Reunion Fall 2014

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Fall 2014 Edition

How Did the Powerful NCSY Havdalah Evolve?

Israel Free spIrIt – a DIFFerent KInD oF BIrthrIght trIp

Sharing Our News: Lifecycle Events

Connecting NCSY, JLIC & IFS Alumni

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supplement to

Jewish Action

I n a u g u r a l I s s u e

2 || Fall 2014 | Reunion Magazine2 || Summer 2014 | Reunion Magazine

JLIC ALumnI ConneCts CoLLege grAduAtes wIth:

International Service Learning Trips (Germany, Thailand, Onward Israel)

• Masa programs and scholarships • JLIC

Alumni reunion events •

Partners In Torah • IFS Birthright Trips

• Social Media/Online Jewish resources

OrthOdOx UniOn LeadershipMartin Nachimson, President, Orthodox UnionStephen J. Savitsky, Chairman of the Board, Orthodox UnionAllen I. Fagin, Executive Vice President / Chief Professional OfficerRabbi Steven Weil, Senior Managing DirectorRabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President, EmeritusMayer Fertig, Chief Communications OfficerShlomo Schwartz, Chief Financial Officer / Chief Administrative OfficerRabbi Lenny Bessler, Chief Human Resources OfficerSam Davidovics, Chief Information Officer

Reunion Magazine

Charlotte Friedland, EditorTova Belsh, Art DirectorMelanie Goldberg, Editorial AssistantCarrie Beylus, OU Director, Design & Branding

ou nextgen BoaRd

Dr. Simcha Katz, Chairman Emeritus

Dr. Shimmy Tennenbaum, Co-chair

Henry Orlinsky, Co-chairStanley WeinsteinRabbi Shaul RobinsonHenry RothmanBarbara Lehmann Siegel

nCSY LeadeRShip

Rabbi Micah Greenland, International Director

Keevy Fried, Associate International Director

David Cutler, NCSY Summer Programs Director

Avi Katz, NCSY ChairVivian Luchins, NCSY Summer

Programs Chair

REUNION© 2014 by Orthodox Union. All rights reserved.

IFs ALumnI ConneCts pAst pArtICIpAnts to:

Bring Israel Home • Partners In Torah •

Masa programs and scholarships •

International Service Learning Trips (Germany, Thailand, Onward Israel) • Heart

to Heart • Social Media/Online

Jewish resources • Jewniversity

Resources App • Birthright

Israel Next

nCsY ALumnI ConneCts hIgh sChooL grAduAtes wIth:

JLIC educators & other Jewish resources on campus • Masa programs and scholarships • IFS Birthright Trips • International Service

Learning Trips (Germany, Thailand, Onward Israel) • Partners In Torah • Social Media/

Online Jewish resources • Jewniversity Resources App • Heart to Heart •

NCSY Intern Events

OU nextGen exeCUtiVe teaMRabbi Dave Felsenthal, Director NextGen, IFS BirthrightRabbi Yehoshua Marchuck, Director, Alumni Connections Rabbi Ilan Haber, Director, JLIC

ou aLuMni ConneCtionS:

Ari Klickstein, Alumni AssociateAlyssa Wolff, Alumni AssociateMelanie Goldberg, Alumni AssociateNatalie Leichtman, NextGen Administrative AssistantRachel Shammah, Alumni Associate, JSU Ari Ziegler, Gamification CoordinatorHart Levine, Heart to Heart Director, NYCDov Winston, Heart to Heart Regional Coordinator, NYCYardena Bannett, NJ NCSY Alumni 12th Grade SpecialistJosh Cohen, West Coast NCSY Alumni 12th Grade Specialist Rabbi Phil Karesh, Midwest NCSY Alumni 12th Grade Specialist

tagLit BiRthRight iSRaeL - iSRaeL FRee SpiRit

israeL teaM

Yael Tamari, Director, IsraelNetanel Gibson, Follow Up CoordinatorShuli Schwartz, RakezetRabbi Menachem Persoff, Senior Executive Consultant

nOrth aMeriCa

Penny Pazornick, Associate DirectorScott Shulman, Program DirectorTatyana Plotkina, Associate Program DirectorBassy Altman, RegistrarLeah Lubianker, RegistrarAmanda Dwyer, Recruitment AssociateLauren Hertan, Registration AssociateChana Hercenberg, Marketing Director

heShe & haRRiet SeiF - JewiSh LeaRning initiative on CaMpuS

Rabbi Menachem Schrader, Founding DirectorRabbi Josh Ross, Associate DirectorRabbi Shalom Axelrod, Director of Special ProjectsHani Lowenstein, Student Leadership & Educational ResourcesRebecca Rubenstein, Programs and Operations AssociateMichael Goldman, Administrative Assistant

