I had just returned home from a night out at a friend’s house when I got a text message: “Dude, ur temple burned down.” I was shocked. I immediately replied, “What?!?” and pushed my brother out of the chair in front of the family computer. I quickly found the breaking story delivering the bad news. Sure enough, the temple was seriously damaged. A candle’s heat had been transferred through the aluminum foil on which it stood.

A young South African boy in a wealthy vacation town forever changes the way one teen will think about Tzedakah.

This past December, the B'Nai Tzedek Retreat was held in Western Mass. Funded by the Harold Greenspoon foundation, the weekend took place at the beautiful Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center   and served to connect Jewish teens in Western Massachusetts who care about improving the world.

Jewish tradition teaches us that acts of tzedakah must be done by all, no matter one's economic status. Everyone is responsible to give what they can. In popular culture, this has changed. Many people give all that they can, but the general perception is that one must be very well-off before being able to give tzedakah. Only the rich can afford to give away money. In this way, tzedakah is thought of as a activity only for the privileged.

Let's face it. Jewish teens today are part of an American culture that's more about clothes and cash than community and tzedakah.

So in Memphis, Tenn. on an August summer night, 113 Jewish teens decided to do something different. We are called B'nai Tzedek (Children of Justice), and we threw a party with a purpose.

It could have been like any other ordinary day, but there I was, watching little girls making earrings for themselves and their moms, and little boys playing on the playground. It brought a smile to my face because I knew that my fellow volunteers and I were making a big difference in the lives of these homeless families.

The volunteers at this particular event were the teens of Memphis B’nai Tzedek (Children of Justice). This teen philanthropy organization has only been around for a few years, but it is growing and is stronger than ever right now.

High school students are most often pegged as being selfish and irresponsible.

By the time it was freshman year, we noticed that we were living with a constant sense of guilt hanging over our heads. Perhaps it was because our families seemed to be doing a lot more for us than we were doing for them, or maybe it was because everyone thought we were contributing so much for social change around the world, when in reality we were doing very little.

While getting arrested is the last thing most people want to experience, Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), sees this as just another part of her job.