contemplate

The National Council of Synagogue Youth\’s (NCSY) Lord of the Regionals Shabbaton weekend was what camp would be like if camp took place in a four-star hotel. Some 400 teenagers from the West Coast gathered — actually, nearly overran — the Renaissance Los Angeles Hotel near LAX Dec. 19-22 to bond with Jewish high schoolers from around the region.

On this rainy, winter weekend, the ninth- through 12th-graders from Jewish and public schools in large Jewish cities such as Seattle, and smaller ones such as El Paso, Texas (with five religious families), came together to contemplate God: Who is God? Why does God do what he does? How can people come to believe in God?