Future Leaders, Present Impact: BeSTY in Action This High Holy Day Season

By Emily Dejewski

Meet Bet Shalom Temple Youth a.k.a BeSTY! We’re made up of teens 9th to 12th grade who have a vision for the future of Bet Shalom. Throughout the High Holy Days our members have been committed to serving our congregation and the community around us.

In August, the Bet Shalom Landscaping Committee asked BeSTY to help them get the grounds ready for the High Holy Days. We jumped at the idea and went to work! BeSTY teens worked for two weekends, laying mulch, pulling weeds, planting flowers and moving some pretty heavy branches!

BeSTY members supported our congregation at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services by handing out resources for Accessibility and Hearing Devices, including large print prayer books and seating near an interpreter. Teens greeted congregants who asked for accessibility resources, showed them to seats, helped them set up the new hearing devices and showed them how to use them. It is our goal to show everyone that they belong at Bet Shalom.

Gabe Adelman and Dani Johnson helped at this table, and this is what they had to say about why it is important to have our teens be at services to work for our congregation:

“We were able to help make services more enjoyable and accessible to people, and it was meaningful to us because everyone was able to enjoy services.”

Dani Johnson and Gabe Adelman helping at the disability resource table

BeSTY also hosted the annual High Holy Day ICA Food Drive. Lily Friedman and Levi King had to go to grocery stores to secure more than 400+ bags to pass out at Rosh Hashanah. All together Bet Shalom Congregation donated 1,966 pounds of food, and the teens created 60 bags to go to people in need. That is 6 pallets that will go to stock the shelves of the shopping floor at ICA Food Shelf.

Lily and Levi were also the teen leaders of the 7th-12th Grade Yom Kippur Youth Service Project: Making bags for unhoused people. This service project entails using the BeSTY budget to purchase reusable drawstring bags, hats, gloves, granola bars, emergency blankets, water bottles, tooth brushes, tooth paste, and socks. The teens then take a distributed amount of bags home to pass out to people in need that they see out in our community.

Here is what Lily and Levi said about why they chose that service project for BeSTY:

“For me, participating in the service project is very meaningful because I’m able to find ways to help others outside our community through a supportive community like Bet Shalom.”

Overall BeSTY members have greatly enjoyed getting involved with our community during this High Holy Day season. We are continuing to look for ways to get more involved throughout this next year. If you have a committee or a connection to the Jewish community that you think would benefit from BeSTY’s involvement, please reach out to Emily Dejewski (emily.dejewski@betshalom.org) to help start this today!