On CaMpUs

Rabbi Akiva Weiss, JLIC Binghamton UniversityRabbi David & Mrs. Ariel Pardo, Brandeis UniversityRabbi Reuven & Mrs. Shira Boshnack, Brooklyn CollegeRabbi Noam & Mrs. Shiffy Friedman, Columbia/BarnardRabbi Chaim & Mrs. Shira Finson, Cornell UniversityMrs. Ruthie Braffman, Drexel University, UPennRabbi Darren & Mrs. Avital Levin, Johns Hopkins UniversityRabbi Moshe & Mrs. Dahlia Farkas, Greater MontrealRabbi Gideon Black, Rivky Stern, and Rachel Waldman, NYURabbi Elie & Mrs. Ilana Bercuson, Princeton UniversityRabbi Robby & Mrs. Shoshana Charnoff, Queens CollegeRabbi Adam & Mrs. Sara Frieberg, Rutgers UniversityRabbi Aryeh & Mrs. Sharona Kaplan, UCLARabbi Daniel & Mrs. Naomi Levitt, University of GuelphRabbi Michael Langer & Mrs. Vera Wexler, University of IllinoisRabbi Ari & Mrs. Shira Neuman, University of MarylandRabbi Yosi & Mrs. Sheera Eisen, University of MassachusettsRabbi Yaakov & Mrs. Racheli Taubes, UPennShlomo & Mrs. Ora Geller, University of WisconsinRabbi Shlomo & Mrs. Chana Zuckier, Yale UniversityRabbi Aaron & Mrs. Miriam Greenberg, Greater Toronto

Encompasses:

NCSY AlumNi

JliC AlumNi

iFS AlumNi

2 || Summer 2014 | Reunion Magazine

JLIC ALumnI ConneCts CoLLege grAduAtes wIth:

International Service Learning Trips (Germany, Thailand, Onward Israel)

• Masa programs and scholarships • JLIC

Alumni reunion events •

Partners In Torah • IFS Birthright Trips

• Social Media/Online Jewish resources

OrthOdOx UniOn LeadershipMartin Nachimson, President, Orthodox UnionStephen J. Savitsky, Chairman of the Board, Orthodox UnionAllen I. Fagin, Executive Vice President / Chief Professional OfficerRabbi Steven Weil, Senior Managing DirectorRabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President, EmeritusMayer Fertig, Chief Communications OfficerShlomo Schwartz, Chief Financial Officer / Chief Administrative OfficerRabbi Lenny Bessler, Chief Human Resources OfficerSam Davidovics, Chief Information Officer

Reunion Magazine

Charlotte Friedland, EditorTova Belsh, Art DirectorMelanie Goldberg, Editorial AssistantCarrie Beylus, OU Director, Design & Branding

ou nextgen BoaRd

Dr. Simcha Katz, Chairman Emeritus

Dr. Shimmy Tennenbaum, Co-chair

Henry Orlinsky, Co-chairStanley WeinsteinRabbi Shaul RobinsonHenry RothmanBarbara Lehmann Siegel

nCSY LeadeRShip

Rabbi Micah Greenland, International Director

Keevy Fried, Associate International Director

David Cutler, NCSY Summer Programs Director

Avi Katz, NCSY ChairVivian Luchins, NCSY Summer

Programs Chair

REUNION© 2014 by Orthodox Union. All rights reserved.

