Somewhere between a jet ski on a Utah lake and a Shabbos table in Las Vegas, forty Jewish teenagers were putting on tefillin, wearing tzitzis, and committing to keep Shabbos.
Many teens who came to this summer’s sold-out CTeen Xtreme boys trip are the only Jewish kids in their school. A few had never wrapped tefillin before boarding the bus.
“I never imagined I’d be in the desert or riding on a jet ski with a rabbi,” said Bobby Cohen, one of the teens who came from Manchester, UK.
CTeen Xtreme is CTeen’s flagship summer trip, a two-week road trip across the American West planned by Rabbi Mendy Lepkivker of the CTeen Summer team at Merkos 302, and led by Shluchim doing CTeen in the field. This year the group pushed through national parks, white-water rapids, mountain biking, rappelling, horseback riding, and a Six Flags run.
“The Rebbe understood that young people have an idealism you can’t manufacture. You just have to give them the right environment,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, executive director of Merkos 302. “These are teens who are often the only Jewish kid in their school. When they finally have the space to live their Yiddishkeit openly, surrounded by peers who get it, you see something remarkable happen.”
The adventure is real. But what parents and teens kept coming back to wasn’t the rapids or the mountains. It was the people. This year, two CTeen Shluchim joined the trip alongside their teens, and both say it changed the way they think about summer programming.
Rabbi Zevy Geisinsky, CTeen Shliach in Great Neck, New York, came for a week of the trip to see his teens in action. He was so struck by what he saw that he came back, unplanned, for the second week’s Shabbos. He showed up as a surprise.
“Shia was so happy for Rabbi Zevy to surprise them at the end,” said Dina Kalaty of Great Neck, NY, whose son was on the trip. “He’s especially thankful for Rabbi Zevy.”
“I feel I made a stronger connection with the boys in just one week than I did over the past year,” said Rabbi Geisinsky. “The hashpa’ah was next level, with real, tangible outcomes.”
Rabbi Sholom Cohen, CTeen Shliach in Manchester, England, brought a group of Manchester boys and stayed for the full two weeks. The Manchester families couldn’t say enough.
“The best part of this trip was Rabbi Cohen,” said parent Hannah Salomon. “He thought of everything and cared for each participant and staff member on another level.”
Parents Melanie and Ed Anderson agreed: “Sholom was absolutely incredible. He gave us reassurance, confidence, and full trust.”
The fact that the program was sold out this year wasn’t a coincidence. When the Shluchim committed to the trip, they recruited harder, and families who might have been on the fence saw their own Shliach going. The sign-ups quickly reached the capacity.
The teens, for their part, described something that went well beyond a road trip.
“I learned Judaism is more than a religion,” said Joseph Attias of Manchester. “Judaism is a community where people are always there to help you wherever you’re from, and it provides opportunities to grow and connect.”
Nathan Lyubarsky said the trip inspired him “to become more observant and feel proud appearing visibly Jewish. I came to enjoy wearing a kippah and tzitzis in public. It made it easy to do mitzvos.” At the end of the trip, Nathan was one of the teens who committed to put on Tefillin daily and received a gift at the farewell program: his very own pair of Tefillin along with a custom CTeen bag.
Nearly every teen on the trip resolved to continue specific mitzvos at home. Tefillin was the most common, followed by tzitzis, Shabbos, brachos, and Torah learning. Avi Hamburger said his first move when he got back would be to “sign up for the Shabbaton in September.”
By the time the two-week trip wrapped, the effect it had on the teens uplifted their homes and communities. Sharon Fox said her son came home putting on tefillin every day. Jessica Makhluf, a parent from Boca Raton, said her son came home wearing tzitzis. Shluchim saw the impact it made on their teens as well; New Haven CTeen Shliach Rabbi Shalom Cheruff noticed how one of the boys he sent on the trip started putting on tefillin every day.
This summer, CTeen is running multiple trips across the globe: separate boys and girls CTeen Xtreme trips across America, Israel journeys for both, a combined Poland-Israel Heritage Quest, and a separate boys and girls program for French teens in Vietnam.
The Boys Xtreme numbers tell their own story. Forty boys from communities around the world. Two Shluchim who came along and saw it firsthand. And a busload of teens who came home ready to keep going. Next summer, the bus has room for more. Pre-registration for the upcoming summer is already open at CteenSummer.com.
