For some participants on the trip, they weren’t sure what they were supposed to have gained from their day in Santa Monica. Others felt that the day gave them a better understanding of the homeless situation in LA and was an eye-opening experience. Some acknowledged that they had done some good but were left feeling that they hadn’t done enough to help. To be fair though, at the beginning of our day with Santa Monica’s Officer Holloway when we were simply taking a tour of the police station and talking in their squad room, I was worried this day would fail to leave a clear and tangible imprint on me or the participants on the trip. However, after we left the police station and began walking through Santa Monica and interacting with some of the homeless people on the street, I was able to watch each of the participants make an impactSub on those they encountered. Simply by acknowledging their presence and by stopping to say hi and talk to them about their stories, the participants were able to feel they made a imprint on who they interacted with and they were visibly effected and influenced by the interaction as well.

The participants had mixed feelings about our day in Santa Monica, but whether they know it or not, whether they consciously or subconsciously made the connections I did, I believe they gained a valuable experience, and just as importantly, made a difference.

~ Ariel attends West Virginia University. She is a current Tel Yehudah staff member and comes from a long line of Judaeans. She attended AWB as a teen.

 

Today was an exciting day.  I saw old friends and met new ones.  The best part of my day was going to the church for the underprivileged kids. There were two girls who sang for everyone there and that really inspired me because I love to watch kids sing and not care what others think.  We through the party for these kids because they didn’t get to have a typical Christmas.  When all the kids lined up for their gifts they got so excited before they even opened it.  I love how these kids were so thankful for what they have and didn’t complain about what they don’t.  I’m so excited to more inspiring experiences!

~ Amy Remes is a 10th grader from Pittsburgh, PA. She is on the teen leadership team of Pittsburgh, Young Judaea

Today I volunteered at San Kofa, a garden that supplies fresh vegetables to people, and I helped throw a Christmas party. While we were at the garden we weeded a lot, but also meditated, and since the dirt had clay in it, we made a dreidel out of it. It was super fun, and we also learned about systemic oppression. Andy, the employee of the organization for the last three weeks, explained about how the lower ninth ward was discriminated against, and still is, by not having convenience stores. We were helping people get healthy food options while having tons of fun and joking around. At the end of the five hours we spent there, I could see all the work we had done which was awesome to have a physical representation of what you did.At the Christmas party, I helped set up, and then sat behind the food table and talked to the people that can by. There on one kid,a thirteen year old boy named Louis, who I talked to the most. He was super positive and extremely nice. When the kids got their presents, it was very satisfying and made me realize how much it all meant to them. Overall, today was eye-opening because I got to see how other people lived since I am from a very sheltered area and in the Midwest where natural disasters aren’t very common.

~ Eva Fischer is a 9th grader from Medeira, Ohio and this is her first Young Judaea National event.

Today’s t’fillah (prayer time) was a writing prompt. We wrote about things we were thankful for or aspired to have, symbolizing the Shemoneh Esrei of the Amida. I thought it was a really interesting way to start out a week focusing on helping others and leaving a mark on New Orleans. It showed us that we can be grateful for what we have and can still want things. The underprivileged kids we hosted a holiday party for this afternoon also seemed that way. They were very grateful for what they had and always asked before they took food, however as expected, they couldn’t wait to get the presents we had brought for them.

Earlier in the day, I volunteered at Sankofa, a garden that supplies fresh produce in a more convenient way to the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward. While we were there, we spent the entire day weeding one of the garden beds which was very rewarding because even though we didn’t get to see the people we were helping, we saw the immediate, major results of what a few hours of gardening could do. During breaks from gardening, we took a chance to appreciate nature. We meditated and did yoga as a group including Andy, the employee guiding us in the gardening process. After gardening, we had enough time to drive around the Lower NinthWward and look at the houses. We looked up what exactly the circles with X’s in the middle and the words surrounding them meant on the outside of the homes. The circle meant that it had been checked and the X divided it into quadrants: Entered or not, which rescue crew checked it, date it was checked, and if there were any dead. Incredibly all the houses we saw had a 0 in that last section. This drive was really interesting because it really showed the damage people had gone through based on the empty lots, the devastated and destroyed homes and the reminder of the O and X that was on all the houses that hadn’t been redone.

~ Melanie Silver is a 10th grader from Deerfield, Illinois. She is a local leader in Young Judaea and will be one of the teens leading Young Judaea’s Chicago Teens for Change, a new Alternative Spring Break in Chicago.

As someone who grew up in the Tzofim, a movement based the values of giving back to the community and volunteering, I am so excited to share this experience with the YJ AWB teens. Yesterday, I joined a group of teens volunteering at Sankofa, an urban farm where they grow organically grown produce and herbs, creates opportunities in the areas of urban revitalization, youth enrichment, education, health, and economic development. As an Israeli, it was such an intense learning experience for me to hear about Hurricane Katrina and the consequences this disaster has had and continues to have in the Lower Ninth Ward community, which is still struggling to rebuild eleven years after the devastation.

