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.

#  #  #

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.

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.

#   #    #

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.

{Day 1 post here | Day 2 post here}
By Myriam Gurba

Rabbi Drew speaking on "Prioritizing Proximity: Local Giving vs. Distant Giving”

The inaugural Tikkun Olam Institute’s final day on Friday 17 June began at the Alpert JCC with a bagel breakfast and Rabbi Drew opening up with a text-based study on local vs. distant giving.  Entitled “Prioritizing Proximity: Giving To Those Who Are Closer To You”, Rabbi Drew led a discussion based off of sources on the topic, helping frame discussions regarding giving money overseas versus more locally.

Carie Rael speaking on education

Next up was Carie Rael speaking about education funding. She argued that current California tuitions are cost prohibitive for low income students and urged attendees to lobby their legislators and university administrators to reduce fees. She invited students to join her organization, We! Alternative Voices for an Alternative Future.

Amanda Gelb and Asher Levy speaking on "Hey Mom What's For Dinner? A Candid Exploration of the Traditions, Treatment, and Tolerance of Food Ethics in Judaism"

Amanda Gelb and Asher Levy, of Uri L’Tzedek, discussed food and ethical eating. They emphasized Judaism as a food-centric religion and challenged students to consider what mattered more, ritual or ethical kashrut. They discussed the importance of eating locally, the work of Michael Pollan, how ethical eating ties into labor issues, and sparked a heated debate about the essence of waste when Levy posed this question, “Is there such a thing as wasteful consumption and if so, are Americans particularly guilty of it?” This was such an exciting question, Rabbi Kaplan was taking notes!

Rabbi Drew leading a wrap-up discussion

The day concluded with a round table discussion on impressions of the inaugural TOI. Eve Selfridge said, “I enjoyed the different topics presented. I could pick and choose. The events were all day so the schedule was friendly.” Jacob Goldberg joked that, like most Jews, he was motivated to come to the event “out of guilt,” but added that he was glad he came because having attended a religious school, he feels well-versed in Torah but appreciates learning about the practical application of his religious knowledge.  Carie Rael said that it was “nice to be around humanitarian-minded people with a Jewish perspective.” Nitzan Harel, student at CSULB, said that, though she is not very religious, she wanted to “learn about social justice” and that she would like to see TOI become a monthly event that moves to different locations around southern California. Hopefully, future TOI participants can look back at this inaugural event as the start of a southern California tradition.

{Day 1 post here}

By Myriam Gurba

The second day of the Tikkun Olam Institute, on Thursday 16 June, this meat and potatoes day promptly began at ten  a.m. with Krispy Kremes and orange juice at Long Beach’s Alpert Jewish Community Center (AJCC). As youth from Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties packed a conference table, Rabbi Drew conducted a brief brainstorming session on the meaning of tikkun olam and a discussion of agricultural laws as they relate to giving to the poor.

Carie Rael speaking about Darfur

Student Carie Rael, of California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), followed with a discussion of Sudan Action Now. This organization’s goals include pressuring the Obama administration and Congress into participating in the Darfur peace process, democratizing Sudan, and stepping up humanitarian aid to areas affected by the war in Sudan. She provided links for students to engage in online activism.

Rabbi Dov Fischer speaking on "Tzedakah: A Jewish Imperative"

After Ms. Rael, the rabbi parade began! Rabbi Dov Fischer, of Young Israel of Orange County, appeared first, addressing the importance of tzedakah. He led a conversation identifying instances of tzedakah, just and righteous behavior, in the context of everyday philanthropy. He gave personal, micro-examples of helping members of  his shul, demonstrating that tikkun olam need not be a large-scale, sweeping action but something as interpersonal and simple as providing a needy traveler with gas money. “Rabbi Fischer was an impressive speaker,” said Jay Alhadeff. “I enjoyed him.”

Rabbi Abba Perlmuter of Long Beach’s Shul by the Shore, arrived next. After poking a little fun at the stereotypic world repairing act, saving the whales, Rabbi Perelmuter launched into a series of stories on Chasidism’s relationship to tikkun olam. His tales of Chasidism’s founder, the Baal Shem Tov, emphasized sharing, kindness, and how expressing love for one’s fellow Jew matters more than vain expressions of love for God. Rabbi Perelmuter closed by imploring Jews to treat one another with, at the very least, the same respect and dignity shown to the foods on the Shabbat table.  “He was funny,” said Alysia Love, of California Academy of Math and Science. “I really appreciated Rabbi Perelmuter’s enthusiasm.”

