June 8

I recently made the very bad decision of looking up "NFTY" on UrbanDictionary.com. For those of you who don't know, Urban Dictionary is a website that gives real life definitions for popularly used words (including all slang and abbreviations and any other commonly used diction.

That being said, on my particular inquiry, I got several definitions for the acronym NFTY. The first few were mainly biased in a positive direction. Things like "the best organization for Jewish youth" and the likes, which just further demonstrates the passion for the movement that the members have. The next few definitions, however, quickly switched biases. These now included phrases like "they suck" and "an epic failure." What came along with this was remarks like "Organization X is a little better than Y, but still sucks in comparison to Z."

When I then went on to check the two other Jewish organizations that are prevalent in our area, I found similar results on BBYO and USY's pages. The first few, glowing remarks; the last few, hateful and slandering.

What I don't understand is why there is such a nasty relationship on the internet between these groups. In some regards there is very little competition between them, as NFTY is a Reform movement, and USY is Conservative, while BBYO is intentionally non-denominational.

The real issue I have with this, though, is in the hate that emanates from it. While this subtle "screwing around" is just for fun, it actually hits a very core issue in American Judaism. We, as a people, have experiences generations of hatred and antisemitism. We experienced slavery in Egypt, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust. These acts of horror against Jews all came from ignorance and cruelty. Why is it, then, that we, within our own faith, are now bashing on another, simply in the act of putting another organization at the top of the pile?

I cannot speak for any organization, although I will attempt to speak for my fellow NFTYites. I have many friends in both of the other organizations, and I have always appreciated the good work that they are doing. Although I would love to see everyone participate in NFTY because of how awe-inspiring it is, I would rather someone was involved in SOME FORM of Jewish participation than none at all.

All of this being said, I am calling for the end to the meaningless badmouthing that goes on between the groups. I, personally, will refuse to say anything untrue or unquantifiable about an organization, especially one I have no experience with. I also call for a collective effort to bring Judaism into the public light as a movement of peace, friendship and love, working to eliminate petty cruelty and bullying.

May it be God's Will