Rabbi Drew Teaches at UCI Hillel

SoCalJSS’ Rabbi Drew leading the last Judaism 101 class for the quarter at the Hillel at UCI

Today, Southern California Jewish Student Services’ Rabbi Drew led a lunch & learn class at the Hillel at University of California, Irvine (UCI). As part of the Hillel at UCI’s on-going Judaism 101 series of classes, Rabbi Drew spoke on Jewish sexual ethics, utilizing Talmudic excerpts.

The Judaism 101 series had begun in January in winter quarter and has continued through the spring quarter, with today’s class being the last for the quarter.  ”What a great way to wrap up the year! Our students participated in a riveting discussion on sexual behavior in Judaism,” said Rebecca Goldberg, director of Hillel at UCI. “Rabbi Drew is an engaging and intelligent teacher and we hope to collaborate more in future.”

Rabbi Drew teaching at the Hillel at UCI today

The UCI students who attended enjoyed not only the sandwiches and sodas for lunch of which they partook, but also the novel elements of their Jewish heritage.  ”It was interesting to talk about sex in a different way than the way we generally think about sex, at least in terms of popular culture,” said Allison Beer, a senior at UCI. “I don’t even think I knew there was so much in the Torah and our tradition about sexual practices.”

May 2012 Newsletter Available

Covering March and April 2012, the May 2012 newsletter is now available.

CSUF AEPi Walks to Remember the Holocaust

AEPi members assemble at CSUF before walking

Today, the Chi Phi Chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi at California State University, Fullerton marched throughout campus in commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). The annual We Walk to Remember (see here for last year’s walk) is a joint project of Alpha Epsilon Pi and B’nai B’rith International.

“I think this is an important program because even though there are a lot of people who know about the Holocaust, they don’t know a lot of facts about it,” said Matt Duncan, Chi Phi’s master.  ”Hopefully, we made people aware that today is Yom HaShoah and someone may look this up after seeing us and reading our flyers.”

Members of the Chi Phi chapter of AEPi walking throughout the CSU, Fullerton campus, raising Holocaust awareness

“It is really nice to see these young men to take the time and courage to walk throughout campus in the middle of the day, promoting Holocaust awareness,” said Rabbi Drew Kaplan, rabbi & director of Southern California Jewish Student Services, who walked with the AEPi chapter. “As time goes by, it is more important for young Jews to consider what happened to our people more than half a century ago and to wrestle with what that means for their Jewish identities.”

According to B’nai B’rith’s website, We Walk to Remember “was initiated at Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Alpha Chapter at New York University in 2007. This AEPi-wide Holocaust remembrance initiative is aimed at ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust and its lessons remain at the forefront of civil discourse on college campuses. By taking action and participating in “We Walk to Remember,” thousands of AEPi brothers will remind their peers and community members that the Holocaust is a human issue that deserves our collective remembrance.”

More pictures of the walk can be viewed here.

Showing of “Bully” in LA this Sunday

BBYO will be screening the new movie "Bully" this Sunday in Los Angeles

This Sunday, BBYO will be showing the new movie “Bully” in Los Angeles.  According to the website,

Committed to respect and inclusion of all Jewish teenagers, BBYO is proud to sponsor screenings of “BULLY,” a feature-length documentary that depicts “a year in the life” of North America’s bullying crisis. All LA-area Jewish youth and their families are invited to see the film with BBYO before its worldwide release. At the conclusion of the film, participants are invited to engage in an anti-bullying training session and unique discussion on how they can make their communities a safe place.

The screening will be taking place at 4:30pm at Landmark Theater.  For more information, please see the event website.

