INFORMATION for NEW members!
There are a few important people that you should be aware of:
-JP Ferrell * Southern Membership Vice President (VP). He works with temple youth groups (TYG)s from Fairfax Station down to North Carolina.
-Missy Reif * Western Membership VP. Her range is TYGs from the Western side of Metro DC Falls Church to Southern Maryland.
-Nina Godles * Eastern Membership VP. His TYGs are mainly in the District, but also the Eastern side of Metro DC.
-Gabi Levinson * Northern Membership VP. He’s got TYGs from the rest of Maryland and Delaware.
-Grace Wallack * Communications VP. He is in charge of getting you all you need to know and designing the goods at Canteen.
-Ben Bissell * Religious and Cultural VP. She helps with services and leads us in prayer.
-Rachel Stern * Social Action VP. He keeps us on track with our Tzedakah and mitzvot.
-Meryl Goldstein * Programming VP. He helps write the fabulous programs you participate in at events.
-Jessi Litman * President. She does it all, and keeps everything running.
-Lindsey Morgan- Our advisor, she loves NFTY...Go up and introduce yourself
NFTY-MAR Glossary
Welcome to NFTY-MAR. Part of NFTY culture is our language full of acronyms and weird words that sound unfamiliar. Here’s a dictionary, in case you get confused!!
Advisor: An adult who advises (duh!) and mentors us in programming, logistics, administrative work and leadership skills. Our Regional Advisor is the amazing Lindsay Morgan.
Birkat Hamazon: commonly known as the “Birkat”, this is the prayer that NFTYites say after we eat. It thanks God for our food and drink.
Biennial: the URJ Biennial occurs every other year, when there is not a NFTY Convention. This is a massive gathering of all the adult leaders of the Reform Jewish movement. Biennial also has a NFTY Youth Track for NFTYites to take part in.
B’rit Kehilah: NFTY’s code of conduct. You signed this before coming to an event; it details the rules and regulations for a NFTY event. Basically, you promised not to do drugs, drink, engage in inappropriate sexual conduct and to be a respectful NFTYite.
Cabinet: Cabinet is the extended regional board, sort of. This year, there are 31 members of Cabinet, who are on different committees and chair different things. Committees include: Summer and Winter Kallot co-chairs, New Member chairs, Songleaders and various other things.
Camp Harlam: The MAR regional URJ camp, located in Kunkletown, PA. Camp Harlam is home of our Summer and Winter Kallot.
Convention: NFTY Convention is a nationwide event that occurs every other year. NFTYites from all across the country, and even across the world gather to learn, pray, and have fun. The most recent Convention just occurred February 2005 in Los Angelos.
Friendship Circle: The last thing MARites do at an event is gather in a massive circle. We sing, there are speeches and gifts given from co-chairs, the MAR president, the MAR advisor, as well as many tears and hugs.
Kallah: fun weekends when NFTYites from all different TYGs in a particular region come together to meet other NFTYites, pray and learn. NFTY-MAR has six kallot.
Kallah Chairs: most commonly Co-chairs, can be tri-chairs, quad-chairs, etc. These dedicated NFTYites spend time and effort planning NFTY events. They are loved immensely because of all the hard work they put in to making our events amazing.
Head Waiters: two male MARites who are in charge of delegating the responsibility of being a waiter at Camp Harlam events. The honor of being head waiter is passed down when a senior graduates. This ceremony takes place at Winter Kallah.
Installations: a very special ceremony when the old executive board passes down their position to the new executive board, and says goodbye. This takes place at Spring Kallah.
KUTZ: Kutz Camp is the North American NFTY Leadership Academy, located in Warwick, NY. NFTYites go to Kutz for one or two “academies” to learn about leadership, Judaism and so much more.
LTI: Leadership Training Institute. This is a NFTY-MAR event that focuses on leadership.
MAR: MAR is our region of NFTY. MAR stands for the Mid-Atlantic Region. It includes TYGs from Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
MARite(s): A member of NFTY-MAR.
Mechina: This is a leadership training week for newly-elected NFTY regional officers that takes place at Kutz Camp. There is also a North American NFTY Board meeting which provides an opportunity to vote on resolutions and set the NFTY agenda for the upcoming year.
Million Quarter Project: A social action project that NFTY takes part in. If you have any spare change, especially quarters, donate it to the MQP. All of the money goes to Ethiopian Jews who are starving. One quarter will provides a day’s worth of food for one Jewish child in Ethiopia.
Moishe Moose: the NFTY-MAR mascot.
NFTY: NFTY is the North American Federation of Temple Youth. Anyone who is a member of a Temple Youth Group from Hawaii to New York, from Canada to Texas is a part of NFTY.
Netzer Olami: An international organization of reform Zionist Jewish youth, of which NFTY is the North American snif (branch) of. Simply put, it’s like NFTY, but everywhere!
Plenary: Held every year at Summer and Winter Kallot, this is a general assembly where NFTY-MAR can pass resolutions on certain issues, get updates from TYGs and vote on various things.
Programs: Informal programs (as opposed to formal education in the classroom) take place at all Kallot. Programs can be about any topic from Purim to AIDS to the Middle East Peace process. Programs can also be social like a dance or a carnival.
RAC: The Religious Action Center. Located in Washington, D.C., the RAC is the social action center for the URJ. NFTY works closely with the RAC on social action issues.
Region: This encompasses all the TYGs that fall in a certain geographic area. NFTY has 19 regions. These TYGs get together for Kallot and other events.
Regional Board: The Regional Board of MAR is made up of 9 amazing, hard-working MARites. They are elected each year at Spring Kallah and are essential in making MAR what it is. They write and run programs and services, and represent NFTY-MAR at North American meetings.
Ruach: Hebrew for Spirit. Basically, it’s the enthusiasm we show for NFTY, for learning, for Judaism and for everything we do.
Senior Circle: At Spring Kallah every year, senior circle allows the graduating seniors to talk about their time with NFTY, as well as pass down siblings or important items from their NFTY experience.
Songleaders: Amazing MARites who lead us in song session and often in services.
Song Session: We sing Jewish music (also known as Jewsic), clap, stomp, dance, and make lots and lots of noise. This is where we show our ruach most!
Subregions: NFTY-MAR is divided into three subregions, the North, Central and South. Every year at TheVent, the three subregions compete in color wars, led by the subregional membership vice presidents. Each subregion has a color; North is blue, Central is orange and South is red.
Tikkun Olam: Tikkun Olam is repairing the world. It’s the Jewish value which tells us to do social action! NFTYites do this by participating in mitzvah projects, social action programs and doing mitzvot in general.
TYG: Temple Youth Group. The group of teenagers at your temple that get together for events. Your TYG is a part of NFTY.
TYG Board: The members of the TYG that usually plan and run youth group events for individual youth groups.
URJ: Union for Reform Judaism, the parent body of NFTY. The URJ encompasses all of NFTY plus lots of college students, adults, rabbis, cantors, temple board members and well…basically any reform Jew in America. They also manage camps like Kutz. They provide adult, rabbinical and financial support to NFTY.
Volleyball: It’s a sport (duh). We play it at our bi-regional event, also known as Summer Kallah, (the event we share with NFTY-PAR, a different NFTY region) versus NFTY-PAR, the Pennsylvania Area Region. This game is competitive, and very fun. Although MAR hasn’t won in a very long time, we still enjoy ourselves!
