OCTY- Or Chadash Temple Youth

· Or Chadash’s own chapter of NFTY

· Being/becoming a leader

· Our goal is to bring Jewish teens together for fun activities and events.

· Create long lasting friendships

· Mix in some Jewish fun with our events. (Havdalah and group leading services)

· Having a sense of belonging.

NFTY- SW- North-American Federation of Temple Youth-Southwest Region

· One of nineteen regions that make up NFTY

· Includes all of Arizona, New Mexico, Las Vegas, NV and El Paso, TX. 

· NFTY-SW offers Reform Jewish High School students an opportunity to learn, worship, and create lifelong friendships within a youth-led environment.

· Work towards enlightening and educating our participants on historical and spiritual Judaism as well as social action and social justice.

· A large focus is on enhancing leadership skills, development, and social opportunities for all the participants.

· There are 4-5 regional events each year held at various locations in our region and attended by 90-200 teens from all of the congregations in the region.

· LTI- Leadership Training Institute. The first regional event of the year where each Temple Youth Group (TYG) board travels to a certain part of the region and learns useful leadership skills while meeting tons of awesome Jewish teens.

· Fall Kallah- The first regional event of the year that is open to all teens within the TYGs. This event focuses on the incoming Freshmen and is an introductory event into how NFTY works. It also allows the Seniors to have a special ceremony as they start their last year of NFTY.

· SAW- Social Action Weekend. This weekend is completely dedicated to community service. One day is fully devoted to group projects in the Phoenix area (where the event is held). The second day is when the Camp Swift Carnival is held- where inner city children from Phoenix come and NFTY-SW hosts a carnival for them.

· Spring Kallah- The last Regional NFTY-SW event of the year. This event includes Regional Board elections, which elects the NFTY-SW board for the next year. It is also the send off event for the Seniors of that year. This event is held at a hotel in Phoenix and includes Senior Circle- A time for the Seniors to say their goodbyes to the Region and give gifts to their friends in lower grades.

· Biennial- URJ event that occurs every other year (opposite Convention). This is a massive gathering of all the adult leaders of the Reform Jewish movement. NFTYites have the chance to participate in the NFTY Youth Track if they attend.

· NFTY Convention- A North-American wide event that occurs every other year (opposite Biennial) NFTYites from all across North America (including Canada!), and even across the world gather to learn, pray, and have fun.

· NFTY- The youth movement of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)

Learn more on NFTY-SW’s Website www.nfty.org/sw/, by clicking here: clicking here

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