IFs ALumnI ConneCts pAst pArtICIpAnts to:

Bring Israel Home • Partners In Torah •

Masa programs and scholarships •

International Service Learning Trips (Germany, Thailand, Onward Israel) • Heart

to Heart • Social Media/Online

Jewish resources • Jewniversity

Resources App • Birthright

Israel Next

nCsY ALumnI ConneCts hIgh sChooL grAduAtes wIth:

JLIC educators & other Jewish resources on campus • Masa programs and scholarships • IFS Birthright Trips • International Service

Learning Trips (Germany, Thailand, Onward Israel) • Partners In Torah • Social Media/

Online Jewish resources • Jewniversity Resources App • Heart to Heart •

NCSY Intern Events

OU nextGen exeCUtiVe teaMRabbi Dave Felsenthal, Director NextGen, IFS BirthrightRabbi Yehoshua Marchuck, Director, Alumni Connections Rabbi Ilan Haber, Director, JLIC

ou aLuMni ConneCtionS:

Ari Klickstein, Alumni AssociateAlyssa Wolff, Alumni AssociateMelanie Goldberg, Alumni AssociateNatalie Leichtman, NextGen Administrative AssistantRachel Shammah, Alumni Associate, JSU Ari Ziegler, Gamification CoordinatorHart Levine, Heart to Heart Director, NYCDov Winston, Heart to Heart Regional Coordinator, NYCYardena Bannett, NJ NCSY Alumni 12th Grade SpecialistJosh Cohen, West Coast NCSY Alumni 12th Grade Specialist Rabbi Phil Karesh, Midwest NCSY Alumni 12th Grade Specialist

tagLit BiRthRight iSRaeL - iSRaeL FRee SpiRit

israeL teaM

Yael Tamari, Director, IsraelNetanel Gibson, Follow Up CoordinatorShuli Schwartz, RakezetRabbi Menachem Persoff, Senior Executive Consultant

nOrth aMeriCa

Penny Pazornick, Associate DirectorScott Shulman, Program DirectorTatyana Plotkina, Associate Program DirectorBassy Altman, RegistrarLeah Lubianker, RegistrarAmanda Dwyer, Recruitment AssociateLauren Hertan, Registration AssociateChana Hercenberg, Marketing Director

heShe & haRRiet SeiF - JewiSh LeaRning initiative on CaMpuS

Rabbi Menachem Schrader, Founding DirectorRabbi Josh Ross, Associate DirectorRabbi Shalom Axelrod, Director of Special ProjectsHani Lowenstein, Student Leadership & Educational ResourcesRebecca Rubenstein, Programs and Operations AssociateMichael Goldman, Administrative Assistant

On CaMpUs

Rabbi Akiva Weiss, JLIC Binghamton UniversityRabbi David & Mrs. Ariel Pardo, Brandeis UniversityRabbi Reuven & Mrs. Shira Boshnack, Brooklyn CollegeRabbi Noam & Mrs. Shiffy Friedman, Columbia/BarnardRabbi Chaim & Mrs. Shira Finson, Cornell UniversityMrs. Ruthie Braffman, Drexel University, UPennRabbi Darren & Mrs. Avital Levin, Johns Hopkins UniversityRabbi Moshe & Mrs. Dahlia Farkas, Greater MontrealRabbi Gideon Black, Rivky Stern, and Rachel Waldman, NYURabbi Elie & Mrs. Ilana Bercuson, Princeton UniversityRabbi Robby & Mrs. Shoshana Charnoff, Queens CollegeRabbi Adam & Mrs. Sara Frieberg, Rutgers UniversityRabbi Aryeh & Mrs. Sharona Kaplan, UCLARabbi Daniel & Mrs. Naomi Levitt, University of GuelphRabbi Michael Langer & Mrs. Vera Wexler, University of IllinoisRabbi Ari & Mrs. Shira Neuman, University of MarylandRabbi Yosi & Mrs. Sheera Eisen, University of MassachusettsRabbi Yaakov & Mrs. Racheli Taubes, UPennShlomo & Mrs. Ora Geller, University of WisconsinRabbi Shlomo & Mrs. Chana Zuckier, Yale UniversityRabbi Aaron & Mrs. Miriam Greenberg, Greater Toronto

Encompasses:

NCSY AlumNi

JliC AlumNi

iFS AlumNi

“We’re not looking for profit; we’re simply looking to touch people’s neshamot…” || 10

LeadeRship Messages

2 || Rabbi Yehoshua MaRchuck

2 || Rabbi Dave Felsenthal

3 || DR. siMcha katz

FeatuRes

4 || ten things You DiDn’t know about the oRthoDox union

5 || MYsteRY photo

6 || ncsY havDalah – Six Decades and Still Burning Strong

8 || all MappeD out

10 || isRael FRee spiRit: A Different Kind of Birthright Trip

22 || pReseRving ouR ncsY legacY

24 || inspiRation in Five Minutes Flat!

