A year

A bit less then a year ago on a day very much like today I was jumping on a plane to newark to go to kutz. I could have never dreamed of what my personal and NFTY's landscape would look like they do today.
I remember one day we were on the tennis court for some reason and I was talking to someone about how Zach Newburgh would make a good NFTY President but I wasn't sure if if NFTY was ready for someone as observant as Zach to be their President .Looking back I see it as me just being part of the status quo. Because the fact is it doesn't matter. It's so funny to look back and see how much everything has changed.
In this year I have come to discover that in that instant I let my self get so caught up with Zach's observance I threw out the fact that it's someone's stance not their observance that should really matter. I just hope that most people aren't as superficial as I was at that moment in time .
I have also become more observant, right now I wonder how this trend is affecting NFTY. I see two outcomes and I'm not sure if either looks promising. #1 being that the leadership steadily gains more observant members and becuase of this NFTY as a whole becomes much more observant and we lose the more secular end of the spectrum and thus lose one of the most important demographics in NFTY, or that we keep things the same and we risk losing those most likely to lead becuase of their increased observance levels. I'm not sure which one is a worse outcome. We must find some middle ground I don't rank either group as more important then the other I think that they are both key players in the continuiation of the Reform Movement.
On a personal level most of my stances on Jewish issues have changed. I know for sure I'm no longer part of the movement's status quo. I'm really glad that I've been able to start thinking on my own it has really helped me to understand my Judaism. I have also become a bit upset with the movement in general because I don't really feel like most Reform Jews are really "Reform" I think that the majority are just Jews who don't do much Jewishly and call them selves Reform. Because of this I have to wonder if at somepoint the movement is going to split at some point like in the English have.

The beginning of an new era

Yesterday NFTY installed the New North American Board, and tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of leaving for kutz for my last summer of being a Participant. With this in mind I am reinstating this blog that has lain dorment for so long.