When I was active in my own youth group, the slogan "Our Youth Are Our Future" was a phrase that resounded in my ears. This phrase was intended to inspire and challenge. It was also, I believe, intended to boost our egos.

Let's look at the words: "Our Youth Are Our Future," and to clarify and add meaning to it, this evening. In order to do so, we need to revisit this phrase. What did it mean to be the future? Did that mean that the present wasn't important?

The first three words, "Our Youth Are," represent the powerful section of the slogan. By removing the term "future," an open-ended phrase is created, inviting the question: What are our youth?

First of all, our youth are our spiritual inspiration. It is through experiences with our youth that we ourselves experience and encounter God. During moments when we are prepared to be their teachers, we are often awakened to the possibilities of life through their ideas, their sense of humor, their reaction to the world.

This evening's service serves as a perfect example. Through their creativity, our youth have inspired us. The readings so beautifully composed by Suzanne Davis, Tamara Ascher, Naomi Baldinger, Sheer Nisman, Alana Kardon and Rebekah Planto renewed my intention towards these prayers. Through Rebekah Strickland, I can better understand what SAFTY, and NFTY, can mean to a student.

Further inspiration comes from the commitments our students have made. We have, at Temple Beth-El, a very high retention rate between Bar and Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation. This is due, in no small measure, to the quality of the program, and parental involvement. Yet a program is not successful if our students are not involved. This year, we will confirm 22 students. These students have studied and discussed, written and reflected. They offered their Wednesday nights to engage in the study of Judaism. This is impressive.

But wait, there's more! Our Ma'aseh or student teacher program, is thriving. There were more than 12 older students who offered their time and their enthusiasm to 6th, 7th and 8th graders at the retreat two weeks ago.

From our youth, I have learned about creativity, enthusiasm, and commitment. Perhaps the rabbis had our youth in mind when they asserted: " I have learned a great deal from my teachers, more from other teachers, but most of all from my students." My students spiritual recharge me.

From spiritual inspiration, we turn to sober reality: our youth perplex us. When I was 15, my father asked me if he could send me to Venus until I was 21. My retort, as you can imagine, is not appropriate for this evening! Indeed, the biological and psychological changes of adolescence are profound. One quipster wisely observed that "heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other."

Our youth keep us on our toes. We struggle to understand the way they do what they do. We are often baffled by way they dress, the hours they keep, the music they listen to. . . Yet we know that this stage is a necessary, if potentially painful, part of the journey of life.

{The ways our youth dress, react, and interact perplex us.} We must remember that our youth are beginning to accept who they are, and what they stand for. They are beginning to accept upon their shoulders the legacy that we endow to them. They are grappling with very real issues—from current events, to financial responsibility, to relationships, to God. As they continue to develop and mature, let us remember that as they perplex, they also inspire.

This leads me directly to my last point: as our youth perplex and inspire—they also challenge.

A particular goal of my role as Assistant Rabbi is to be liaison to SAFTY, the senior youth group, and to BEST, our junior youth group. Our youth are perplexing and challenging, but singularly inspiring. How do we embrace them, and enable them to explore their identities as young adults, and as Jews? What can we, at Temple Beth-El, do for our youth?

To explore this question, I began a Youth Committee. In this committee, we have begun to use the term "youth friendly congregation." A "youth friendly congregation" is defined as a congregation "whose youth are present, powerful and valuable in the life of that congregation." As a committee, have asked the question: Do we fit this criterion?

In many ways, we excel as a "youth friendly congregation." Two examples are those I cited earlier: Our Confirmation program, and our Ma'aseh involvement. There are other ways that we distinguish ourselves. Our youth have constant opportunities to attend NFTY-TOR retreats, leadership retreats, Kutz Camp, Greene Family Camp, and go to Israel.

Many issues determine our level of "youth friendliness." I'd like to focus on one this evening, pertaining to the expectations we have of our youth, and our youth have of us.

"Never trust a teenager" I have heard this fairly often in my career as a youth worker. Admittedly this attitude is not unjustified. High school students have been known to drop the ball on occasion.

I believe this is a truth: Low expectations lead to low results. This knowledge, while intuitive, also comes from my experience as a teacher, and as a youth group advisor.

It is important to realize that low expectations of our youth undermine the fact that they have much to contribute to our congregation—as we can see by this evening's attendance, and service.

The overriding principle is this: we need our students, and our students need us. We need to be inspired, and challenged, and even, perplexed. We need the freshness, and the laughter they offer us. Our youth (whether they admit it or not) need us. With our help, their ideas can blossom into fruition. With our support, their programs will be more successful. With our active involvement, our youth will know that they are important.

Our active involvement is crucial. As we raise expectations, our involvement will necessarily grow. For we cannot expect our youth to have the skills and expertise necessary to execute certain tasks and programming. ( teaching) The UAHC youth manual summarizes: "Empowering youth means combining high expectations with appropriate training and direction".

Our students have been blessed with untold opportunity. Let us now offer them our expertise and our guidance, ensuring their success here at Temple.

Our youth are our present. They are here, among these walls, almost daily as they come together for religious school, for Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation, for SAFTY meetings, for Preconfirmation and Confirmation classes. Let us welcome them. Let us support them, and teach them. Let us enable our current successes be added to immeasurably, together. My favorite song as a youth was " Ani V'atah." The first line reads: "Ani V'atah N'shaneh Et Haolam." "You and I can change the world." Working together, the congregation, and our youth, will support and energize each other, and continue to move Beth-El from strength to strength.

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