YFTI is back and BETTER THAN EVER
YFTI is our fantastic high school youth group. Typical programming includes local, national and international trips, weekend retreats, social action opportunities, social events, and more – all designed BY and made FOR teens in 9th-12th grade. While these activities are teen-driven, teens are guided and supervised by Rabbi Jen Lader and Rachel Kestenberg.
After a long and challenging year and a half, we can’t wait to get back to travel, adventures, and building meaningful connections.
Join us for monthly Monday programming after ROOTS, and get involved as a leader. For more info, contact Rachel Kestenberg at 248-661-5700.
Meet Your YFTI Leadership Executive Board
President
Rikki Aronoff
Programming VP
Lindsey Zousmer
Membership VPs
Ashley Fogel
Ian Kraft
Jewish COmmunity VP
Jolie Oleshansky
Social Action VP
Mollie Weiner
Financial VPs
Alexa Kessler
Jordyn Tepper
Communications VP
Zoe Goldman
2021-22 Calendar
*all events are weather dependent.
August
8/29: The Spark Leadership Retreat
September
9/15: Teen-led Kol Nidre
9/13: Sponsor a Monday Night Dinner for your Temple Teens
9/20: 1st Night of Roots
9/26: YFTI Kickoff- Party Box at the Tigers Game
October
10/24: Mitzvah Day
November
11/5-7: 9th & 10th Grade Confirmation Trip to Cincinnati
11/13: Mystery Night / Saturday Night Program
December
12/6: ROOTS/YFTI JARC Chanukkah Party
12/13: ROOTS/YFTI Social Action Night Housing The Homeless
January
1/28-30: Ski Trip
February
2/12: YFTI Social Night
2/24-28: L'Taken
March
3/13: Purim Carnival
April
4/11: YFTI Mondays: Escape Room Novi
4/18: YFTI Mondays: Care Package Making @ Temple Israel
4/25: Bowling & Pizza Party @ Country Lanes, Farmington Hills
May
5/13-15: City Trip
5/23: YFTI Elections
June/July
6/20-7/15: Teen Mission
Resources
Jewish Youth Climate Movement
We are excited to announce the start of a very important kvutzah (group) at Temple Israel. The Jewish Youth Climate Movement Task Force is a program for teens who are passionate about climate change and the environment. The JYCM is dedicated to mitigating climate change by empowering young people, mobilizing our communities and taking action.Update this content.
The Jewish Youth Climate Movement Initiative has been created to:
We are a group of Jewish teens interested in positively impacting the Detroit Jewish community through activism around environmental issues. We are rooted in the famous Jewish story about an old man named Honi who planted trees in his old age. He explains: “I found a fruitful world because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise, I am planting it for my children.”
While we are a group of Jewish teenagers, the projects we will participate in and support are intended to move the needle for ALL ages, religions, and other diverse groups of people.
We have a mission to inform and influence our community so that our environmental future will be secure. It is important to make sure others are aware of the challenges so that we can share our world with future generations.
Our goal is to simply make a difference. While many of our projects might be time sensitive, our full intention is to better the world incrementally. Over the next year, we plan to engage more than 1000 people in our mission. In this way we participate in the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam -- Repairing the world over time.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Josh, Rachel Kestenberg and your teen leaders: Claire Spektor, Max Barish, Dylan Wolf, Jaymie Miller, Nolen Kovan
Sponsor a Monday Night Dinner
Dear Temple Israel teens, parents, grandparents, friends, family and alumni!
We are so excited to welcome our teens home after an incredibly challenging year, to connect and learn, to process, and to grow into the incredible humans we know they are! To support our youth department in this year of rebuilding, and to celebrate our resilient and amazing teens, we are kicking off a BRAND NEW sponsorship program for Monday night dinners.
Each Monday up to 2 families or supporters can sponsor dinner with a donation of $180 each, in honor of a specific teen, alumni, or loved one. Both the sponsor and the honoree will be featured on the Temple Israel Instagram and Facebook pages.
You pick the day and the meal (does your teen have a favorite?!) and we do the rest! We appreciate your generosity and love as we work hard to give our teens a welcoming, safe, identity-building space to be themselves.
