Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the first School of Madrichim Seminar of the Baltics (A short recap video will be coming soon).  The School of Madrichim is the established school/training for the teens in the Baltics.  Most similar to a religious school.  Each country has its own curriculum and ideology, but the end goal is the same: produce well rounded and knowledgable madrichim to become the future Jewish leaders of their community.  This new opportunity brought together the students from the School of Madrichim from Latvia and Lithuania to learn together and share experiences and ideas.  

I had the pleasure of leading two different sessions.  My first session was about how to find Judaism in anything, and then incorporate it in a program.  I started out by showing them that Judaism is everywhere.  Included ideas/text were: lying for peace (Yavamot 65b), the prayer said for seeing a rainbow, praying through skype (USCJ-CLJS Teshuvah), even how to tie your shoes (Mishna Berura 2:6).  I really wanted to show them that Judaism can relate to anything.  Next we came up with a few scenarios, either informal or formal programming, and I required them to think outside of the box in how to infuse it with Judaism.  (If you would like to see the session, or want to learn more about this idea, please let me know) 

My other session was about the dyad of Cultural and Religious Judaism, and their concurrence on community as a central tenant.  We examined their cultural understanding of Judaism and I used Life Cycle Event Rituals to convey community in Religion.  Mark Lazar, an incredible informal Jewish educator and workshop leader,  had previously challenged all of the students to ask themselves, Why be Jewish?  I added that the question is a very difficult one, but what was easier is trying to find what is important.  Hold onto that and make that yours.  For those who have worked with me before, than you know I love this idea.  It is the things that he hold sacred, that tell us a lot about the people we are and the people we want to be.  The last two pictures above, are from this session with the Lithuanian students.  In determining what were the important aspects of Judaism to the students, I asked them to order each item/idea/ritual/et cetera from most important to least important.  I gave them freedom of interpretation over the item/idea/ritual/et cetera.  The first list is how they view Judaism now.  What they see as being important.  The second list is the answer to my scenario: If you were the last Jews on Earth.  What would you advocate for and put your efforts towards?  Interestingly the major themes in the lists flip in importance.  However the two top items, family (the “other”), and Jewish Community remain as the most important ideals.    

Photo Description:

The School of Madrichim students from Latvia, with their teacher Haga and the Riga Jewish Youth Center professionals, Raisa and Irina.

Myself leading the first discussion with the Lithuanian students

Mark Lazar leading a session

See description above (Note: the Latvian students session picture files were corrupted.  the Latvian group was opposite of the Lithuanina group overall, with the exception that Jewish Community was always at the top.)

Side Note: The seminar took place in Bauska, Latvia, which is a very famous city in Jewish history.   Rav Kook was the Rabbi of the city from 1895-1904.  After, he moved to Israel, then Ottoman Palestine, to become the Chief Rabbi.