LJY-Netzer - guest post by Robin Moss

We are delighted that our second guest post comes from Robin Moss, Movement Worker for LJY-Netzer. They are a big part of Liberal Judaism's relationship to Israel, not just because they are the future, or because they educate so many young people about Israel, but because they are at the forefront of ideological discussion in the movement.

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LJY-Netzer is the youth movement of Liberal Judaism. We provide activities for young people aged 8-23 from all the LJ synagogues. The Netzer bit of our name belies our deep attachment to Israel – it stands for Noar Tzioni Reformi (worldwide Reform Zionist youth). We have been a snif (branch) of Netzer since the early 1990s, and it gives us a link to Israel and the rest of the Jewish world.

This month, LJY-Netzer is busy as ever running Israel activities. Our big focus is the February half-term, during which we are running four events. Two are Shabbat sleepovers for ages 8-11 year olds and 12-13 year olds, at The Liberal Synagogue Elstree and Finchley Progressive Synagogue respectively. Both will, like all of our events, have elements of Israeli education and culture incorporated into them. It is important for us that our participants see Israel as more than a political conundrum or a newsreel of war. It is a lively, exciting, vibrant place of music, the arts, food, youth culture and so on. We try to bring some of all of these with us onto all events.

We are also running a trip to Dublin for 14-15 year olds, and we will be delighted to be joined by Liberal Judaism’s Shlicha Dana Friedman and her relative Omer. Omer is soon going into the army for his national service, and will be leading a session talking to the young people about what it is like to grow up as a teen in Israel. We are so lucky to have Dana working with us day to day, ensuring that Israel is always at the forefront of our mind, and Omer will bring a young person’s perspective that will challenge and inspire our members.

Finally, we are running a hadracha (youth leadership) training seminar for our members at the end of school. Some of them will be leading Kadimah, our summer camp, later this year. We will be discussing with them their role as Israel educators, encouraging them to present balanced, thought-provoking views whilst being clear about how our Liberal Judaism values play out when we think about Israel. This year, for example, we have picked as our charity of the year the ARDC (African Refugee Development Centre), a Tel Aviv-based charity that works with the tens of thousands of new refugees, mostly from East Africa, who have arrived in Israel in the last ten years. For us, our Judaism commands us to “love [the stranger] as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34), and we live this out in 2011 by supporting with our money and (on our many trips to Israel) our time this most worthy cause.

Israel is a central feature of our ideology, and we are proud to support the Liberal Judaism Israel Month. Of course, in LJY-Netzer, every month is Israel month, but we hope that this Adar Rishon will focus all of us on this most fascinating, remarkable, complicated, engaging, frustrating, vivacious and stimulating country.