Bellmore-Merrick Jewish teen group promotes community service

While some teens mingled over light snacks, others showed off their basketball skills, and still others took part in a raucous game of dodgeball at the kickoff for the Bellmore-Merrick chapter of CTeen last Thursday.

CTeen, an acronym for the Chabad Teen Network, is a national network for Jewish teenagers, with chapters around the globe. Among the fastest-growing Jewish teen networks in the world, Cteen accepts teens from various temples and communities.

The Bellmore-Merrick chapter of Cteen, which held its kickoff at Baseball Plus in Freeport, was organized by Cteen coordinator Itty Barber and Rabbi Shimon Kramer, a Merrick resident and head of the Bellmore-Merrick Chabad Center for Jewish Life. Roughly 30 teenagers from Bellmore, Merrick and other parts of Nassau County turned out for the kickoff. CTeen's purpose is to get more Jewish teens involved in the community, and to help them maintain their Jewish ties as they progress toward adulthood.

"When kids are younger, they go to school and learn about their Jewish heritage," said Barber. "Then they have their bar mitzvah, but after that, they go to college and suddenly disconnect from Judaism because they start to forget about it."

With CTeen, participants socialize with other Jewish kids in the community. "Teenage years are hard years," said Barber. "There's peer pressure, homework and a lot of other things going on in their life. So they don't even focus on religion, and that's how they lose the connection. With this teen group, we're able to fill that gap and keep the connection."

A resident of Crown Heights, Brooklyn -- where CTeen's headquarters are located -- Barber has been associated with the organization for two years, and has run different organizations around New York. Recently, she received a call from Kramer requesting to bring a CTeen chapter to Bellmore-Merrick.

"I had requests from many, many families since I moved [to Merrick] about three and a half years ago," said Kramer, "They asked for a teen program because they felt that teens are the ones that fall through the cracks. With CTeen, they can socialize and have a good time together, and will learn the importance of giving to others."