Thousands of Jewish teens from around the globe gathered this weekend in New York City for the 11th annual CTeen International Leadership Conference, a multi-day event designed to connect, empower and inspire the 2,600 high-schoolers. Their time together culminated on Sunday with a deeply moving “iMatter” ceremony highlighting teens’ achievements and positive turning points in their lives.
Hailing from 400 cities and 30 countries, they took part in workshops and roundtables, exploring topics ranging from self-esteem to relationships to science—all with a Torah twist. They spent Shabbat in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights with the local Jewish community, and converged in Times Square on Saturday night for a program where the 500th chapter of CTeen, based in Prague, was announced.
This year’s focus on self-esteem and empowerment was chosen in response to the fact that young people seem to be questioning their self-worth more than their parents’ generation did, the event’s organizers told Chabad.org. Students spoke during the afternoon about self-doubt, about instances of feeling isolated for being Jewish, and about taking charge to make positive change in their lives and communities.
Freshman Tova Kaplan from Chicago addressed the crowd about a letter she wrote to her school to urge them to address a conflict between the school calendar and the High Holidays. School treated the days like any other, meaning lots of work for the Jewish students who took off for those holidays and the feeling that they were missing out, she explained.
As a result of her efforts, Jewish holidays are now on the official calendar; tests, quizzes and homework won’t be assigned on them, she explains. “I did this because our beliefs matter. We, as Jewish teens, matter,” she says. “I’m just one person in the ninth grade who wrote one letter. Because of that one moment that I felt brave enough, felt I mattered, and that my Torah and mitzvot matter, everything changed.”
Bringing Jewish Pride to Public Schools
Sam Virine, a sophomore from Calgary, Alberta, also took the stage to speak about how he lobbied to bring a sukkah to his high school after being inspired by last year’s CTeen summit. “This was something never done before in Calgary,” he says. “But it was important for me that other Jewish students—no matter how few of us there are—knew we had a place at school where we could keep the holiday.” As a result, this year during the holiday, his school in Canada welcomed a pedi-sukkah, where students could shake lulav and etrog, and recite the blessing. “Today, we’re in the process of applying for the first-ever Jewish high school club in Calgary, and G‑d willing, next year I hope to report back with good news.”
Junior Olivia Feldman from West Bloomfield, Mich., urged those gathered to help break the stigma of mental illness. “Mental illness is a real disease. Unfortunately, we live in a world where when you break your arm, everyone comes running to sign your cast, but when you tell someone that you’re struggling mentally, the message does not function the same way,” she told the crowd. “We all need to talk about it.”
And Lynette Martin, a senior from Pinecrest, Fla., drawing from her own experiences of adjusting to life during her mother’s incarceration, spoke of the struggles young people have to face fitting in, and the challenge of not being labeled and limited by their surroundings. “We all have bumps in the road of life. Some seem to be mountains. And you do all you can not to fall off,” she said. “But I know that Hashem wouldn’t give me a path I couldn’t handle.”
A returning summit participant, she says her CTeen friends have also been a big part of her journey. “I found opportunities to make a difference,” she explains. “Instead of being judged, my CTeen friends gave me confidence, strength and willpower.”
An Amazing Opportunity to Connect
Zachary DeFazio, one of the iMatter event’s teen MCs, says he enjoyed what he called an “amazing opportunity” to connect with his peers and also the chance to stay in Crown Heights’ Jewish community. A public-school student at a school with only a handful of Jewish teens, he says it was amazing to see so many Jewish people. “To be able to walk down the road and say ‘Good Shabbos’ to so many people—it was the best feeling. It felt so good.”
Dean Reuveny, a year 10 student from Sydney, Australia, came to the United States for the first time with a delegation of 10 teens for the conference. “I would have to say this is probably the most amazing weekend of my life,” he says. He was struck by both the diversity of participants’ Jewish experiences and also how much they shared. “You saw the same values, but you have different personalities, different traits, you live you lives differently. And it was so exciting, learning about it.”
He says he appreciated the message of iMatter, a sentiment he felt throughout the weekend. “A lot of the time, we don’t look within ourselves and think we matter,” he says. “But once you take the time to look inside yourself and see you matter, you become such a free person, and I think it helps you like yourself more. I think that’s really relatable to kids these days.”
The Impact of Showing Others You Care
Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—and chairman of CTeen International, spoke about the importance of every single Jew, and of the impact they can have by showing others that they care.
“You matter because there is nothing and no one and no such entity as a ‘small Jew.’ You may find yourself alone in your school, you may find yourself a minority, but remember that you are a ‘big Jew’ and you matter to Hashem, you matter to each other,” he said. “Go back with this message and remember it for the rest of your lives, and say it together with me now, ‘I matter!’ ”
As the program drew to a close, every teen was given “Modeh Ani” and “Shema Yisrael” magnetic cards for use morning and night. Along with text of the prayers, the design reads: “If your faith in G‑d doesn’t get you out of bed, what about G‑d's faith in you?”
![Along with text of the prayers, the design reads: "If your faith in G-d doesn't get you out of bed, what about G-d's faith in you?"](https://w2.chabad.org/media/images/1081/cRJl10817965.jpg?_i=_n504BC99DD0473598AAE3BCDC5D75568D "Along with text of the prayers, the design reads: "If your faith in G-d doesn't get you out of bed, what about G-d's faith in you?"")
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