April 24, 2026
Our involvement in and engagement with organizations have the potential to shape us, and when we become leaders in those organizations, we have the potential to shape them. For young people, organizational participation is sometimes part of the college résumé-building process, but more importantly, such involvement provides community and profound meaning. For young Reform Jewish high school students, their involvement in Jewish teen organizations is certainly meaningful, with the potential to form their identities.
Last week, we learned that our very own Cade Crane was named President of NFTY, the North American Federation of Temple Youth. Our kids know Cade as our song leader and K–2 music teacher in religious school. Our families know Cade because he has joined us to lead songs for our family Shabbat service celebrations. We are so proud of his involvement this past year as NFTY Ohio Valley regional president and look forward to his leadership on a national level.
While I cannot speak to how NFTY has shaped Cade’s life—that is for Cade to share—I can say that he has traveled across the country attending NFTY events. In a leadership capacity, he helps guide and lead programming for many Reform Jewish teens. Personally, I am not sure I would be sitting here as your rabbi without NFTY shaping my life. From my days in what was then called LIFTY (Long Island Federation of Temple Youth), I remember engaging in thoughtful conversations about Jewish values and Tikkun Olam. NFTY prayer services introduced me to creative worship, as we combined traditional liturgy with contemporary melodies, poetry, and readings. The moments I experienced during kallot and NFTY conventions remain vivid memories in my mind. Leadership opportunities during my youth gave me the confidence to know that I had a voice. NFTY certainly shaped me.
I am so proud that Cade will now have the opportunity to shape it. While NFTY looks different than it did in the mid-90s, it still provides an important outlet for Reform Jewish teens to create community. As NFTY President, Cade will have the opportunity to be a voice representing North America’s Reform Jewish youth. I know that, as a teen, I thought the national board members were really cool and was in awe of their leadership. Jewish life continues to be in a pivotal moment. We know the challenges facing the Jewish community writ large, and in many ways, those challenges affect teens even more acutely. Our teens have questions about what it means to be Jewish in a world where so many have turned their backs on Jews and Israel. Teens strive to navigate a world where Jewish values can sometimes conflict, and they wonder which direction to choose. In the coming year, when the Reform Jewish world needs a voice representing Jewish youth, they will turn to Cade to be that voice.
Cade became Bar Mitzvah in December 2020, a time when we were celebrating these significant life cycle moments on Zoom. He has been involved in GUCI, our Reform movement’s regional summer camp, as a camper, counselor, and song leader. Cade has been through our confirmation program, has taught in our religious school, and has been a leader locally in Student to Student, a Jewish organization that goes to public schools to teach about Jewish life. He is also highly involved in his local community in Marysville. Cade now has the opportunity to bring all that he has learned to his new national leadership role as he helps shape the future of this organization. There are significant questions facing Jewish youth at this moment, and we are proud that Cade will be at the forefront of these conversations.
Congregation Beth Tikvah is a thriving congregation in the Midwest. As we sit down to celebrate Shabbat this evening, let us take a moment to think about Cade Crane, NFTY’s next President; Marci Delson, whom we just honored as WRJ Heartland District Co-President; Andy Shafran, who serves on the Executive Board of the Union for Reform Judaism; and, I humbly include myself, as I serve as President-Elect of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. All of our lives have been shaped by these organizations, and we now have the blessing of shaping them.
Cade, I share with you the words Moses shared with Joshua when he passed on his leadership: “חזק ואמץ, hazak v’ematz—be strong and of good courage!”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rick Kellner
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, URJ President, and Cade Crane at the October 2024 NFTY Collab.