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What happens when 220 Jewish teenagers get a dance floor, a theater stage, sports equipment and all the chocolate they can eat for an entire day?

First they get a sugar high. Then they dance a grapevine, play Jewish-themed games, swing like Tarzan from gym ropes and extol the virtues of Kabbalah, rock music and Martin Buber.

That's what happened at this month's third annual Jewbilation, which drew 13-to-18-year-olds from as far as Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa to the Marin Jewish Community Center to shmooze with other Jewish teens and, if they didn't already know, discover why it's cool to be Jewish.

During a mock "Oprah"-style talk show, a teen walked through the auditorium with a microphone, asking others why they had come to the event at the San Rafael MJCC.

"I get a sense of community and togetherness [from being with other Jews]," said Leah.

"I wanted to meet some cool Jews," said Hannah.

Shoshanna wanted to learn about Jewish mysticism.

Whatever their reasons, most found something to entice them among the more than two dozen Jewish-themed workshops that ranged from theater and the environment to Israel, music and life after death.

Organizer Mitchel Adler of the group Marin Jewish Youth Contact conceived of Jewbilation three years ago while reflecting on his own experience as a teen in New York.

Back then, "a lot of kids were turned on to Judaism out of fear of anti-Semitism, assimilation and the Holocaust," Adler, 27, said.

"There's no reason to be Jewish just to combat anti-Semitism. I thought it would be good to turn teens on to the positive things of Judaism."

Adler proposed his idea to the kids in his youth group. Since then, a handful of congregation and day-school youth groups joined the effort.

In an attempt to make the event relevant to today's teens, organizers wove such topics as sex, philosophy and the arts into the fabric of Jewish heritage.

"It's not enough to explore Jewish identity. We wanted to explore what's interesting and exciting about Judaism," Adler said, noting that concepts of mystical enlightenment, relationships and environmentalism also are found in Hebrew culture.

In the theater workshop, local actor Amos Glick taught youths about Jewish subjects through modern drama and improvisational games.

In another workshop, students learned the symbolism behind Israeli folk dances before choreographing a folk dance that told the story of themselves.

The teens packed into the Generation Sex and Jewish mysticism workshops, which offered something for those who were focused on their bodies as well as those who wanted to transcend them.

"What happens after I die?"

"How much do I believe of the Bible and how much of evolution?"

"What role does fate play in our lives?"

And, "What came before the Big Bang?" were some of the questions fielded by Rabbi Stacy Laveson from San Rafael's Congregation Rodef Sholom during the mysticism workshop.

Many of the teens recognized one another from camp, Israel trips or synagogue. They drew on each other's arms — a kind of fraternal tattoo — and some of the girls played pattycake games.

In activities, speeches and conversations throughout the day, leaders reminded the youngsters that there were Golda Meirs, Bob Dylans and Jerry Seinfelds among them.

Glick, who was the keynote speaker, reassured the less observant that it was still cool to be a secular Jew.

"I don't even believe in a monotheistic God," Glick quipped before some of the students began to boo, and one youth in a kippah yelled, "Get off the stage."

Despite such differences, even the skeptics in the group seemed to enjoy the event.

Jeremy Zimmer, 16, of San Jose said he had come without expectations but was surprised by a group discourse on the parallels between rock lyrics and philosopher Buber's thoughts on relationships and enlightenment.

Zimmer said Jewbilation was one of the better youth events he has been to because there were more people to meet and it provided something for even the most discerning teen.

"The last teen event I went to, we talked about what it means when you dream," Zimmer said. "It wasn't very far-reaching," he said, matter-of-factly, and then ran off to catch the next workshop.