Engaging Jewish youth

Letters

Editor: The Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) got a taste of being "too" successful last month when, on Sept. 20, more than 1,000 teens showed up for a dance that could only accommodate 350. The JCC had requested that the distribution of promotional material for the teen dance be concentrated on Jewish youth, specifically targeting Jewish youth groups. But teens talk, and chat online and our teens took the flyers and distributed them throughout local high schools.

Word of the JCC teen dance spread throughout the entire Lower Mainland. The result was that many of the Lower Mainland's Jewish teens were disappointed when, for reasons of safety and security, we had to turn them away.

We had more than 20 adult volunteers and a team of 10 hired security staff supervising. The local police were advised of this event. There were no serious injuries, damage was limited to one door coming off its hinges and, inside the auditorium, we made sure that the teens were safely supervised and had a great time. Outside the building, however, were hundreds of disappointed teens and disappointed parents, who thought their children were spending the evening at the centre. Fortunately, with the assistance of the Vancouver Police Department and the sensibility and maturity of the teens themselves, the crowd outside dispersed by 9 p.m. We strive to build the trust of these kids and their families and we are now faced with re-building.

While all of this was going on, I was in New York at a conference for the partnering communities program of the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA) and the Institute for Informal Jewish Education at Brandeis University. Vancouver is one of five cities across North America participating in this Jewish teen initiative (JTI), which is led in British Columbia by the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, in co-operation with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Family Service Agency.

It is ironic that, while the JCC was coping with an overwhelming response to a teen program, we were furiously brainstorming, trying to understand how to create successful Jewish teen initiatives. In speaking to other conference attendees about the dance (two of us from Vancouver had kids at the dance), despite the challenges, they were envious of our success.

Our JESNA consultant, a professional and expert in the field of Jewish teens, recognized this as a tremendous opportunity. The JCC teen dance became a topic of discussion and a catalyst for creative thinking. The mission of JCCs is to provide these kind of social activities in order to enhance a positive identification with Jewish life. Therefore, it is the Greater Vancouver Jewish teens that we aim to reach. The dance provides a social outlet that they can call their own. It is a cultural expression purely for the young. This basic social need can be met along with the goal of fulfilling their spiritual, intellectual and Jewish needs and developing good citizenship and a sense of community.

The dance was meant not only to meet these basic social needs, but also to reach Jewish teens who are traditionally not interested in Jewish programming. Under-engaged Jewish teens are an important target group that we hope to reach. The JTI, through this partnering communities program, is studying other ways. Through this project, we conducted an environmental scan, showing that only about 20 per cent of our youth are affiliated with Jewish programming (including synagogues, youth groups, camps, Jewish schools, etc.). Approximately 220 participate each year. An estimated 400 Jewish youth arrived at the JCC on Saturday night. In one single night, we almost doubled the number of Jewish teens wanting to participate in a Jewish social activity.

So what have we learned? Teens want dances, there is a way to accommodate them and we will be holding other Jewish teen dances in the future.

We are truly sorry for the disappointment and stress that so many teens and their families experienced that Saturday night. We would like to sincerely apologize to all the teens who were left standing outside and to their parents, who have undoubtedly heard both the truth and unfounded rumors about the events of the evening. We strongly encourage parents who would like to see development in Jewish teen initiatives to join our parent/lay Jewish teen committee and help us create a viable, safe and educational atmosphere for our teens.

Bryan Silverberg
Director of program services
Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

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