According to Jewish Mystical tradition it was God's plan to pour the energy used to create the world into vessels. These vessels, however, were overwhelmed by the strength of God's creative energy and they shattered.

It is now within human power to discover the fragments and energy of those broken vessels, and put them together to make whole and perfect what is now fractured and far from perfect.

Though we do not relate to this story literally, we as Reform Jews believe in the notion that humankind has the ability to distinguish between good and evil, and that we can repair the world, bringing good into the world in which we live. By exploring the factors of our Jewish existence, we can better understand what it is we are repairing. As we educate ourselves, and our community, our knowledge begins to repair the world.

What is the Tikkun Olam Award?

· The Tikkun Olam Award is an award that will be run simultaneously in all nineteen NFTY regions and will be given to the TYGs that produce the best programs on the NFTY Study Theme in each region. These winning regional programs will be then recognized later on at NFTY’s North American level in a second round of judging.

What is the NFTY Study Theme?

· The Tikkun Olam Award is a way that NFTY not only strives for programming excellence in the Temple Youth Group but also implements the NFTY Study Theme of the year. This year’s NFTY Study Theme is Tihyeh Shofeit L’Atzmecha-You Will Be A Judge for Yourself.

· All programs that are submitted to compete for the Tikkun Olam Award must be written based on the NFTY Study Theme.***

What are the Rules for competing in the Tikkun Olam Award?

· Competitors in the Tikkun Olam Award must be dues paying Temple Youth Groups (TYG’s) of Reform Synagogues that are part of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ).

· All programs that will be submitted to win the Tikkun Olam Award must be based around the NFTY Program Study Theme of that year.

· TYG’s are only allowed to submit ONE PROGRAM to compete for the Tikkun Olam Award.

· The ONE PROGRAM that the TYG does submit must be run/implemented in the TYG prior to the deadline of when the programs are sent in for the first round of judging.

· The program and contract must be submitted to the TYG’s respective Regional Programming Vice President and Regional Advisor.

How Does the System for the Award Work?

· There are 19 different regions in NFTY. Each Temple Youth Group sends its ONE program on the NFTY Study Theme to their Regional Programming Vice-President and Regional Advisor. In each respective NFTY region there will be up to four regional winners of the award, for those Temple Youth Groups that have created the best written and most creative program based on NFTY’s Study Theme.

• Those regional winning programs will then be sent to the NFTY North American Office. A North American Committee will select up to five exemplary programs written on the NFTY Study Theme. Winners at the North American Level will be recognized at NFTY Mechina in June at the URJ Kutz Campus for Reform Jewish Teen Life.

Deadlines for Program Write Ups

· By April 15, 2008 each TYG that chooses to compete in the Tikkun Olam Award must send their complete contracts and program write-ups via E-Mail to each of their respective NFTY Regional Programming Vice President and their respective Regional Advisor.

· By May 15, 2008 each Regional PVP and Regional Advisor will submit their regional award winners (contracts and programs) to Ben Phelps, NFTY PVP and Melissa Goldman, Director of Operations and Special Projects of NFTY.

Contact Information

· Found on the “Tikkun Olam Award Contact Information Page” is the contact information of the nineteen NFTY Regional Programming Vice Presidents and Regional Advisors. Listed are their names, respective regions, and E-Mail addresses. Please feel free to contact them throughout the programming process for questions, comments and/or resources.Once finished writing the program, please send it with your completed Contract via E-Mail to your respective Regional Programming Vice President AND your Regional Advisor.