AWB teens spent much of the day working in a community vegetable  garden that was created in order to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to neighborhood residents who otherwise would not have ready access to fresh produce. Upon finishing our work, we had the chance to drive around the neighborhood, up and down small side streets, and saw with our own eyes the many abandoned houses that have been boarded up since Katerina.

From there, we headed to the First Pentecostal Church for our yearly Christmas party with local children.  The teens planned games to play with them and it was wonderful to see them engaged with the children and feeling that they’re doing something meaningful. Throughout the day I was amazed at how the teens in our group were so engaged, wanting to help and interested to hear and learn as much as they could from this experience.

As someone who beleives that Tikkun Olam is one of the most important values in Judaism, I see the AWB volunteer experience as extremely powerful.  Our teens do not just talk about giving and helping they are actively doing it — making small miracles in other people’s lives.

For me, the day definitely made me step back and to appreciate some of basic things that we all take for granted, like food and a home. I also began to notice similarities between the consequences of Katrina and the results of the fires that occurred in Israel recently. It’s not enough to just physically renew a house or neighborhood; it’s also necessary to help people rebuild emotionally.

Meeting community residents, speaking with them and learning about what they’ve lost and rebuilt has been such a powerful experience. I am grateful to be a part of Alternative Winter Break 2016 and know that our participants will be changed by their time on the program; the little miracles they’ve help create here in NOLA this Hanukkah will stay with them forever, and perhaps cause them to think about things differently moving forward.

~ Sivan is the Young Judaea/Tzofim Shlicha in South Florida and spends her summers at Camp Judaea

 

Forty Young Judaea students participated in the first annual YJ Alternative Winter Break (AWB) in Los Angeles.  The program was run in conjunction with Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ), an organization that specializes in service learning.  AWB took participants out of their everyday surroundings and engaged them in intensive community service and experiential learning, through hands-on service projects, that were both enriching and transformative.

AWB integrated an ongoing educational component into the program; participants explored their Jewish identity and left with a deeper commitment to service that will hopefully springboard into lifelong active citizenship where the tenets of community and tikun olam (repairing the world) will become a part of their everyday lives.
AWB’s community service opportunities focused on Urban Revitalization and Environmental Awareness & Restoration. Participants worked directly with three local organizations – LA Family Housing, LA Neighborhood Services, and LA Eco-Village  – and spent five to seven hours a day on specific projects.

Our kids enjoyed their time at all of the work sites.  They were involved in planning parties and interacting with the kids and teens at LA Family Housing, reaching out to the neighborhood residents about disaster preparedness, and learning and working with the environment.  Each opportunity provided our kids with a unique set of rewards.

 

I could not be more excited to begin my 4th Alternative Winter Break with Young Judaea! Having done two trips as a participant and one as a staff member, I have witnessed the amount of positive influence that Young Judaea has been able to have on the communities that we serve. Last year after wrapping up a week of volunteering at PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), our group received a handwritten card from the full-time staff and residents. It felt good knowing that the hard work we put in throughout the week was acknowledged and appreciated.

In Los Angeles this year, we’ll be expanding the social issues that we focus on during the week to include: LGBTQ inclusivity within the Jewish community, pollution and environmentalism, elderly care, support for victims who suffered from domestic violence, and teaching the importance of social change to children.  The best part about being a staff member on AWB is being able to watch the participants grow as they do community service, ask important questions, and have meaningful conversations with their peers. Look out for some crazy pictures and stories as AWB unfolds throughout the week!

My name is Sonia Garfinkel, I’m 20 years old I go to Smith College. I have been involved in Young Judaea for many years and have been a staff member at Camp Tel Yehudah for three. Alternative Winter Break is an experience that I love. I started my AWB journey when I was a junior in high school in New Orleans and the next year as a senior in LA.

Yesterday the staff woke up bright and early and went to the New Orleans airport to meet up with our 17 incredible teens who we are so excited to get to know this week. We met them in small waves and brought them back to the hotel to relax a bit before we start getting to know each other. All the teenagers were up very early to catch their flights. After an hour having the kids snack and adjust to their rooms, Nathan, out AWB leader, brought the kids together and I got to lead the first ice breaker. I chose Wa, a Judaean classic, so everyone was able to learn each other’s name in a fun and interactive way. Noah, Miriam, and Hillary followed with an exciting game of Walmart and Ninja.

Because our teens were young when Hurricane Katrina hit, we thought it was important to educate them on what really happened and why it’s still important that we volunteer here in Nola 11 years later. We watched part of Stan Lee’s 4 part documentary “When the Levies Broke” and read articles and poems about the catastrophe. We then had a conversation about what happened when the hurricane hit, and answered some of their questions. We encourage the participants to be actively engaged, and always to ask questions. I, and the rest of the staff are so excited for the week to come!

