Jewish organization bringing teens together

SWAMPSCOTT – The North of Boston Jew Crew (NoBJC) is reaching out to Jewish teens from across the North Shore.Almost 30 teens from Swampscott, Marblehead, Beverly, Danvers, Middleton and other North Shore communities turned out for the Latkes and Laser Tag at Laserquest in Danvers on Dec. 14.Swampscott resident Ariela Solomon of Swampscott, who is a North of Boston Jew Crew member, said it was a great evening and all in the spirit of Hanukkah.”This is the best day of my life,” she said.NoBJC Director David Nathan, 26, said the NoBJC is affiliated with Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore, which is located on Burrill Street in Swampscott, but it is open to all Jewish teens.”Laser tag was our third event,” he said. “We are trying to reach out to as many people as possible and let them know this is a place where Jewish teens can come to hang out and learn to be proud of who they are. We want them to really know that it’s cool to be Jewish.”Nathan said NoBJC is social in nature and it strives to unite teens from all over the North Shore and provide an environment where Jewish teens from all levels of observance can come together.”We don’t push any particular belief on the kids,” he said. “They are exactly perfect the way they are. We just want them to know this is a place where they can come and feel welcome. Besides we have really cool shirts.”Nathan said he has been attending Chabad Lubavitch of the North Shore since he was 10 years old and he is very excited to see more young people getting involved.”Growing up, there weren’t any kids my age at Chabad,” he said. “The coolest thing for me is right now we have a large group of kids. It is really cool to see this group coming together and these kids have other teens they can grow with.”Nathan said NoBJC would be hosting teen Shabbat dinners and other events including an upcoming Jew Crew tubing event at Amesbury Sports Park.”We want to create as much of a community as we can,” he said. “We look forward to hosting more and more teens at our events. We want to make the coming year a year of community, strength, youth leadership and light.”Additional information on NoBJC is available by emailing [email protected] or calling Nathan at 781-775-7981. The group also has a Facebook page, where teens can get information about upcoming events.