Rabbi Yehuda Hausman leading a discussion on the mitzvah of lending money

Rabbi Yehuda Hausman spoke third. He discussed the mitzvah of lending. He emphasized that, though charity matters, lending is a more righteous act. Lending preserves dignity by preventing destitution. To underscore this point, Rabbi Hausman broke students into teams where they had to debate a series of financial predicaments involving giving versus lending money. Students then read Jewish texts and argued about what course of action to take for each case. Ultimately, Rabbi Hausman’s message, that preventative giving is powerful philanthropy because it creates indebtedness, came through loud and clear.  “I appreciated the interesting philosophical and biblical texts that Rabbi Housman brought,” said Jonathan Bowles-Mitchell, a student at Long Beach City College.

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein speaking on Tikkun Olam in Los Angeles

Time for a listening break came and Rabbi Kaplan led a carpool to the Pico-Robertson district of Los Angeles for some kosher eats, Judaica shopping, and an informal chat with Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, director of JConnectLA and Jewlicious Festivals. Pastries were purchased and then it was back to Rabbi Kaplan’s for the day’s final and most alliterative session: “Beer, Bible, and Baked Goods.”

Using religious and political texts, Rabbi

Rabbi Osnat Margalith leading a discussion on Being a Light Unto the Nations

Osnat Margalith, of Orange County’s Shira Hadasha. led a discussion on the concept of Or LaGoyim or “light unto the nations.” She challenged listeners to consider whether or not this concept indicates Jewish exceptionalism or simply massive responsibility, the responsibility of taking care of the world.  Eve Selfridge, of Goldenwest College, said, “Who else would take on such responsibilities but Jews? The acceptance of that is what I think it means to be a Jew.”

Tikkun olam, the seemingly simple concept of world repair, can lead to some scorching debate. What actions best express tikkun olam? Is tikkun olam combing the shore for six pack rings so that shore birds may safely frolic? Is tikkun olam loaning a non-Jew homey rent money so that he avoids eviction and indefinite residency on your couch? Is tikkun olam saying no to an exotic kiwi fruit and instead brunching on homegrown berries? Does tikkun olam apply only to the planet we call home or to galaxies far, far away? These questions and more were explored with vim, vigor, and a lot of elbow grease at the inaugural Tikkun Olam Institute (TOI), hosted by Southern California Jewish Student Services, sponsored by Larry Tichauer and
Dr. Harvey & Adrianne Goldstone of Dr. Goldstone High-Definition Vision Centers in memory of Harvey’s grandfather, מנחם מנדל בן משה, and attended by college, university, and high school students from Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

TOI participants cleaning up weeds at the Colorado Lagoon

The first ever Tikkun Olam Institute kicked off the afternoon of June 15 with some good old-fashioned beach clean-up at Long Beach’s Colorado Lagoon. Students volunteering from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and University of California, Riverside (UCR) converged at the lagoon’s Wetland and Marine Science Education Center, met with three members of Tidal Influence, who work with Friends of the Colorado Lagoon (FOCL), and learned about FOCL’s plans for improving the marsh and enhancing native plant and animal habitats. In other words, volunteers got schooled about waterworld repair!

Explanation about the Colorado Lagoon

After this brief lecture, FOCL representatives schlepped wheelbarrows, gloves, and hoes out of the education center, and it was time to get dirty and proactive. Led by FOCL, TOI volunteers trekked to the wooden fence guarding the water and FOCL demonstrated how to distinguish between native and non-native plants. Native shrubbery creates a vital, leafy barrier protecting the lagoon from trash and volunteers broke a sweat weeding this entire periphery.

After weeding, volunteers headed back to the education center where FOCL demonstrated plant propagation. FOCL explained that volunteers would be transplanting native plants—salt grass, shore grass, pickleweed, California sea lavender, and sand spurry—salvaged from the lagoon’s west arm. Volunteers pulled plugs from flats and transferred them to plastic cups, potting a total of 60 plants destined for balding strips of the marsh. With spades in hand, volunteers also marched to banks, harvested some grasses directly from the earth, and re-potted them as they knelt on sand, sea hares and terns watching.

BBQ

Covered in sand, pollen, and marsh muck, volunteers caravanned to Rabbi Kaplan’s home for a barbecue and break down of the clean-up. Jacob Goldberg, of CSULB, commented, “As a marine biology major, it was cool to learn the history of the lagoon.” Judd Lieberman, of UCR, declared, “I liked the clean-up!” Chowing down on the first of several hamburgers, Danny Leserman, of UCR, said, “As a social and community event, the clean-up was a success!”