The “Irv” Factor: The Enduring Legacy of Teen Youth Group Leaders

All it took was one Facebook post to take me back thirty years to a Jewish youth group convention in snowy mid-winter Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  And it took only one more minute to remind me how much of my life was shaped by the professionals who were there helping make it happen.

Like lots of Jewish teens across the United States, as I was growing up in my hometown of York, Pennsylvania, I was part of a Jewish teen group (you know, the kind that helps you meet youth who share your faith from across and beyond your own community). The particular group I was part of was called JCY (Jewish Center Youth) and, at the time, it was comprised of chapters from York, Lancaster, Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Binghamton, NY.   JCY has since become part of BBYO (one of the premier nationwide Jewish teen initiatives), but back then it was an independent network of chapters based out of the Jewish Community Centers in these smaller communities. For someone like me, growing up in a town with a small Jewish population, my youth group was a lifeline to my Jewish identity. It was also one of the most enduring influences on my style of personal leadership.

So what was it about this Facebook post that took me back to my teenage years?  It was the obituary of the longtime Wilkes-Barre JCC professional (and JCY youth group leader) Irv Lebowitz, also known as Irv the Fox.  

Anyone who has been part of a youth group (Jewish, Christian, or otherwise) knows the type: the young (and sometimes not-so-young) adult who has the charisma, the commitment, and the creativity to engage teens not only as participants, but also as co-creators and potential leaders. The kind of person who seems “cool” but also is mentoring; who creates space for teens to grow, while also reminding them of their boundaries and responsibilities. The person who (like Irv) makes sure the teen basketball team gets hyped up (Wilkes-Barre always did), but when it’s time for reflection, is also the person who makes sure that those teens get serious.

Irv was that kind of guy. And along with the other youth group directors I knew during my time in JCY (especially JoAnn Graham from York, who was my city’s director, and Todd Rockoff from Scranton, who continues to be a professional mentor of mine as the CEO of the Tucson, Arizona JCC), Irv set a great example of how Jewish life could be engaging, enriching, and yes, fun.  

But beyond their welcoming style and role-modeling approach during my four years of high school, their styles of mentoring all continue to be an influence on how I have developed my own style of community-building and leadership.

And I know I am not alone.

The professionals who work with teens in youth groups (at least the successful ones) have those “Irv” factors that really are the key to strong leadership: being welcoming, encouraging, challenging, and cultivating. They bring out the best in you, while role-modeling what it looks like to be the best you can be as you get older. They foster cultures of reciprocity and regeneration… instilling in teens a sense of continuous contribution. Of paying it forward. Of paying it back.

Youth program leaders are the essential link between the way children transform into teens, and teens grow into adults. In that respect, they are on the frontlines of the future, and catalysts of our communities. 

Which is why it is also worth taking a moment to ask ourselves: are we doing enough today to support the youth program professionals in our communities? Are we providing them enough training and resources to grow as professionals? Are we giving them sufficient recognition for the work they do and the sacrifices they make?  And most of all, are we paying them a fair and living wage for the work they do and the impact they create?

I am afraid that if we answer those questions honestly, we might not like the answers we come up with. We might be taking these professionals a bit too much for granted. And if we look hard in the mirror, we might realize we can be better allies for the youth group leaders of today who work with individuals that face far more complex social challenges than many of us did in our teenage years. Plus, many of these young professionals are the future senior professionals of our communities, and deserve to be supported in their own career journeys so they can reach those levels of success.

So in the spirt of learning from those leaders who inspired so many of us, in our synagogues, churches, JCCs, and community centers, perhaps it is time to take a much harder look at how each of us benefited from youth group leaders like Irv Lebowitz. To take a moment of reflection and recommitment to what we learned all those years ago.  In doing so, we might find the reminder and the inspiration to make sure we step up and support the present and future generations of youth group leaders as well.  Isn’t that what those role models of our past would have wanted?

I know Irv the Fox would have.