Rabbi Nati Stern is on a mission. He is armed with cookie dough, marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips, sprinkles and jelly. Those things are part of the recipe for inspiring Jewish teens. He runs a public-school club called Jewish Student Union (JSU) and he wants everyone to feel welcome attending the club.
His welcoming ways appear to be working. After a long day of tests and essays and presentations and projects, a group of young Jews make time for JSU. They make the time in their busy schedules because they want to hear what Rabbi Stern has to say.
“It’s non-denominational. It’s fun. It’s interesting. It’s about exploring how they connect to Judaism in their own level, in their own terms,” the young rabbi explained.
As school gets underway this month, Rabbi Stern will begin inspiring two new groups of high school students. JSU is expanding its reach to include students at Blue Valley Southwest and Shawnee Mission South. JSU currently has clubs operating at Blue Valley High School, Blue Valley North, Shawnee Mission East and Blue Valley West.
Through JSU and his other responsibilities as adviser to Kansas City’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) chapter, Rabbi Stern is a professional mentor. By offering interesting and engaging programming, he hopes to help teens develop leadership skills and a connection to Judaism.
JSU focuses on learning through experiences. Students help plan JSU programs such as holiday parties, educational activities, workshops and bringing in guest speakers. Rabbi Stern says that experiential education is what helps people connect to things in a more meaningful way and on a more profound level. He says that this type of education helps people internalize what they are learning. The rabbi hopes to help students not only understand the “what” of Judaism, but the “why.”
He does this with hands-on learning, often with a dash of sugar. For example on Purim last year, Blue Valley North’s JSU club made mishloach manos, traditional Purim gifts, and hamentashen. During those activities, Rabbi Stern explained how Purim is about embracing and loving your fellow Jew.
That is what Rabbi Stern is doing. Embracing and loving.
“Judaism has room for everybody,” he said.
Attendance at JSU club meetings can range from roughly five to 25 students. JSU typically meets every other week. Most students are Jewish, some are not.
Rabbi Stern encourages students to be as involved as they want to be.
“I think kids are excited to, you know, just find a place to call their own,” he said.
Grace Rudman, Blue Valley North’s JSU president, said, “I decided to go because I loved how there could be an instant connection created based off the simple common trait of being Jewish. When I went to that first meeting, I instantly knew that it was a place I belonged.”
Rabbi Stern began working as the Kansas City JSU and NCSY director six months ago. Since arriving, he believes he has connected with over 100 preteens and teens in NCSY. Grades six through eight participate in Junior NCSY and grades nine through 12 in Senior NCSY. NCSY’s goal is similar to that of JSU, inspiring and connecting young Jews through fun, social programming. NCSYers connect with Jewish youth from all over the Midwest during regional conventions. Both youth groups are supported by the Orthodox Union.
One of Rabbi Stern’s unique NCSY programs is called Shabbat Shebang. Through food and fun programming, JSU and NCSY students experience a traditional Shabbat with a fun twist. Saturday night is reserved for a special outing, such as bowling or laser tag.
Rabbi Stern’s commitment to Jewish teens is a family affair. He said his wife Sarah and their four children love hosting students for Shabbat.
Rabbi Stern began inspiring young Jews while planning programming at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. It was there he realized that the students more involved in Jewish life were often youth group alumni. This got him excited about the idea of working with Jewish teenagers.
Rabbi Stern saw the effect that NCSY can have on Jewish identity firsthand while working for JInternship in Jerusalem. JInternship is a program combining Jewish learning with internships. He saw that NCSY participants were inspired and connected to their Jewish roots.
When this job opportunity was presented to Rabbi Stern, he discovered unknown Kansas City connections.
“Who knew there were Jews in Kansas,” he said, noting he moved father west than he had ever been upon seeing how welcoming and warm the Kansas City community was.
Growing up, Rabbi Stern felt like he did a lot of things simply because that’s what his community did. He went to synagogue, but didn’t pray. He ate kosher food, but didn’t really care. He had to consciously develop a meaningful connection to Judaism. That’s one reason why he helps his students develop their own connections while at the same time developing leadership skills.
With the new school year starting next week, BVN’s JSU president is looking forward to the club getting underway once again at BVN.
“I am excited because we have an eager and large group of underclassmen at our school who are passionate about leadership and Judaism and I cannot wait to hear the ideas that they bring to meetings,” Grace said. “I am also excited to get to know the new director, Rabbi Stern, more and see the new heights he will take JSU to. He already organized an ice cream social at the end of last year to get people excited about what’s to come, and it worked!”
That’s good news to Rabbi Stern.
“The goal is to inspire the Jewish future,” he said with a smile. “That’s really the goal at the end of the day. So we’ll do whatever it takes to be there for the teens.”
