www.reformjudaism.org.uk

Singing

I, I think our community in Britain is on the verge of  collapse. Unless you've got young people who want to be engaged and have a Jewish identity then the Jewish community has no future.

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I think for me this has been a really formative trip.

They felt so alone, they felt so isolated, the work  they were doing on their campuses. For them to meet  lots of other young people here in the US and to know, actually there are so many young people who really live and breathe the values of progressive Judaism. They went to egalitarian services here. They went to start-up, innovative organisations that are really doing social action within a progressive Jewish environment.

My job as executive director is to run the entire organisation.

I'm Paula Winnig; I'm the Executive Director of Footsteps.

I'm a, Orthodox rabbi.

I'm a third year rabbinical student.

They were inspired to take that back to the UK.

We're leaving with a real feeling generally of optimism and of, and of activism, wanting to do something, a feeling like we can support each other in wanting to do that so... that's pretty great!

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Guys if you are all ready I have one thing to say and that is people put your bags over your shoulders 'cause we're on the move!

Music

Shvil Israel is where you like, you and a whole group of people from Shnat, hike from one end of Israel to the other. You see everything and it's amazing.

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Apparently there's a bet going on, I was gonna give up after two weeks but I'm still here, so yeah week three but erm, I learnt that I have to tone my legs in and then I can do what, pretty much whatever I want to do.

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There are so many different things happening here. I've been to Chevron, I've, I've met the Jewish settlers and  um, Arabic Muslims. I've had dinner with Chasidim. I've had chats with religious Christians and I've been pushed to do things myself and like take initiative to do things myself and erm, like I'm gonna take that back to England like I'm gonna actively work and try and make, a, you know, the world a better place.

One of the core reasons why we spend so much of our time and energy making sure that Shnat can happen is because Israel is so central to our Jewish identity and we cannot conceive of having educated, progressive Jews who haven't had some sort of deep engagement with Israel.

So I think one of the moments that epitomised my Shnat was er, Yom Kip, Yom Kippur. Huge crossroads that's usually packed with cars was completely empty and there are about, it started with about 15 of us. We just sat in the middle of the road, this normally absolutely packed road, just we sat in the middle and started singing, singing Jewish songs, singing erm, songs we learnt from RSY and eventually just people kept on joining and in the end there are about over 30 of us er, I really felt it was such a kind of spiritual moment; it was really meaningful.

We can go to an Orthodox minyan or a Renewal minyan or a Liberal minyan or a completely hippie spiritual service, we can do anything and we could grow from it and I don't think any other, programme really offers that within a supportive religious framework.

We want to show you Israel, you know with all its warts, with all its problems, have you really get out there, volunteer, engage, walk the country so you love it - and you love it despite  all the problems that it has.

What we know is those who go through Netzer and go through Shnat, are, amongst them are the future leaders of the Reform, Progressive community and the future rabbis.

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Singing

End the Shemah with 'Adonai Eloheichem Emet': Tefillah workshop guidelines page four.

Laughter

I'm doing my first year of rabbinic training. I'm a Leo Baeck College student and next year I'll return to Finchley for four more years of study so in my first 
year I'm here making sure that my Hebrew is strong so that I can erm access the texts of our tradition.

I worked my way through RSY, it was really my Jewish community erm, growing up. I spent a year in Israel when I was eighteen before I went to university. A lot of the experiences were so meaningful that it seems like a great privilege to for the rest of my life be involved in, in creating and being part of those experiences.

Israel still offers amazing possibilities for what it means to be a modern Jew. You sometimes feel like you are in a minority being Jewish and modern 
in England but being in Israel reminds me that, that we have allies that we're part of  a Jewish people that is living today, conscious of its Jewish identity and trying to use our traditions to live meaningfully. I think it is unique in the Reform Movement that young people's voices are heard, that they become part of the conversation and that seems a very powerful and almost unique thing in my life that you have within the Reform Movement the youth showing a lead.

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Music

The aim for Jewish education in Akiva is openness, egalitarianism, pluralist values, creativeness in our Jewish education.

Is keeping healthy a Jewish idea?

Today there's the Year Six Beit Midrash Day. It's an opportunity for Progressive schools to mix together, the year six children and have an informal Jewish education day.

You're creating a web page. Now as you know a web page can have a movie, it can have radio, it can have bits of text, so all of those things you can put on your web page.

Singing

Our children are used to very secure, Progressive environments and we are aware also that they are going to secondary schools where they may have to be firmer in their own identity compared to people with other identities in the Jewish community and erm, giving them positive experiences to take with them.

Singing

Hopefully, we'll look back on ten years time and say that we actually set the seeds for what Jeneration would become.

Singing

We have, like the world at our feet.

Singing

I don't feel like I'm do.. wanting to do something that's so revolutionary that it's impossible, like, evidently it is possible, erm, it's happened here.