When and why did you first take the Jewish Youth Promise?

I’ve only done it one time, and I did it at The Collab, which is the national NFTY event that we hold every year in the fall and winter. It was during the senior program that I helped plan, and we did this whole very meaningful, nostalgic senior program. And we filled out the Promise there, and I did as well.

How long has NFTY been implementing the program?

In my role, we’ve only done the Promise nationally one time at The Collab. We did it in the middle of a forest lit by like a bunch of little fairy lights, kind of surrounding the creek. It was very pretty and the point was just to get all the seniors in their feelings and really make them think about what NFTY has meant to them and their memories and experiences in NFTY so that they can think about how they want to move forward with NFTY. Now that they’re graduating, we want to make sure that they stay involved and want to come back as alumni and as staff. We want them to really look back on NFTY with positive memories. All of the leadership of NFTY, including myself, want to make sure that everyone loves NFTY as much as they do because it’s a really beautiful place, and we thought that a really good way to do that would be to do the Jewish Youth Promise at an NFTY event. All of this allows people to reflect on their experiences in the moment, and also to look back in five, ten, 15, and 20 years and to do the same.

Why do you think implementing the Promise is important as an organization?

It is very important to note that we are a teen organization where all of the programming is for and organized by teams. That being said, we also need a lot of adult support because it is really hard for teenagers who don’t have a lot of leadership experience to run such large-scale events and such important and sometimes socially and emotionally delicate programs. It’s important to have that adult supervision and that adult guidance to help us grow into our roles and really make the most of that experience.

We need adults to make sure that our programs are not putting forward a message that NFTY doesn’t support. And we need adults to help answer questions. I know in my time as a national board member, I’ve asked more questions than I ever thought that I could, and the adults have always had answers, and it’s just been very helpful. And I think it’s really important that the adults who are in NFTY are adults who have been a part of NFTY as teens, because they really understand what that experience means and they really want the kids to experience what they did.

So, ensuring continuity of NFTY and the connection between staff’s teen years and then the experience going forward.

What part of the JYP experience is most impactful to you?

I think I was sitting on a bench, writing on my friend’s back because there wasn’t enough space on the benches to write, and people started crying. And for me personally, I don’t cry at that kind of thing, but I was really beautiful to see how many memories and important moments this promise had created and had reminded them of. The moment that filling out the Promise and the whole program created was really special and I think I well, I don’t think, I know that a lot of people are very excited about having filled out the Promise, because I heard people the rest of the weekend wanting to get the letter right then and saying they just want it to be five years later so that they can read what they wrote and like, feel what they’re feeling.

There was a lot of hoping that it worked and a lot of, “Are we actually going to get these emails?” I know that they really wanted it and it was very important for them to have filled it out.

How has JYP made a difference in how you understand your Jewish roots or the community as a whole? 

I’m a senior this year, and I’ve been applying to colleges a lot recently, and I’ve been doing a lot of kind of individualized reflection on my Jewish experience. In this essay, I’ll write about what it was like in growing up in my youth group or at my temple. And in this essay, I’ll write about what it was like going to camp. And in this one, I write what it’s like to go to NFTY. But I don’t just write Jewish essays very often or ever and I haven’t really put all of those reflections together and kind of created, in my mind, the picture of my Jewish experience.

So I think it was really nice to kind of just sit down and write. I kind of just put it into words because I have a lot of thoughts, and my thoughts don’t always have words, and it’s good to kind of have it all solidified into kind of one thought and one idea in my brain, and the Promise really helped with that.

If you were to recommend the Jewish Youth Promise to another person or another organization, what would you say?

I would say that every person I know who has filled it out is really glad that they’ve done it and really appreciates what it means for them right now and in the future. And I would say that I’m in that group. I’m really glad that I did it and it’s not a difficult process. If it were, I wouldn’t recommend it. Um, it’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s very easy to understand.

I think that you’ll be glad that you did it, because I do think you’ll be glad you did it.

In the future, I’m going to make sure that NFTY maintains its usage and partnership with the Jewish Youth Promise, because I do think it’s very valuable. I plan to implement it in my region, and I plan to talk to all of the regions that I’m above to make sure that they’re implementing it. I’m sure a lot of them already have, because I’ve talked to past leaders who have used it in their programs before.

I really liked that there was a writing version of it. I think it’s really special to have it in your own writing. I don’t think it would have been as meaningful if we just typed it out into a document. I don’t think typing is meaningful, and I would say making sure that option is available for people is a good decision. It made the moment and the memories more prominent and important.