, he says, the impact of NCSY summer programs doesn’t fade as the temperature cools.

“For yeshiva students, it’s understood that they will continue their learning once the school year begins, both in school and in NCSY,” Mr. Newman says. “For public school students, we will work closely with them to get them involved in NCSY programs at home, where they can continue their growth as Jews, while still in an informal, fun atmosphere. Our record is very good in this respect. Once you have had a summer experience, you’re primed and ready for the next ten months of NCSY.”

The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 275,000 products manufactured in 68 countries around the globe.

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