There is an old joke about a synagogue secretary who frantically calls the rabbi because a nest of rats was just found in the temple. The rabbi says, "I'll be right over - just get them on the bima. I'll help them become b'nei mitzvah and they'll never come back."
The nervous laughter that follows when the joke is told is mournful as well, because it rings so true.

Anecdotal evidence and countless studies expose the absence of teen involvement in Jewish community experiences.

In 2000, Brandeis University researchers began assessing 1,200 kids from non-Orthodox families from ages 12 to 17. The results showed that by the time they'd reached their senior years in high school, 50 percent of the teens' involvement in Jewish volunteering, education and social activities had been erased.

Can parents and leaders work to change the joke's punch line? Or is the joke on us?
Teen apathy toward Jewish programs - coupled with alarming statistics on intermarriage - has made reclaiming the Jewish American teen a top priority for Rockland's educators and youth group directors.

From synagogue youth groups to innovative approaches to Hebrew high school, from secularly Jewish social action programs to independent mitzvah projects, local agencies are grappling with the task of finding the magic solution that will keep Jewish teens involved.

From left Dan Wuhrman, Jamie Deer, Sarah Murphy and  Jamie Weinberg rehearse "YMXA" with new lyrics for the upcoming Purim Shpiel,  "Shushan Night Fever" at Beth Am Temple.

IT STARTS WITH THE PARENTS

Strong parental encouragement is one of the key ingredients in teens' decisions to continue with formal Jewish educational programs. How kids view their parents' attitudes about them can make the difference between connecting and dropping out.

Although informal education - like youth groups and Jewish camps - has an impact, "nothing has as great an impact as sitting in that classroom," said Brandeis sociology professor Sylvia Barack Fishman, co-director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, an innovative think tank that produces and promotes scholarly research and projects about Jews and gender worldwide.

Rachel Lipson, a senior at both Clarkstown High School South and the Rebecca and Israel Ivry Prozdor High School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, an intensive Jewish supplemental school program, agreed that her parents' attitudes did a lot toward shaping hers.

"Although no one forced me, my older sister attended Prozdor," Lipson, 18, said. "I came out of my Hebrew school experience knowing that continuing my Jewish education was something my parents expected of me."

Rabbi Daniel Pernick of Pearl River's Beth Am Temple agreed that it begins with parental expectations. Parents are often upset with children's choices later, he said, even though they did not make Jewish activities a priority for their family early on.

"Parents need to think of what their goal is," he said. "How do they want their child to emerge Jewishly at 16, 21, 35, etc.?"

But when parents place an emphasis on Jewish involvement, it can have a tremendous impact on their teens, Fishman said.

"Teens have told me that while they may complain and whine, they see their parents' willingness to push reflective of their parents' commitment or ambivalence," she said. "Parents need to know they only have to be the 'bad' parent for one year not four."

Once teens have attended a Hebrew high school program at their synagogue or Prozdor for a year, they make friends and internalize it - making it their choice, not their parents', Fishman said.

Traditional avenues of Jewish involvement, such as Hebrew high school programs, youth groups and camping have all have their place in keeping kids connected to their Jewish heritage. Finding the successful combination or the way to make these programs relevant and meaningful to today's teens is what educators need to shoot for.

At Orangetown Jewish Center, a team approach was the answer. Rabbi Craig Scheff and Rabbi Paula Mack Drill joined forces with Sharon Rappaport, the synagogue's youth director to create and facilitate the Hebrew High's Na'aseh curriculum. "The program weaves formal and informal learning into a modular format," explained Orangetown's principal, Sandy Peck-Borowsky, "so that first, students study a Torah text with the Rabbis, the next session, via film or other media, they see how that text applies to real life and it all culminates with the text as the foundation for both mitzvot and informal social programming."

Lauren Schneider, 18, a Cornell University freshman and Prozdor graduate said Prozdor's focus fosters similiar in-depth study. "In regular school we had 45 minutes to get through the material, and God help you if you didn't, but at Prozdor, they'd give us the time to ask deep questions," she said.

Schneider said Prozdor reinforced the Jewish convictions of taking nothing at face value, of always asking questions and of always seeking knowledge. She praised Prozdor's choice of courses ranging from Ecclesiastes, the Kabbalah or Jewish themes in pop music.

Prozdor, which draws teens from Rockland, Westchester, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, has another affiliate in Boston. Total enrollment for both sites has increased in 10 years from 200 students to 1,000 today. The program has done this by advocating a serious approach to Judaism combined with taking into account teen interests.
Beth Am Temple has similar broad-reaching demographics, and Rabbi Pernick sees that as part of the draw.

"We all know that Pearl River is not the center of the Jewish universe," he said. "We have 20 different school districts in our temple. Most kids only see each other at BAT, and by high school, they've had several years to develop relationships, and they want to still see each other."