Before he dies, Moshe delivers his final commandment to Yehoshua and the nation. He instructs them that once every seven years the entire people must gather in a ceremony designed to mirror and evoke the passion of Matan Torah. Moshe tells them: “Gather the nation: the men, the women and the children.” (Deut. 31:12).
At JOFA’s 10th anniversary conference in February, JOFA made a special effort to widen its reach and gather in the “children”—the teenage demographic, which had largely been absent from previous conferences. A group of highschool students, both female and male, worked with JOFA to set up a High-School Track designed to deal with issues that specifically relate to teenagers. The teen program consisted of a series of recommended sessions, some from the regular schedule and some open only to the students.
We began the day attending the opening plenary session and then moved on to sessions on different aspects of the year in Israeli midrashot and on feminist education for boys in Israel. From there, we proceeded to a film screening and discussion dealing with teenage relationships and abuse. Students came and went throughout the day, but we hit our peak with about 30 students during the lunch session with Amy Newman. Over the course of this session’s forty minutes we grappled with issues ranging from co-education to tzniut, to the connotations of the word “feminist.” We later attended an engrossing plenary on education and curriculum that had me nodding my head in agreement from start to finish.
The wrap-up discussion with Molly Pollock, an English teacher at the SAR High School who had been shadowing us throughout the day, was especially meaningful. Her question, “Where do we go from here?” provided an opportunity to share our thoughts, feelings, and reflections in a more personal way. Many of the teen participants said that they felt validated by meeting others with similar interests and concerns. The discussions continued after the conference ended, and students brought a number of the issues raised back to their local schools.
Feedback from attendees has been terrific, and several students have expressed the desire to become more involved in JOFA and requested ongoing teen programming. Just as the transmission of the Torah could not be complete without the children present, so too must younger voices be included in any serious discussion and assessment of our current transmission of values. I hope that the involvement of teenagers will grow and that our commitment to both feminist and Orthodox values will continue to be reinforced and transmitted.