Jewish advice for teenage guys

The JGuy’s Guide: The GPS for Jewish Teen Guys by Rabbi J. B. Meszler, Dr. S. Reinharz, L. Suneby, and D. Heiman, Jewish Lights Publishing;  ISBN 978-1-45967-434-9 ©2013, $18.99, p. 177, plus notes

By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.

Fred Reiss, Ed.D
Fred Reiss, Ed.D

WINCHESTER, California –A much narrower distinction existed between childhood and adulthood in the nineteenth century then it does today. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, a confluence of forces worked to significantly widen the years between them: rural family farms becoming mechanized, cities passing appropriations to construct publicly-funded high schools, states enacting child labor laws, and later, the Great Depression all but eliminating jobs for the young. Society encapsulated this new phase of life, a time when a person was neither child nor adult into a single word, teenager.

Joseph B. Meszler, spiritual leader of Temple Sinai, Sharon, MA; Shulamit Reinharz, a professor of sociology at Brandeis University; and Liz Suneby and Diane Heiman, authors of other books on B’nai Mitzvot, collaborated to produce a guide to help teenage boys (there is also a separate book entitled, The JGirl’s Guide: The Young Jewish Woman’s Handbook for Coming of Age, by Penina Adelman and Ali Feldman) confront concepts and issues they will meet on their way to manhood.

The book is organized like the Talmud, which contains the opinions of rabbis on a wide variety of topics, as well as laws, customs, philosophy, and so forth. The authors hope that like the Talmud, the reader will discover that “there are more questions than answers. When people study the Talmud, they derive their own conclusions from a variety of opinions.”

The JGuy’s Guide contains ten chapters beginning with “Courage” and ending with “Looking at the man I want to be.” Each chapter holds seven identically named sections. The first section of each chapter is called “Personal Introduction.” Here a statement from a teenager might be recorded to begin the discussion. In the chapter entitled, “God … Really?” the “Personal Introduction” section starts with the sentence, “I am not sure I believe in God because the world is pretty messed up.”

The second section called, “Find Yourself a Friend,” draws on the comments of other teenagers about the subject, followed by “Did You Know,” the third section, which gives important historical statements and details about the chapter’s theme.

In the fourth section, named “Get Yourself a Teacher,” the authors tell stories about famous people, historical and contemporary, who have something to add to the discussion. For example, in the chapter called “One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours,” the authors provide vignettes about the actor Adam Sandler, the TV producer Avrom Honig, and the cartoonist Mell Lazarus.

The last three sections of each chapter are “Learn,” which offers both biblical and modern sources on the issue confronting the teenager, followed by “What Do You Think?” for personal reflection and “Text Connection,” containing “Hebrew words to remember and live by.”

The JGuy’s Guide, which offers timeless concepts, asks the reader to examine multiple sources and to draw personal answers. JGuy’s Guide is an outstanding pedagogic text for use in a Hebrew High School setting, as well as a book in which parents and teenager can bond as they explore Judaism’s responses to adolescent concerns.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and a fiction book, Reclaiming the Messiah. You can comment via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com or post your comment on this website, per the instructions below.

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