NCSY (formerly known as the National Conference of Synagogue Youth) is a Jewish youth group under the auspices of the Orthodox Union. Its operations include Jewish-inspired after-school programs; summer programs in Israel, Europe, and the United States; weekend programming, shabbatons, retreats, and regionals; Israel advocacy training; and disaster relief missions known as chesed (kindness) trips. NCSY also has an alumni organization on campuses across North America. Over the past several decades, NCSY has been the subject of two child sexual abuse scandals involving chapter advisors and directors. NCSY, and its parent organization, the Orthodox Union, say that they have taken significant steps to address such abuse from an organizational standpoint.
History
In 1959, NCSY hired Rabbi Pinchas Stolper as the first National Director in the United States.
During the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, the Orthodox youth of NCSY opposed social change, choosing instead to emphasize religious tradition. In this period, at least one NCSY chapter took public action on this point, passing a resolution rejecting marijuana and other drugs as a violation of Jewish law. At the 1971 NCSY international convention, delegates passed resolutions in this vein, calling for members to "forge a social revolution with Torah principles."
According to the Orthodox sociologist Chaim Waxman, there has been an increase in Haredi influence on NCSY since 2012. Waxman based this on NCSY's own sociological self-study.