As she finishes the last bite of her sandwich, Lexi Dagan reaches up and gently fingers the chain full of colorful beads hanging loosely from her neck. She continues to twirl the chain in her fingers as she begins to explain to me what the North American Federation of Temple Youth is. NFTY is something that Dagan has participated in since the fall of her freshman year. After each NFTY event, Dagan, along with all other participants, receives a new colored bead to add to her necklace. NFTY is a national organization for high school students who practice the Jewish faith and are striving to make a difference in not only the Jewish community, but in the world. Each member of NFTY, which reaches about 2,000 high school students on a national level, contains one of these extremely simple, but significant, chains.
Dagan was drawn to NFTY not only for religious reasons, but also for the strong social environment that it provides. After making life-long friends at Camp Newman, or "Jew Camp," as she calls it, Dagan realized that this was one of the only ways to stay in touch with her camp friends.
"I was excited to learn about NFTY; I was so happy that I had figured out a way to stay in touch with everyone," Dagan says. Every three months there are conventions in each region, during which Dagan gets the opportunity to see her camp friends. "The best feeling," says Dagan, "is when you step off the bus and you are greeted by all your friends. You are literally attacked by like 15 people all at one time. It?s just so much fun to see all these people that you haven?t seen for three months."
The Central West Region, or CWR, is the region in which Dagan belongs. Each spring, along with a National Convention, there are elections, in which a new CWR board is elected. What makes NFTY cool, in Dagan?s opinion, is that the organization is completely run by teenagers, so when a new board is elected, it?s high schoolers electing other high schoolers. "I think one of the best parts is that it isn?t run by grown-ups that aren?t in tune with what teenagers are really all about," Dagan says. "We can really make this our own by having the leaders be teenagers, who represent exactly what all of us feel."
Every month there are events with themes such as leadership. These themes provide structure to the meetings, and the activities are based around them.
Most of the appeal of NFTY is that it?s not a very rigid or extremely organized program. At a leadership event, for example, members have the opportunity to participate in leadership-related activities, or just to be social with other members. "It?s really just about getting in touch with the other members, having discussions, and addressing certain issues. It?s a lot of fun," Dagan says.
What Dagan is most excited about is not the next event, or seeing her friends, but having the opportunity to run for vice president of membership of her temple?s section of NFTY. "This job seems like it could be a lot of fun," Dagan says. "Most of what I will do will involve promoting NFTY and bringing in new members, especially those in middle school. I get to go out there and really show younger kids what NFTY has to offer and how much fun it is." While this may sound like a somewhat stressful position, Dagan assures that there are many vice presidents, so she won?t be under too much stress. "It?s really just a way to get involved on a deeper level," Dagan says. "Because it?s a pretty laidback organization, this won?t consume all of my time or anything. I?m serious about making a difference in the Jewish community, and I?m confident that NFTY is the way to do it."