Our first day volunteering we had an unexpected change of venues. This change resulted in one group going to an organization, ARC . ARC not only provides a service necessary for the city of New Orleans, but provides jobs for people who might otherwise have none. The people who work at ARC typically have some sort of mental disability, and while they can be excellent employees, most people won’t hire them because of their disabilities. This place provides a great environment that is accepting towards everyone while giving them steady year-round jobs. Mardi Gras beads usually just get left in the street and thrown out afterward. This organization collects the beads and hires people to sort them. Then, they sell them back to the Mardi Gras krewes to be used in the next year. They don’t just hire people to sort beads. In this building is also a soup kitchen. They employ mentally-disabled people as chefs as well. This organization provides services necessary to New Orleans while giving jobs to those who might be unable to get on without this organization.

~ Josh Goldsmith – 10th Grade, Little Silver, NJ

Today I volunteered with the Greenlight organization for the second time. I noticed a significant difference between this year’s experience and last year’s experience. This year the main focus seemed to be to change the lightbulbs. However, last year it appeared that the experience reflected more intimate and personal interactions with the home owners. I think that this program which Greenlight offers is a provided opportunity to build relationships with different citizens in New Orleans. I think that the perspective when starting a volunteer project should be to visualize the experience as an opportunity as opposed to a job.

With Greenlight we created a vegetable garden in addition to changing lightbulbs. I expected the gardening process to be tedious and difficult, but it was surprisingly simple and efficient. Greenlight is one of my preferred organizations to work with because it involves simple tasks, but effective results. Being able to see the product of our voluntary participation is a rewarding advantage because it proves how a small dose of involvement impacts large scale communities. Greenlight offers a unique opportunity to learn and experiment while creating a significant and positive changes in peoples’ day to day lives.

~ Mikayla Solomon – Toronto, Canada, 11th Grade

Today was a morning of rebuilding. Last night was settling and learning a bit about New Orleans, but today we got down to business. My group went to work with the St. Bernard Project. SBP rebuilds houses destroyed ten years ago that were destroyed in hurricane Katrina. So as I was saying we went to work on a house that was destroyed in Katrina. We met our instructors named Heidi and Ben. They taught us about dry wall and how to install it. It was extremely hard work. Also, using a drill was extremely hard. What added to the difficulty was the heat. It took the 7 of us a while to get a hang of it but we got three in. In doesn’t sound like that much, but it is. I feel as if the hard work payed off though in more ways than one. Just the thought that we are helping build a home for someone. This where someone will call theirs. There is no place like home. It also payed off because we went to see the Pelicans game afterwards which was a dream come true.

~ Matan Berman – 10th Grade, Atlanta, GA

I don’t remember August 29th, 2005, as many people who live in the USA might have. I can assume that I was absorbing my last bit of summer, I was most likely up at my cottage just north of Toronto, I was reflecting on my past summer at camp, and I was probably dreading beginning a new school in a matter of weeks. I most likely watched the news, and saw footage of the storm that had wreaked havoc in New Orleans, but I doubt that my 12-year-old self would have been very intrigued by an event that was happening thousands of miles away from where I was. Now, I find myself thousands of miles away from where I was, intrigued by an event – that happened 10 years ago. Today my group and I had the pleasure of working with Green Light New Orleans to plant a garden for a mother, and a grandmother, whose home was destroyed during the storm and whose life had to be placed back together piece by piece. By creating this sustainable garden for her we put one more piece back in place. We also were given the opportunity to be welcomed into people’s homes in order to create a more energy efficient environment by changing the light bulbs in their homes. It was extremely humbling to hear their stories, and be welcomed into their homes, and to see how valuable and necessary it is to continue to support the people who were so affected by the storm. I can personally say that it was an experience I have never been given, one that I will never forget, and I look forward to what the rest of my week here brings.

~ Fern Kachuk is currently the program director of Canadian Young Judaea and grew up in the Movement. 

We reached out to some of our AWB graduates to send messages to those heading out this week for their own memorable experiences.  Read what they have to say:

Hey yo AWB 2015! I hope you are all really excited for the next week because you’re about to participate in a program that used to be what I looked forward to all year. Seriously, it was the countdown on my MacBook each and every time. Have fun and make the most of it, but take it seriously and truly immerse yourself in what you’re doing. Don’t breeze past the volunteering part because you came to see your camp friends. Take it as an opportunity to accomplish great things and learn from those you meet with the company of these friends you cherish so much. This will enrich your experience and you will be happier because of it. Good luck and enjoy!

