EnerJew – FSU’s Jewish youth movement, hosted the “Grand Shabbaton South” seminar in Kiev, Ukraine last week. Over 115 teenagers from 12 cities in four countries – Estonia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine – participated. For some cities this was their first major event since joining the movement in September, and they left infused with enthusiasm, just as other, more veteran EnerJew members.
“This was a very energetic, vibrant and memorable seminar,” said Konstantin Shulman, EnerJew director. “The new participants, especially, were amazed to discover this source of Jewish connection and experience it for the first time.”
EnerJew is a Jewish youth movement for teenagers. It focuses on developing the youngsters’ Jewish identity and fostering leadership and initiative. Therefore, the seminar’s staff was composed of both experienced mentors and city coordinators, who have only recently completed EnerJew’s “School of Counselors.”
“The entire seminar was saturated with Jewish content, and what’s interesting that it was not only during workshops and discussions, but even on social events, ” Shulman said.
The program included the already-traditional social initiatives fair, where each city presented a project of their own. This time the winner was the club from Tbilisi, with a last minute victory after dramatic voting. They city presented a volunteer project of helping underprivileged families. Every city also present a self-made video about their club, in which imagination was the limit.
The seminar concluded with a party on Saturday night, filled with live Klezmer music, awards, and presents for the new city-members.
This was the second part of EnerJew’s annual main activists seminar, the first installment took place in November. It’s the first time the movement had to divide the central seminar in order to accommodate all the attendees. The seminar was organized by EnerJew and supported by the FJC, the Leviev and Finger funds, and with the the Jewish Agency for Israel.
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