Congregation Ohav Shalom

Building Community Celebrating Tradition

113 New Krumkill Road, Albany, NY 12208 / (518) 489-4706 / Email Us /

Ohav Shalom Hosts USY Convention

Posted on October 21, 2019

Ohav Shalom Hosts USY Convention
Event to attract Jewish youth from across the northeast

Albany, NY, OCTOBER 21, 2019 – Congregation Ohav Shalom is hosting the first youth gath-ering of the 2019/2020 school year for USY (United Synagogue Youth) and Kadima. The week-end-long event will take place November 1-3, 2019 at Ohav Shalom, 113 New Krumkill Road in Albany.

The Tzafon Fall Kallah and KadimaCon will welcome teens and preteens from all across the USY Tzafon region — including: the Capital Region; Rutland, VT; Poughkeepsie, NY; Western NY and Western Massachusetts. Guests from outside the Capital Region will be hosted by local families.

“Youth programming at Ohav Shalom is at the core of our mission,” says Judith Avner, president of the Ohav Shalom board of trustees. “Keeping young people involved and engaged is key to solidifying a lifelong sense of connection to Judaism. The concepts and experiences they learn in youth activities — from leadership skills to a love for Israel to forming friendships with other Jewish teens — will stay with them as they grow older and become leaders in their own commu-nities.”

USY is the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s youth movement for Jewish teens across North America. Kadima, literally meaning “forward”, is USY’s precursor program for mid-dle school students looking to stay connected to Jewish life.

The weekend events will include a wide range of activities, with Friday and Saturday activities taking place at Ohav Shalom. Friday night will begin with a traditional Shabbat dinner, after which attendees will return to their host families. Saturday Shabbat services will be followed by a kiddush lunch and an afternoon of games, and the Saturday night gathering will feature a hypno-tist. On Sunday morning, the teens will all gather at Temple Israel for a quick “nosh” and a proper send-off for out of town attendees. Longtime Ohav Shalom member Jason Kay, now residing in West Hartford, CT, is the Engagement Director for USY in the northeast and is one of the organ-izers of the event.

For more information about the November event or to volunteer during the weekend, please contact Jason Kay at jkay@uscj.org. For more information on Ohav Shalom youth program-ming, please send an email to ohavyouth@ohavshalom.org.