Around the Jewish World: Orthodox Teen-agers Transform Themselves into U.N. Delegates

The opportunity to make new friends and to debate current international affairs drew a record 480 Orthodox teen-agers here for this year’s Yeshiva University Model United Nations Conference.

“The three-day conference is designed to create a mock United Nations atmosphere, thus teaching high school students policies and procedures of the United Nations,” said Aliza Fox, a senior at Stern College who served as this year’s secretary-general. “The conference also serves an additional function – – the biggest recruitment event for the university.”

The conference was initiated nine years ago in response to similar mock conventions that did not accommodate the needs of Orthodox students, such as Shabbat and Kashrut.

Students from Orthodox day schools across North America prepare for months, keeping abreast of current affairs around the globe and learning the background and history of the respective countries they represent.

The program is entirely student run, with collegians from Yeshiva and Stern, Yeshiva’s women’s college, leading the committee sessions and meetings.

“Even though a lot of my free time went to Model U.N. research, running the sessions and working with the kids was very rewarding,” said Stern College junior Tzippy Weissman, who served as a judge on the International Court of Justice.

Sessions are run according to the parliamentary procedure of the real United Nations. Each school was assigned a country to represent; every student came as a delegate representing that specific country.

For the high school participants, the program provides a powerful experience.

“Not only was this a good learning experience, but it helped in my public speaking abilities, and it allowed our voices to be heard about issues we feel strongly about,” said Eli Weitzner of the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto.

Weitzner, who represented Italy on the Economics and Finance Committee, boasted that his committee was “able to resolve the Asian crisis by restructuring and reforming monetary aid for the countries.”

Indeed, debate topics span a broad range of subjects.

The group on Disarmament and International Security debated nuclear and chemical warfare. Those on the Environmental Program discussed hazardous wastes polluting the planet, the deficit of pure water and an urgent oil spill cause by an American ship. The World Health Organization deliberated about pharmaceutical companies; the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination of Women discussed violence against women and women’s illiteracy; the U.N. High Commission on Refugees considered the tragedy of child refugees, especially the sexual exploitation of these youth; and the International Labor Organization discussed child labor and the problems surrounding contract labor.

“Even though I’m not interested in working in the international arena in the future, it was a very interesting experience to gain insight into the U.N.” and meet new people, said Gabi Horn, a sophomore at Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington who represented Congo at the General Plenary.

“I thought it was interesting to discuss different contemporary issues such as those relating to pharmaceutical companies and family planning,” said Mordechai Raskas, a senior at Block Yeshiva in St. Louis who represented Germany on the World Health Organization.

Added sophomore Sarah Feldman from Beth Tefiloh in Baltimore, who represented Columbia with the International Labor Organization, “This was an enriching Jewish experience for me. I now have a further understanding of how the U.N. works and I was able to interact with other teens and find out their views on the issues as well.”