Crossroads Jerusalem

by Shirah Rosin

When I was 16 years old, I participated in a Jewish Federation of Greater Washington program called Ambassadors for Tolerance. The program brought together student leaders from different denominational youth groups. I was representing Bnei Akiva, an international modern Orthodox Zionistic youth movement.

For the first time, I sat and met with representatives of Reform and Conservative youth movements. They were people different from me in life practices, but as we began our discussions, it became apparent that there was one big thing that united us all–Judaism.

Ten years later, I am proud to say that I continue to be actively engaged in this conversation.

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Sir,

I commend Larry Derfner for his article “Lost Generation” (Up Front, May 11), which no doubt has heightened public awareness regarding a traditionally overlooked segment of Israeli society: at-risk youth. I also applaud his mention of Elem, one organization reaching out to street kids.

However, I was surprised that he should cite Elem as “the main private organization” in Jerusalem to help this population. In fact, many worthy groups reach out to street kids.

One is the Crossroads Center, located directly across from Kikar Zion, whose staff works alongside, and often in tandem with, Elem representatives. Crossroads targets a specific subset of this population: English-speaking teens—tourists and students abroad, and Israeli citizens—who comprise a growing and troubled population.

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Sir,

There was a significant omission in Larry Derfner’s “Lost Generation” (Cover story, May 11). Nowhere did he mention the high number of adolescents who turn to drugs, alcohol and the streets as a result of sexual abuse (see Paul Slier’s In Jerusalem interview with me on October 30, 2005).

Most sources agree that 100% of female addicts are victims of abuse. For men, the conservative estimate is 70%, although one Tel Aviv agency informed me that 100% of the 1000 or so addicts they worked with, male and female, were victims. There is a reluctance to face this fact even among the fine people who work with these youths.

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by Larry Derfner

It is a chilly, late Thursday night in downtown Jerusalem, and the mood among the teenage runaways hanging out there isn’t as weightless as usual. Recently there has been a run of tragedies. Between mid-February and early March, three young street people in the capital died – an 18-year-old hanged himself on the eve of being drafted, a 21-year-old deliberately electrocuted himself, and a 24-year-old was beaten to death in a fight. All three had run away from home and been on and off the streets for years, all had problems with drugs, alcohol and/or mental health.

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Courtesy of Nefesh B’Nefesh, you can listen to a two-part interview with Crossroads Center director Caryn Green in which she discusses the special needs of Anglo teen olim.

• Part 1
• Part 2