by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

March 12, 2009

More than 25 teens were hanging out in adviser Steve Safran’s Livingston High School classroom after school on a recent Wednesday.

They came for the pizza, for the social scene, and for the Judaism.

After rushing the pizza, they settled in to hear Rabbi Ethan Katz speak briefly on the then upcoming holiday of Purim and how it differs from both Mardi Gras and Halloween.

Sessions involving Orthodox educators like Katz and students in public schools are becoming increasingly common thanks to a national network of public high school clubs known as the Jewish Student Union.

Sponsored by the Orthodox Union as a way to reach unaffiliated and under-affiliated Jewish kids, the JSU began in 2002 with four clubs in Los Angeles.

It has since expanded to other states. There are now 20 clubs in New Jersey and over 230 in all in the United States and Canada, reaching an estimated 6,000 students.

Student Rachel Mendelsohn, 16, started the Livingston High School chapter.

“We had a Jewish/Israeli club before but it wasn’t doing so much,” said Mendelsohn. “There were hardly any meetings.”

She heard about the JSU through her involvement in NCSY, the Orthodox Union movement that runs the clubs. She decided to give it a try. She’s had between 20 and 40 people turn up at every meeting since the fall.

She said that what makes JSU successful is the combination of pizza and programming — and advance planning.

“Each club is different,” said Katz, who runs all the clubs in northern New Jersey, including one at Montclair High School that was started in 2007. “Unaffiliated kids get drawn in because it’s here; they just walk in by chance.”

The JSU is also a response to Christian clubs that have popped up at public high schools around the country, according to an OU op-ed released in 2007. Religious clubs in secondary schools are permitted under the Equal Access Act of 1984, which allows any student noncurricular club to meet at public schools during noninstructional time.

“We must fight pizza with pizza, creating our own opportunities — through JSU culture clubs — for students to encounter Judaism and friendly, informed Jews. Not to do so is to behave like the proverbial ostrich with our heads in the sand,” wrote then JSU director Shira Reifman.

Because of some early criticism that the JSU was intended as a means to recruit unsuspecting secular Jews into the Orthodox world, Katz is careful to downplay JSU denominational ties — in fact, the Wednesday gathering seemed to be the rare setting where Jews of various denominations mingle.

“There is no active recruiting to Orthodox programs,” said Katz. He said he has brought in speakers from B’nai B’rith, Hadassah’s Young Judaea youth group, and the Israel-based MASA, which coordinates longterm Israel trips across the ideological spectrum.

“There is one student here who is very active in USY” — the Conservative movement’s United Synagogue Youth — “and we use her materials,” said Katz. “This is a nondenominational group.”

Still, everyone chuckled at a recent session when someone ate a fortune cookie meant for the Purim goodie baskets known as mishloah manot and read the fortune: “Next time order the shrimp.”

“We never bring in Jewish law or Halacha,” Katz said. “I talk about Jewish concepts, Jewish identity, Jewish life; we try very hard to be sure we are not pushing any agenda.”

Among the participants at this month’s meetings were Jewish teens who identify as Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform and attend Congregation Etz Chaim and the Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center (both Orthodox), Temple Emanu-El of West Essex (Reform), Temple Beth Shalom (Conservative), and no synagogue at all. And then there were participants like Joe Aboud and Renee Edwards, non-Jews who are just interested in learning about other cultures.

Joe’s mom is Cuban, and his father is Lebanese. “I come to support my friends and to learn more about different aspects of other cultures,” he said.

And when one student asked Katz what elements are required in the mishloah manot, a reference to standards in Jewish law, Katz brushes aside the question.

Programs in the Livingston JSU include everything from conversations about Israel to Jewish “Jeopardy” games. Rachel Mendelsohn’s favorite was the recent Tu B’Shevat program, where they spoke about efforts to maintain the environment and made strawberry smoothies.

Daniel Smith, 16, enjoyed a recent discussion about Israel.

“During the conflict with Gaza, we had a discussion about whether Israel was justified or not. I enjoyed debating that,” he said.

A member of the Reform Temple Emanu-El, he decided to join the JSU after returning from a trip to Israel. “I thought this was one way to stay connected to my Jewish heritage.”

For Ari Rosenstrach, 16, who attends the Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center, the draw is simple. “I’m Jewish and this is a Jewish club, so I thought, why not?”

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