At the beginning of this year’s Hebrew High School in Fresno, I sat down with nineteen energetic and enthusiastic teens.
For a relatively small congregation in a community without an especially large religious school, this is an immense class, but even the size of the group doesn’t compare to the infectious energy the teens exude.
We recently culminated the year with our Confirmation service and the group exhibited uncontainable enthusiasm with talent, creativity and spirit.
As I continue to explore factors for maintaining Jewish engagement, I observe the spark in this group and realize the best thing I can do is assure their spirit remains unfettered.
Even before I grew to teen years, I’ve been observing this uneasy balance between the traditional establishment and youthful iconoclasm and, ultimately, I don’t think there’s a choice to be made. Each generation, each year… every day, we should keep addressing the question. The continual wrestling assures that we preserve our tradition while, at the same time, keeping it fresh.
This year’s amazing crop of teens care a great deal about the Tradition. The students, themselves, grappled over the question of just how much of our observance should remain the same and what aspects we could breathe new life into and, to my surprise, many of their choices fell more traditionally than I expected.
Ultimately, though, their youthful energy burst forth and the service celebrating this year’s Confirmation reflected the infectious personality of a group of young adults that assure me that our long history is alive and well.
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