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…

 

My name is Daniela (Dasha) Gorenshteyn and I’m currently a senior at Pope High School in Marietta, Georgia.  Growing up in a house that is primarily Russian speaking had definitely shaped me into who I am today.  Being Russian and speaking Russian at home as well as at TY’s Havurah program has taught me more about myself than anything else ever has. In the summer of 2012, I attended Young Judaea’s junior camp in Wisconsin and the two following Summer’s were spent at in the Havurah program where I embraced being Russian and was surrounded with Jewish-Russian speaking teens who shared the same background and values as me. Just this past summer, I attended Young Judaea during first session and my eyes were opened even wider. I learned what it meant to be Jewish, what it meant to be a Zionist, and most importantly; I learned what it meant to be me.

Young Judaea has taught me many important things such as the importance of the state of Israel, the impact of social action and the meaning of true friendships. I would definitely not be who I am if it weren’t for YJ.  Being elected as the Havurah programmer for the 2016-2017 year, I hope to open up the Havurah kids eyes to the core values that Young Judaea holds and has shown me and shaped me into being who I am today. As of right now, the two programs are very separated and I hope to change that. A big issue I see is that the parents of the Russian teens aren’t being informed as much on what YJ is really all about so as Havurah programmer, I take it upon myself to enlighten the parents and explain to them how beneficial and life changing Young Judaea is. I hope to change some of the programs that go on during second session for the Havurah campers and gear it more towards Israel-based discussions and not to only focus on being Russian.  After this year, I hope more Russian speaking teens urge to be involved in all that Young Judaea has to offer year round and I hope they bring what they learn about social action and leadership to their hometowns and begin spreading their values to young teens around them.

Before I was ever involved in YJ, I can honestly say that I wasn’t exactly sure who I was nor did I know what my core values were. Throughout my five years of being involved with Young Judaea, I can say that I am now grounded with a better understanding of who I am and what I stand for. I give YJ almost all the credit for this because I wouldn’t be able to have certain experiences I’ve had including doing social action around the States and spending a month in Israel exploring and deepening my appreciation for my Jewish heritage.  I’ll never forget the feeling I felt when our Machon group of 57 kids landed at Ben Gurion Airport. I felt at home.

Hi everyone, my name is Rachel Powell, and I will be your Social Action Programmer for the year. My mom, Julie Kolman Powell, was very involved in Young Judaea. I guess that is what got me to go to camp. However, that is not why I choose to be involved. I choose to be involved because Young Judaea has given me more than just zionist education, leadership skills, and friends. Young Judaea has given me a purpose. It has given me something to look forward to every week through the New Jersey region events. It has given me many events throughout the year. When I had nothing to look forward to, Young Judaea was there.

One event in particular that really helped me find who I am was Alternative Winter Break in Los Angeles. During this trip, I learned the importance of spending money to spend time with people that need the money I spent. I learned the importance of a conversation and the importance of company. Young Judaea has forever given me company when I felt alone.
Through Alternative Winter Break I discovered my passion when I met Lydia. Lydia was a 12 year old girl who was hungry. Not “I need a snack hungry,” but really hungry. A hungry I have never seen before. A hungry I believe we as a movement have the power to solve. Food is a necessity.

When I was in Sprout Lake, they used to always say MADIMOW which stood for making a difference in my own way. I truly believe everyone can make a difference but more than that, I believe if we all work together to make a difference we can make an even bigger impact. I plan on using Young Judaea as a tool to make the difference I want to see in the world, this is why I chose to be Social Action Programmer of a movement that means so much to me.

Hey! My name is Raccia Abramson and I’m serving on the National Mazkirut as Pirsum. I first became involved in Young Judaea in 2008 when I attended my first summer at CYJ Sprout Lake, following in my mother’s and older brother’s footsteps. Starting my first summer there, I knew I had found myself a place in a very special community. Over the years attending Sprout Lake, Tel Yehudah, and year-round Young Judaea events, I have developed a love for the Jewish people and culture, a sense of self-confidence, and honed my leadership skills. YJ has helped me become the person I am today, and for that reason, I am devoted to doing everything I can to give others amazing experiences similar to my own.

For me, the heart of Young Judaea is really the community. It’s all about the people in the movement and the relationships we form with one another. That’s why I decided to be Pirusm, or Director of Communications. Communication is the major underlying force which keeps the movement alive, and as your Pirsum, I will do everything I can to encourage and expand it. Through the Young Judaea newsletter, Kol HaT’nua (Voice of the Movement), Facebook, Instagram, and other social media, I will keep everyone updated on what’s happening throughout the movement, and bring people together to overcome geographical differences. I want people who do not live in active regions to still be able participate in year-round Young Judaea through the national community and also to help them gain support to set up regional chapters, like some communities have done recently such as Flemington, New Jersey and Atlanta, Georgia. YJ used to have several chapters within each region, and I think we can bring that back in some areas where we have YJ roots and interested Judaeans. I will always be here talk to people who would like to be involved in Young Judaea. Let me help you figure out how YJ works and how you can find your place in year-round programs! Please feel free to reach out to me at raccia@gmail.com if you want someone to talk to about anything YJ, or anything in life really. I am also always taking article submissions for Kol Hatnua, so if you have any topics that you want to share your thoughts on with the movement, please don’t hesitate to reach out!!