Abby Seiler: The Growth of a Jewish Identity

In the youth lounge at Temple Israel, a group of teens are putting their creativity to work for the upcoming Purim Carnival. At the center of this group is Abby Seiler, the president of TIPTY, the Temple Israel Program for Temple Youth.

Calm and confident—at ease with herself and others—Abby leads with kindness and grace, garnering the respect of her peers. “I love being involved with TIPTY,” Abby said. “When I came to Temple as a child, I saw the older kids and noticed how close they were and how much they loved Judaism. I really wanted to be a part of that.”

Today, as TIPTY president, Abby is focused on engaging more Temple youth and increasing their influence in the community. “The voice of younger people needs to be much louder,” said Abby in a sermon she gave at the Rosh HaShanah Creative Service last fall. “We are not only the future of the world, but the future of the Jewish community—a future we envision of acceptance and understanding of everyone.”

In addition to her TIPTY involvement, Abby and other Temple youth regularly attend NFTY, the national Reform youth movement regional retreats. These are all-encompassing worship, social action, and youth-led educational programming experiences. Abby also formed the first Jewish Student Union (JSU) at Southwest High School.

Abby says her involvement in Temple’s, and the Reform movement’s youth and community programs has had a large influence on her Jewish identity today: “Temple, TIPTY and NFTY have provided me with all my best friends, an amazing education, and the tools to form the opinions I have today,” Abby said. “Temple has served as both a home base and starting point for me to discover and express my Jewish identity.”

TIPTY is part of the exceptional experiences at Temple Israel, funded in part by THE ANNUAL FUND FOR TEMPLE ISRAEL. For more information contact Rachel Schachter at rschachter@templeisrael.com or 612-374-0302.