Shluchim, Teens Bond on Yacht

by Shana Attar and Chana Rusanov, lubavitch.com

“If you are ready, put your hands in the air,” Rabbi Rivkin bellowed over a megaphone as the Queen of Hearts yacht, with some 250 teens, their Rabbis and advisers, departed New York City’s Pier 78.

The event, Saturday night, was a highlight of an annual weekend retreat sponsored by CTeen, or Chabad’s Teen network, that aims to foster a social community among American Jewish teenagers. To date, CTeens counts some 3,000 teenagers, and growing. A socially-oriented program, it complements Chabad’s educational JLI Teens and its other outreach activities affecting some 30,000 Jewish teenagers worldwide.

In an age when American intermarriage rates border on 55%, such religious interventions are critical. According to the Jewish Agency’s 2010 report, a mere 15 years remain before all Jews at risk for assimilation completely integrate into non-Jewish society.

According to Ira Sheskin of the University of Miami, the solution lies in imparting to young Jews the importance of their Jewish heritage, so that when selecting a spouse they will choose someone with whom they share roots.

The teens came from the Super Bowl home states of the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, rooting for their teams but choosing to devote the weekend to celebrate Shabbat with their Jewish peers. They came as well from Montreal, California, Florida, the Tri-State area, and other locations.

“A lot of people are not from Jewish communities, so this is a way for us to make our own community,” said A.J Mondry, 14, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “My favorite part of the weekend was getting to know friends better. It was definitely the camaraderie.”

On Friday the diverse group, toured the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, lunched at Chabad of Wall Street, and prepared for an inspirational Shabbat in Crown Heights.

“The idea is that everyone here is a Very Important Person” said Rochelle Ginsburg, a CTeens staff member.” The objective, she explained was that every participating teenager take away the “feeling that they can — that they will make a difference,”

Wearing cobalt sweatshirts emblazoned with the CTeens logo and VIP passes swinging from their necks, the teens separated into groups: boys barreled down to the buffet on the lower level, some belting Jewish songs; girls filled the top deck, dancing under neon strobe lights, the pulsating music inspiring circle dances in some, less traditional expression in others.

Snaking around the outer edge of the boat’s second floor were piles of blank cards on which the teens later inscribed motivational messages while considering their connection to the global Jewish community. The cards were to be shipped to children in need in Israel.

“It feels really good to write these cards because the kids have been through so much. Even if only for a minute when they open the cards, they’ll smile,” said Maya Ohayon, 17, of Palo Alto, California.

On the bottom deck of the yacht, Cucumber Catering operated a three-pronged setup: two panini chefs layered cheese and fresh vegetables into waiting baguettes; an array of sweet fruit pulverized into smoothies and poured into clear cups filled another stand; at the far end a Sushi chef wrapped roll after roll of rice adorned seaweed.

Nearby, a small group of boys began an impromptu dance. Someone claimed to have witnessed a Rabbi break dancing.

On the outer deck, five boys huddle around Rabbis Avrohom Schapiro and Moshe Rapaport of Wisconsin engaged in a serious conversation. Rabbi Schapiro pulls two boys close and says, “Can’t come here to New York, have an awesome Shabbat, and go home the same.”

Pointing at a boy with a blue velvet kippa, Rabbi Schapiro said, “He’s now the Chabad representative to his community.”

Rabbi Schapiro pounded his fists on the table. “What’s Yiddishkeit, what’s a mitzvah?” his voice rising as the more teens gravitated to the discussion. “It means there’s a goal: every day you change a little. You do your step.”

“How will you be better tomorrow?” a teen asked Rabbi Rappaport.

Rabbi Rappaport paused. “I’ll… try to learn from you,” he said, “To keep going even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Josef, 15, from Wisconsin, confessed that before this Shabbaton experience, he thought religious Jews did not exist “in a regular environment.”

“I thought, like, in Jerusalem there were, but in the modern world?”

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky of Lubavitch Headquarters sees this as another step towards fortifying the next generation of American Jews so that they will claim Judaism as their own. He recalls a story about an elderly Jewish man lamenting the decline of Jewish identity.

“My grandfather called this Shabbos ‘the Holy, sacred Shabbos,’ my father called it ‘the Holy Shabbos,’ I called it ‘Shabbos,’ my son calls it ‘the weekend,’ my grandson, ‘the Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday.’ I shudder to think what his children will call it.”

Hopefully, he adds, the experience “opened the teenagers up to reclaiming Shabbos and honoring its place in Jewish life.”

With clean plates all gone, teens ate sushi out of plastic champagne glasses, cheering as a Rabbi from Florida juggled while on his knees, a ring of fire atop his head. A circle of girls banged an African rhythm on tribal drums, led by two dreadlocked instructors.

At 11:30 p.m. the boat docked, and the teens filled four Monsey Tours buses that took them to Times Square. On Sunday they toured the Jewish Children’s Museum, visited the Ohel, the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and were feted at a closing banquet.

“There’s nothing better than seeing your teens happy and proud to be Jewish,” said Mushkie Weinbaum, a CTeens advisor in Hillsborough, NJ, satisfied that the Shabbaton accomplished its goal.