~ Adina Gitomer – AWB 2012, 2013, 2014. Year Course 2015-2016

Hi AWBers! As you all settle into your week of volunteering, I want you to ask yourselves why you’re here in the first place. Did your parents make you do it? Do you simply enjoy volunteering? Are you just doing it to meet up with your friends? Think about it well. Do you have an idea of why you’re here, yet? Good. Now forget that. Toss away any preconceived notions of why you are here and what you will be doing over the next week. Regardless of your motivations, I can guarantee you will all reach a similar end result: a strengthened sense of gratification for your fortune in life. The people you’ll meet, the stories you’ll hear, and the activities you’ll partake in all mean so much more than a simple motive for volunteering. Because while you’re just taking a week out of your winter break, this week will change the lives of the people you work with. Your job this week is not to just go through the motions of volunteering; rather, your job is to really ponder the stories you hear and to put yourselves in the shoes of those you help. It will make your experience a heck of a lot more meaningful. Enjoy your week to the fullest, and don’t forget to have fun!

~ Jacob Rogatinsky – AWB 2012, 2013 and 2014. Vanderbilt University

AWB NOLA is where I learned that I don’t necessarily have to go out of my way to make a difference. Literally being myself might have just impacted those less fortunate. Being able to dance like nobody is watching with little kids and singing Christmas carols in a homeless shelter not only made MY Christmas great but also put large smiles on the faces of the citizens of my soon-to-be home, New Orleans. I didn’t go on AWB to earn service hours; I went to do something meaningful during a break where I’d usually spend time inside watching TV or down in Florida.

~ Jordan Lawrence – AWB 2014. Tulane University

AWB was the first time that I really got introduced to the world of volunteering outside my hometown. It was a program I was excited to go on seeing as my brother had gone on it a few years before me, and came home raving about all the cool stuff he did, and the people he met. My first time on AWB was in New Orleans. It was the first time I had ever visited the city, and throughout the week, I learned a lot about the importance of helping others, and how fortunate I, and all the other participants were, that we were able to spend our free time helping out others in a totally different environment that what we were used to. AWB was an incredible experience, and I got a lot out of it, and hope that you all will too.

~ Gabi Schwartz – AWB 2011 and 2012. Tulane University

“Justice, justice shall you pursue.”

One of the great teachings within the Jewish tradition lies in the biblical quote:

“Tzedek tzedek tirdof” or “Justice, justice shall you pursue.”  (Deuteronomy, 16:20)

The question we pose is: why is the word “tzedek” (justice) repeated here. The Rabbis teach us that there is no such thing as redundancy in the Torah, therefore any word or concept that is repeated, particularly as clearly as in this instance – has to be for a reason:

Are there two types of justice? A divine and a human? Does justice play out on two different scales? On the macro and the micro? Or two different arenas? The local and the global?

These are questions that your sons and daughters are currently grappling with  – through intellectual discussions, and hand-on experiences through which they are both helping community members in distress and reflecting on their own ability to change the world. Perhaps, after all that is how Young Judaea interprets the two types of tzedek:VTo act where we see injustice – to build, to protest, to support, to help – AND to learn through reflection of our own place in this world – to be better family members, neighbors, citizens, and human beings.

As you listen to your child’s stories of and reflections from AWB, share your own thoughts of tzedek with them; help bring about a shared, inter-generational commitment to change in the places in the world where we see injustice. If justice is to be realized, it will need to be pursued by ALL of us.

Simon Klarfeld

Last night, while watching an excerpt from a skid row documentary, a question was posed about homelessness – what can I do? The video listed off a bunch of possibilities, but ended with this idea- “invest in the collective consciousness that says compassion is essential.”

After one night with our whole group together, it feels like this is a group that understands what that means. Compassion towards the homeless is evident from the conversations I overheard during our peulah, where many different chanichim expressed a wide variety of emotions – guilt, shame, hope, confusion, discomfort, the list goes on. What was clear though, was that while our emotiaonal attitude towards the homeless is complex, we’re willing and ready to be challenged by the issue. 

Whether it be personal anecdotes about a homeless person throwing a bagel when they had asked for money, or sharing passionate views about systemic issues that plague the impoverished in this country, the chanichim have shown up ready to grapple with their “priorities” and “perspectives” – two words that came up a lot, in an attempt to do something to help the homeless. 

Our conversations about the homeless community in L.A. weren’t the first example of compassion though, that would have to be the hour plus of ice-breakers we did. In that time, compassion could be seen in how old friends rejoiced in being reunited, and in how new friendships have already started to to form.

Compassion may or may not be essential, but either way it’s something this group has plenty of.

~ Alex Zaremba

Alex is from Los Angeles, by way of Philadelphia Pennsyvania and is currently the Young Judaea Coordinator for Year Round Young Judaea in Los Angeles and a staff member at Tel Yehudah. He was on Year Course in 07-08.