ReJewvenation 2012 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Rabbi Drew Kaplan
Southern California Jewish Student Services
562.400.5627
Rabbi [at] SoCalJSS.org

Event on Judaism and the Body Informs Southern California Young Adults

Long Beach, California                       16 January 2012

Over the course of three days, young Jewish adults in Southern California gathered to learn about Judaism and the Body at ReJewvenation 2012.  Taking place in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Irvine, and Riverside on January 10, 11 and 12, over fifty different young adults were able to enjoy the theme of “Embodying Judaism” hearing from local rabbis on the topics of tattoos, euthanasia, sex in the Bible, elective surgeries, drug use, and more.  ReJewvenation 2012 was orchestrated by Rabbi Drew Kaplan of Southern California Jewish Student Services with the support of Hillel of Long Beach & West Orange County through a generous grant from the Mark Litt Family Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.  ReJewvenation 2012 also reached students at UC, Riverside and UC, Irvine with thanks to Inland & Desert Hillel and Orange County Hillel to help make it a success.

“What I really enjoyed about a program like this is the diversity it allows,” said Rachel Kaplan, the director of Long Beach Hillel.  “Different rabbis from different backgrounds being able to engage with a diverse young adult population helps broaden the scope of understanding of our Jewish journeys.”

“All Jews are people and all people have bodies, so we wanted to explore what there is in the Jewish tradition about what our long and storied tradition had to offer regarding bodies,” said Rabbi Drew Kaplan, rabbi and director of Southern California Jewish Student Services.  “As it turns out, there are many different facets of the body upon which the Jewish tradition has to offer its wisdom and guide our lives.  ReJewvenation 2012 was the perfect opportunity for young adults to come together and engage in text-based discussion on these issues that affect all of us.”

“I thought the event was eye-opening and inspiring, the topics were really interesting and the people were great, not to mention that the food was fantastic,” said Nitzan Harel, a student at California State University, Long Beach.  “I had a great time and I will definitely come back for the next one.”

“Hearing from multiple rabbis, I was impressed with the depth of the subject matter and the opportunity to share my own thoughts or provide alternative points of view,” said Eric Don, a student at California State University, Fullerton.

“It was incredible brain food and getting to meet more people within the Jewish community was really nice,” said Michael Gess, a student at Riverside Community College.  “I also enjoyed Rabbi Yehuda Hausman’s ability to discuss as opposed to sitting there and lecturing.”

Hillel of Long Beach & West Orange County is the center for Jewish life on campus for California State University, Long Beach and surrounding community colleges and works to provide a strong Jewish identity for students on campus to carry into their future endeavors.  It creates engaging and interactive programs about Jewish holidays and values as well as encouraging students to be leaders on campuses and to shine a positive light on the Jewish people.

Founded in 2004, Southern California Jewish Student Services is an enterprise of Beth El Synagogue, a synagogue without walls, generously funded by Allen & Deanna Alevy of Long Beach. Southern California Jewish Student Services’ mission is to facilitate Jewish living and learning, creating meaningful Jewish experiences and engaging with young adults & students in Southern California.

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ReJewvenation 2012 Kicks Off Today

Over the course of the next three days, the first-ever ReJewvenation event will be taking place in Southern California. ReJewvenation 2012 is an opportunity for young adults to engage in text-based discussions on a Jewish theme.  This year’s theme is “Embodying Judaism”, in which individual topics within the theme of what Judaism has to say about the body will be discussed.

ReJewvenation 2012 will be taking place in Riverside, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Irvine, providing young adults in these areas a greater opportunity to partake in imbibing Jewish wisdom related to the body.

For more information, see here.

First Issue of Third Volume of SoCalJSS Newsletter Available

Covering the Southern California CSU Hillels Engagement Retreat, “Snapshots of a Year: Photographic Highlights of 2010-2011″, Hillel Institute 2011, and CSUF Hillel activities, issue 1 of volume three of the SoCalJSS Newsletter is available online here.

SoCal CSU Hillel Engagement Retreat [Press Release]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact Person: Renée Cohen-Goodwin

Company Name: CSUN Hillel

Telephone Number: 818-886-5101

Email Address: renee@csunhillel.org

Web site address: http://csun.hillel.org

Southern California Hillels Produce Event to Train Student Engagers

Students from several Southern California colleges and universities came together September 9th-11th for the Southern California CSU Hillel Engagement Retreat, the first event of its kind in the area to teach students the art of building stronger relationships and advancing Jewish journeys.

