2008 Woodie Awards
NCSY Outreach Made Possible by Yeshiva
Yehudah L. Rosenblatt
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Features
Yeshiva's Mechinah program recently hired Rabbi Ari Solomont, a former NCSY regional director, as its head recruiter. Rabbi Burg explained that NCSY has been working closely with the Mechinah program to help recruit students from NCSY's network of 166 public school clubs across North America. "Mechina has been a dream come true for us," Rabbi Burg noted. "It gives our alumni, who may not have had the benefit of a Jewish education, the chance to attend one of the premier yeshivot in North America."
Monthly NCSY programs, including its new Friday Night Lights program, are run primarily by Yeshiva students, both men and women. Rabbi Burg expressed that "like the 1970's, Yeshiva students are coming out of their dorm rooms and getting involved again."
Adi Isaacs (YC '08) is a captain in the Friday Night Lights program for the communities in North Bellmore and Roseland. As a captain he's responsible for recruiting a team of about eight leaders who will make a commitment to work in one of the communities assigned. "Many of our advisors make a connection with the people of the community and go back to the same community each month." He noted that between 80 and 90 percent of the advisors in his region are students at Yeshiva or Stern.
At these monthly shabbatons, NCSY targets specific communities and arranges special Friday night davening, followed by dinner and dancing as well as discussion sessions on various topics led by student advisors. The dinner and dancing infuse excitement and liveliness into an otherwise uneventful Shabbat. NCSY officials explained that the sessions are tailored to the interests of the specific group and often range from philosophical issues to more practical discussions of religious practice. Any appropriate topic is fair game and the leaders take their cue from the participants. The sessions are meant to motivate the participants to increase their religious observance and to stimulate them to study more and become knowledgeable about their religion. There is obviously a thirst for such experiences.
Monthly NCSY programs, including its new Friday Night Lights program, are run primarily by Yeshiva students, both men and women. Rabbi Burg expressed that "like the 1970's, Yeshiva students are coming out of their dorm rooms and getting involved again."
Adi Isaacs (YC '08) is a captain in the Friday Night Lights program for the communities in North Bellmore and Roseland. As a captain he's responsible for recruiting a team of about eight leaders who will make a commitment to work in one of the communities assigned. "Many of our advisors make a connection with the people of the community and go back to the same community each month." He noted that between 80 and 90 percent of the advisors in his region are students at Yeshiva or Stern.
At these monthly shabbatons, NCSY targets specific communities and arranges special Friday night davening, followed by dinner and dancing as well as discussion sessions on various topics led by student advisors. The dinner and dancing infuse excitement and liveliness into an otherwise uneventful Shabbat. NCSY officials explained that the sessions are tailored to the interests of the specific group and often range from philosophical issues to more practical discussions of religious practice. Any appropriate topic is fair game and the leaders take their cue from the participants. The sessions are meant to motivate the participants to increase their religious observance and to stimulate them to study more and become knowledgeable about their religion. There is obviously a thirst for such experiences.
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