In a powerful display of Jewish resilience, eight thousand Jewish teens filled Nassau Coliseum for the closing ceremony of the 18th annual CTeen International Shabbaton, showcasing stories of a generation turning to Judaism’s timeless teachings for strength and refusing to back down in the face of adversity.

After four days full of Jewish pride and practice, including Shabbos in Crown Heights, an iconic Times Square Takeover, as part of a weekend that brought 4,578 teens from 60 countries to New York. The largest gathering of Jewish teens in the world had its grand finale: Its closing event, titled “Live the Life,” was the largest international Jewish teen event to date.

“It feels like a bunch of souls getting together,” said Ghenna Aharonow, of Chisinau, Moldova, taking two long flights to get to New York. “As we learned at CTeen, a flame only gets bigger when other flames join it. The feeling of being together with thousands of Jewish teens, as one, was bigger than words.”

Eli Tsives, the UCLA student and Jewish campus activist who MC’d the afternoon, set the tone early, highlighting the event’s theme: “We’re not built for low-res living. We were made to live fully, boldly, Jewishly.

“Tonight highlights the tremendous surge in Jewish engagement we’ve seen among youth across the globe, as they turn to Torah’s eternally relevant answers for today’s timely questions,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, Chairman of CTeen International.

Throughout the event, Nissim Black, a renowned Chasidic hip-hop artist, had the crowd jumping to his high-energy beats, while Noam Buskila brought a traditional sound to the stage.

A fun and educational live game show inspired by the Rebbe’s Mivtzah Taharas Hamishpacha addressed today’s love and relationships questions through the lens of Torah, featuring Rebbetzin Goldie Plotkin, Raizel Namdar of That Jewish Family, and Miriam Ezagui. Taking the stage with buzzers, they fielded live questions from teens in the crowd: What is love? How do I know if someone is my soulmate? How to build a relationship that lasts?

Then the energy shifted. A video appeared on the screens showing Leibel Lazaroff, the young man shot during the Bondi Beach Chanukah attack, playing “Ani Maamin” on his guitar. Noam Buskila introduced teens from Sydney, including David on the saxophone, all personally impacted by the attack. And then, the surprise, Leibel himself walked out from behind the stage

The coliseum erupted.

“When I woke up from my coma, my first thought was: Wow. I’m alive,” Lazaroff told the crowd. “The doctors told me straight: if I’d gotten to the hospital five minutes later, it would’ve been over.”

He described the thousands of mitzvos taken on in his merit. “David in Tennessee put on tefillin for the first time. Sara from California lit Shabbos candles. When I saw the CTeen mitzvah campaign, I got emotional. You helped save my life.”

Lazaroff, who grew up at Chabad of Texas A&M, spoke about what carried him through months of recovery. “People ask me, how are you navigating this darkness? The truth is, I was raised in a home where Torah and mitzvos weren’t extra. They were the lens through which we saw the world. This is how I learned to live in HD.”

He closed with the Rebbe’s message that had played on the Times Square screens the night before. “The world can look like a jungle, wild, messy, out of control. But when we study Torah and view our reality through G-d’s lens, dirt becomes soil, weeds become flowers, and challenges become opportunities.” 

Then he led the coliseum in singing “Ani Maamin,” joined by Noam, David, and the Sydney teens, arms locked, 8,000 voices singing together.

Former Israeli hostage Ilana Gritzewsky presented the Az Kanamer Award to teen athletes Michael Shapira, Scarlet Gurevich, and Justin Schoen. Gritzewsky spoke about the courage it takes to choose Jewish identity. “You don’t have to be stripped of everything like I was to discover your neshamah,” she told the teens. “It’s already inside you, alive, powerful, and waiting to be heard.

Philanthropist Igor Tulchinsky, founder of WorldQuant and a longtime CTeen supporter, delivered the keynote. “Looking around this room, I don’t just see a Shabbaton,” he said. “I see leadership. I see responsibility. I see teens who are choosing Judaism, not because you have to, but because you want to.”He challenged each teen to make Torah a daily commitment. “Ten minutes a day. One page. One chapter. A chavrusa. Tomorrow morning, before you open your phone, open a Torah book.”

The program then got down to business. Marcus Sharf, a young sneaker entrepreneur and founder of HYP Miami, sat down with his CTeen Bucks County Rabbi Chaim Shemtov for a live onstage interview about building a successful business through a Jewish lens. Sharf, who built his company as a teen, spoke about how Torah principles guided his approach to finances, discipline, and purpose. “Everyone wants to make money,” Sharf told the crowd. “But Torah teaches you what to do with it, and why it matters.”

“The Rebbe taught that a closing event isn’t an end, it’s a beginning,” said Rabbi Kotlarsky. “Now, these teens are bringing that light home to hundreds of communities, as ambassadors and leaders, in their hometowns, classrooms, and everywhere they go.”

Photos: Sholem Srugo/ Itzik Belenitzky/ Rivka Laber /CTeen