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Marilyn Suzanne Miller describes her time in NFTY with an incredible sense of pride- “We were the center of the baby boomers – we came from the guitar playing at services – the Peter, Paul, and Mary graduates.”

Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong decade. I have often wondered what it would have been like to be a songleader with my mentors, my friends, and my “heroes” in the 70s. Yet, as I reflect back on the time when I was a young songleader, during the years when I was in the thick of camp songleading, I see the 90s as the most extraordinary time to have been a part of NFTY - the Reform Jewish Youth Movement, and Jewish music.

The Forward recently shared "Jewish Camp Trend-Spotting: 10 Ways a Summer Ritual Is Changing," detailing how the world of Jewish camping is evolving – and the Reform Jewish Movement’s 15 summer camps are leading the way! Here are a few ways URJ Camps are on the cutting edge:

by Julie Hollander Eichelbaum and Emma Eichelbaum As the URJ Kutz Camp enters its 50^th year, campers emerge as members of a vast network of Kutz alumni. For a select few of those campers, the alumni network includes their parents, also products of NFTY’s campus for Reform Jewish teens. Emma Eichelbaum (Kutz ’12-‘14) and her mom Julie Hollander Eichelbaum (Kutz ’80 and ’81) are quintessential examples of generational involvement in NFTY, URJ Camps, and Reform Jewish Life. Following are some cross-generational reflections of Emma and Julie, and their thoughts on growing as leaders at Kutz. Emma: Being a second-generation camper at the URJ Kutz Camp is different from being a second-generation camper at any other URJ camp. It wasn’t our parents or its geographic location that brought me or my mom to Kutz, but our involvement in Reform Jewish leadership. My mother went to Kutz in 1980 as a leader of her Temple Youth Group, and again in 1981 as a member of the NFTY Social Action Network. The Program Room still features a picture of her with her fellow Kutz Campers, displayed prominently for the camp community to see. I was elected to my regional board as a high school junior and had my first experience at Kutz as a participant at Mechina, NFTY’s regional leadership preparation event. It was there, with the rest of the NFTY General Board, that I first saw my then-17-year-old mother smiling in that picture, giving me a connection to this new camp and youth group experience. No matter the board position, for both of us Kutz was a camping match made in heaven.

The following statement comes from leaders of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, in response to news of the arrest of six individuals in conjunction with the murder of a Palestinian teenager:

Six suspects, members of a Jewish extremist cell according to

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor.

Have you ever wondered about the stories and people behind major innovations in our field?  The Journal of Youth Engagement is kicking off an occasional series, Conversations with Engagement Innovators, which will give us a window into the thinking and processes that inspire, motivate, and drive these individuals. For our first Conversation, Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, URJ Director of Youth Engagement, spoke with Alison Kur, one of the 2014 recipients of The Covenant Foundation’s Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.  The Covenant Foundation’s recognition of Ali, who holds the position of Executive Director of Jewish Living at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA, spotlights her as an innovator not just in the Reform movement but throughout the field of Jewish Education.  Below are highlights of the conversation or you can listen to a recording of the entire interview.

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor. By Rabbi Fred Guttman and Rabbi Andy Koren If the road to lifelong Jewish learning begins with religious school, then the widespread practice of ending formal Jewish education with tenth-grade Confirmation is a dead end. 10th-grade Confirmation prevents our teens from integrating their religious schooling with other key Jewish teenage experiences including local Tikkun Olam efforts and serving as religious school Madrichim or counselors at a URJ camp.

The Journal of Youth Engagement is an online forum of ideas and dialogue for those committed to engaging youth in vibrant Jewish life and living. Join the discussion and become a contributor. By Cantor Chanin Becker, Rabbi Jeffrey Brown and Rabbi Wendy Pein The community we are privileged to serve, Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El (SSTTE), is in a time of transition.  In 2012, our longtime Senior Rabbi became Rabbi Emeritus and in 2013, our longtime temple Educator retired.  As a new clergy team, we have spent the last year listening to laypeople and collaborating on values-based goal-setting as we plan for our future. One area that has emerged as a priority is Shabbat worship.

By Rabbi Josh Weinberg A Jew who participates in the suffering of his nation and its fate, but does not join in its destiny, which is expressed in a life of Torah and mitzvot, destroys the essence of Judaism and injures his own uniqueness.