Yesterday at approximately 8:00pm EST, all of the AWB 2016 participants had arrived and started their journeys. Juggling phones, computers and even an Apple Watch this year, I was able to keep up with the arrivals and the adventures.  During that period, it is difficult to absorb the meaning of this experience for the teens. Things always start to get clearer on the first morning.

This is the 10^th year of Young Judaea’s Alternative Winter Break. I have spent 9 of those years stationed at my desk (one year in New Orleans) in NY making sure that the bus are rolling, the food is ordered, the volunteering is meaningful, the teens have an opportunity to learn, teach and have fun.  Yeah, it would be great to be there – but from my desk in New York City, I get to hear the stories, see the pictures and help the staff. We’ve seen storms keep us inside, one caterer run out of food, volunteer organizations that do not understand teen volunteers, stitches for the staff and one broken toe. But no one but me remembers these things. The teens often don’t even remember the names of the volunteer organizations.

What they do remember is the overall experience; the people they meet along the way, both volunteers and clients of the organizations. They remember the way they felt when they built that home or dug that garden. Our job is the make sure that the experience is framed in a way that they take home not only the selfie that they took, but the message that the world needs us.

We’ve had an interesting year this year. Politics aside, the one thing that the Young Judaea staff agreed upon is that we are on the right path.  Getting our kids to take their activism off line to do more that “like” on Facebook or share on Instagram is critical to this path.  Getting them out to work and teach and learn is key. Teaching our children and teens that they have a voice and hands to make change is our most important task. AWB is one of the ways we do this.

This year, the AWB t-shirt has finally changed. “I Walk the Walk” is the message we are bringing to the world.  During this week, you’ll see them walking a lot.

The past two weeks I have taken two trips to what is slowly becoming my favorite part of Israel: the north, specifically the Kineret, and the Golan.

First, as part of the tiyul track, we went to the Golan for hiking, swimming, and wine tasting. The sights were beautiful and the water was refreshing. In between hikes, we slept on mattresses under the stars and cooked our own dinner. The second day we stopped at an outlook facing the Syrian border, where we spoke with two UN soldiers stationed there for surveillance. Every so often we heard the low rumble of Syrian rebel artillery fire.

On our way back from (almost) Syria, my friends and I convinced Year Course to drop us off on the side of the road at a random bus stop, from which we traveled to my family on Kibbutz Ginosar, right on the Kineret. On the kibbutz we saw the “Jesus boat,” a boat from Jesus’ era discovered on the shores of the kibbutz and now displayed in a museum there. We got to go to the storage rooms, where we spoke with an archeologist doing research on the endless boxes of pottery discovered in the area. In the water, we swam, managed to get a free boat ride, and tried (and failed) at surfing.

Most importantly, we had the best pita, hummus, and babaganoush of our lives, first at a family dinner and later at a random little restaurant near the Tiberias bus station. Being the only Americans in the place ensured that we made fools of ourselves, but it also meant we found someplace authentic and delicious.

Two weeks later, after almost missing the last bus north from Jerusalem on a Friday, I found myself on the shores of the Kinneret again, this time for camping and biking. While our tent was broken and we ran out of gas for the stove, we managed to cook ourselves dinner the first night. We again slept in sleeping bags under the stars, awakening in the middle of the night to the barking of jackals fighting on the beach.

The next day, we rented bikes from a kibbutz at the bottom tip of the Kineret and began our trek north, planning to bike clockwise around the entire lake. It took us 6 hours to bike the entire 60 kilometers (37 miles) back to the kibbutz. While the course was extremely challenging due to the length,  amount of hills, and bruising on my butt, the views were beautiful. Often, the highway was right above the Kineret, so we could see the water and the mountains. We ate lunch on the Jordan River and made a few stops along the way, so I got a unique sense of the Kinneret area. We ended the day by swimming in the lake, a refreshing closure to a crazy day. Although we finished tired, sweaty, and sore, the sense of accomplishment at the end was amazing.

That night, we dragged our exhausted selves to the bus stop, where we got a bus to Kibbutz Ginosar (where my family lives). Upon arrival we immediately fell asleep in a grassy area beneath date trees; I will probably be picking dates off my clothing and backpack for weeks. The next morning we went for a quick swim before almost missing yet another bus, returning to a random junction on the side of the highway where the rest of our section picked us up on the way to a Tiyul for Zionism class.

We ended our adventure with the group, first at Gamla, a beautiful mountainous area of the Golan involved in battle with the Romans. Lastly, we stopped again at the outlook over the Israel-Syria border.

After finally arriving home after three days of camping and a full day of biking, a hot shower and a nap in my own bed were heavenly. That said, I am already daydreaming about my next trip up north…