CTeenConnection

       Motzei Shabbat  (Saturday night), as 2000+ of us teens meet in Times Square in New York City, emotions and excitement fly everywhere. From the second your feet hit the subway station’s floor, a shock of energy strikes your body. You look to the right and there is a billboard with your chapter on it, you look to the left and a stage with a CTeen backdrop awaits. The next thing you know, all of us are standing next to each other with our strong, unified voice, under the glow of the Havdalah candles. Havdalah is recited, slowly, energetically, powerfully. The singer comes out and all of us are chanting the CTeen anthem. Together. Aloud. The dancing and waving of our CTeen flags follow, all to express our Jewish pride.

          As one of the teens who has been lucky enough to experience two of these amazing events, all I can say is that I still am mesmerized. The most populated place in New York is being taken over by us, Jewish teens, for about two hours, all for us to sing, dance and enjoy. It’s for us to share that experience for the rest of our lives. Right after a perfect, calming and inspiring Shabbos, we make so much noise all to get one statement across: I’m a Jew and I am proud! With hundreds of strangers staring at us, we carry that message and show them our pride.

NYC Shabbaton is only one day away, yet the energy has been built up since the last time we said goodbye to Times Square. This year, the energy, emotions, singing and dancing with be three times as greater as last year’s, and I cannot wait to experience it a third time.