Hosted by CSUN Hillel and Hillel of Long Beach and West Orange County, the conference taught nearly 20 students peer-engagement methodologies used by Hillels around the globe to engage their peers and help them grow as Jews. The participants came from CSUs Northridge, Long Beach, Fullerton and San Marcos as well as San Diego State University and Los Angeles Valley College. The conference was made possible by a grant from the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance.

“We are so grateful to the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance for supporting the Fellowship for Advancing Campus Engagement (FACE) at CSUN Hillel,” said Renée Cohen-Goodwin, executive director of CSUN Hillel. “Our FACE Fellows came back from this training retreat with both real skills and incredible enthusiasm for their campus work. I have no doubt they will enhance Jewish student life at CSUN beyond what we ever imagined.”

“The skills that the facilitators brought with them will really help our students develop meaningful Jewish student experiences for their fellow students on campus as well as recognizing their own Jewish journeys,” said Rachel Kaplan, director of Hillel of Long Beach and West Orange County. “Seeing how our work fits into the broader scoop of the Jewish future helps to motivate our students to continue their important work.”

“Talented and passionate Jewish students are themselves the greatest asset we have to reach and engage their Jewish peers,” said Graham Hoffman, Associate Vice President of Strategy with Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, who led several sessions over the weekend.  ”Preparing them with the skills, impetus, and support to develop and expand their social networks – building relationships with uninvolved Jewish peers and connecting them to Jewish life — are among the most successful ways we can broaden and expand the reach and impact of Jewish life on campus.”  Alicia Cohen, Director of Jewish Student Life at University of Delaware Hillel, was also involved in the planning and training.

“I felt like I became very aware of resources available to me as an intern,” said Marysa Miller, a student at California State University, Long Beach. “I was also able to learn about resources that should be available to Jewish students, in general, and how Hillel plays a role in that for students on campus.  I think that being able to meet students from other Cal States was able to help me a lot in just being able to talk with other students who have been involved in other ways that I have and to bring an awareness to issues that we all face.”

“Helping students learn to create relationships with one another is particularly important – and challenging – among Cal State Universities, since these are commuter schools in which social and extracurricular activities compete with schoolwork, home life and jobs,” explains Rabbi Drew Kaplan of Southern California Jewish Student Services, who helped organized the event and provided the Jewish content of the weekend.

The training took place at Camp Max Straus in Glendale and included sessions on goal-setting, program & initiative training, and exploring one’s Jewish journey.

 Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life seeks to enrich the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.  http://www.hillel.org

Pictures from the event are viewable here.

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Snapshots of a Year: SoCalJSS in 2010-2011

Want to get a brief glimpse of Southern California Jewish Student Services’ activities throughout a whole entire year without going through all of the newsletters?  We’ve got an answer – check out the newly released “Snapshots of a Year: Photographic Highlights from 2010-2011“, which is only two pages long and full of pictures!  Enjoy

Announcing the SoCal BBYO & Hillel Oral History Project

 Southern California Jewish Student Services is proud to announce the launching of the Southern California BBYO & Hillel Oral History Project.  The goal of the project is to record the history of BBYO and Hillel primarily in the Orange County, Inland Empire, and Long Beach areas.

The need: there is a dearth of a good sense of history in these areas amongst participants and members of these groups.

Why: It would be helpful for those involved in these organizations in both a general sense of understanding what has come before as well as helping to not reinvent the wheel.  Also, there there are many people around who still remember the histories, but they won’t always be around.  Moreover, many of them would love to share their stories from their time involved in these organizations and groups with those who are not only in them presently, but for those involved in the future, as well.

The plan: To gather people’s stories, whether through being written them up or through interviews (and transcriptions thereof), throughout the fall and early winter of 2011 and to put them together in the late winter and early spring of 2012 into a book.