NJ NCSY Brings Support to Buffalo and Atlanta This October

30 Sep 2009

NEW JERSEY NCSY DOES IT AGAIN! IN TWO UPCOMING OCTOBER TRIPS, YESHIVA AND PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS TO BRING HOPE AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO BUFFALO AND ATLANTA COMMUNITIES

Following the success of its previous chesed (humanitarian) trips, New Jersey NCSY will once again lead groups of motivated Jewish teenagers from New Jersey yeshiva and public schools infused with a special mission of tikkun olam (healing the world) to provide support in rebuilding areas devastated by natural disasters and urban decay. As a result, this October teens from Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston will travel to Buffalo and students from Torah Academy of Bergen County in Teaneck will travel to Atlanta. For both trips, students from Jewish Student Union (JSU) public high school clubs will take part.

NCSY is the international youth program of the Orthodox Union.

Previous chesed trips have traveled to New Orleans to deal with the devastating affects of Hurricane Katrina and to Southern Texas, following Hurricane Ike.

“These trips take teens out of their safety zone and show them the responsibility they have towards people and their fellow Jews,” declared Rabbi Ethan Katz, Assistant Regional Director of New Jersey NCSY. “It’s very easy to sit back and see something on the news, and then to just switch the channel. But to go down there and to witness how people’s lives have been destroyed — that is a life changing experience!”

Buffalo:

From October 14 to 18, in a leadership training program, Kushner students will head to Buffalo where, in partnership with Habit for Humanity, they will help rebuild condemned homes so that they may be lived in again. Other student projects include running educational programs at Kadimah, a local Jewish day school and spending Shabbat with local public high school students.

“NCSY continues to bridge the gap between Jewish communities across the United States by providing Jewish teens from different backgrounds with the opportunity to inspire each other,” said Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, Regional Director of New Jersey NCSY. “The Buffalo trip is an outstanding display of achdut (unity), as Kushner students bring their energy, creativity, and passion to inspire the students of Kadimah in Buffalo. Moreover, that inspiration is reciprocated by the students from Buffalo, sensitizing the Kushner students to the incredible spectrum of Jewish life which exists outside the New York Metropolitan area.”

Atlanta:

In the second trip, students from JSU clubs throughout New Jersey and TABC students will travel to Atlanta from October 21 to 25. There, they will join efforts with NECHAMA, which provides assistance to communities affected by natural disaster, to clear out homes that were damaged by the recent, heavy flooding. NECHAMA has requested help from New Jersey NCSY based on last year’s mutual efforts in Beaumont, Texas, where they spent time assisting victims of Ike. The students will also spend Shabbat with the local NCSY chapter.

“Bringing these teenagers together through the common bond of tikkun olam, in working with Habitat for Humanity, NECHAMA, and other organizations demonstrates how youth can break the barriers of affiliation and bring a message of hope and peace to those less fortunate. It is inspiring to once again lead a group of students on a mission which will transform their outlook and perspective on the vitality of the broader Jewish community,” said Rabbi Katz.

For more information about the trips and New Jersey NCSY, call 201-862-0250 or visit www.ncsy.org.