25 || ou aluMni connections in action! Photo Essay

32 || a Dazzling shabbaton For Campus Leadership

34 || one shabbat Meal at a tiMe

36 || shaRing ouR news

aLuMni spotLight

12 || leoRa FRieDMan (Jlic)

14 || Misha Danilov (iFs)

16 || avi gReenbeRgeR (Jlic)

18 || nina butleR (ncsY)

20 || Dan butleR (ncsY)

Contents

32

25

106

4 || Fall 2014 | Reunion Magazine

Join our Achdut Reunion!

I remember standing as a young boy on the side of an overlook in the Catskill Mountains. There was a large lake below and like any red-blooded American boy, I couldn’t miss this opportunity. I found the largest stone that I could handle and threw it as far as I could towards the lake. Seconds later, I heard that beautiful, deep kerplunk sound. Feeling completely satisfied, I stood by and watched as the water began to ripple in perfect circles, creating one circle after another. Metaphorically, that ripple is the power of what has been created in the Jewish world by the Orthodox Union. The ripple effects of the Orthodox Union consist of the multitudes of high school students, collegiates, and young professionals who participated in NCSY, the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) and Birthright Israel: OU Israel Free Spirit (IFS) that collectively equal ninety years of history. Now, ninety years of rich, warm memories is not only a reason to celebrate – it merits a reunion!

There is a theme of achdut, unity, running through the seasonal cycle of the Jewish calendar. From the Pesach Seder, when we relive the exodus experience; as the Children of Israel (“like one person with one heart”) at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah on Shavuot; to the summertime

period of intense mourning on Tisha B’Av; to Rosh Hashanah, when we pray together that we should be judged as a nation in a favorable way; to Succot, when we celebrate together at our Simchat Beit Hashoevah and on Simchat Torah; to Chanukah and Purim, when we joyously relive national miracles. Throughout the year, we strive for achdut while reflecting on the past as we continue to move towards our future.

As we enter this new year of 5775, we will beseech Hashem that the world should serve our Creator as an agudah achat, as one. And one successful way of building that all-important unity, be it with friends or family, is to occasionally check back with them, discuss fond memories, and share aspirations for the future.

That’s what Reunion is all about. It’s the magazine that says “Yes, I do remember back in the day…..” but it’s more than that. Yes, let’s talk about the good old days, but let’s catch up on each other’s current life milestones too. Let’s look at pictures from the regional convention of 1974, but let’s also hear about what those same chapter members are doing in 2014. I’m so excited that this fantastic magazine has arrived, and I am sure that you are going to feel the same way. Through these pages you will find opportunities to join the Reunion party in future editions. The more input of photos, stories and “where are they now” ideas, the greater our Reunion will be! So join the party and let us hear from you; drop me a note at [email protected];

Wishing you a Shanah Tovah – a fantastic new year!

Welcome to the first edition of Reunion, the magazine that brings together OU NexGen alumni of NCSY, JLIC, OU Israel Free Spirit Birthright (IFS) and Heart to Heart. I’m feeling every bit the proud parent as I look over this amazing publication. Reading how all my old friends are doing and the great articles the team at OU Alumni Connections has put together – I’m just loving it!

I’ve noticed that a common experience is that while folks are participating in NCSY, JLIC, IFS Birthright Israel and H2H they’re inspired by the best educators, advisors and friends ever. The programs are uplifting and fun and they never want it to end…but it does! They graduate from these programs and move on. But they wonder − how can I bring that spark into my workplace and into my home?

No, I can’t bring a group of impassioned young adults into your living room for Havdalah to sway arm in arm as the band plays and you tell the story of your life. But here are a few practical tips on how to make the magic happen again and again.

First of all, as Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg (of blessed memory) advised me, your own kids are actually more important than your NCSYers: you need to put as much thought and effort into Shabbat in your home as you do for a Shabbaton. Can you imagine what it would be like if you wrote down your dvar Torah ahead of time, thinking of that perfect message; if every Shabbat you sang zemirot in a way that your kids really look forward to; if you planned a little shtick or some fun activities; if you had a learning session together, and if

your meal was a greasy rubber chicken? Well, maybe skip the last suggestion, but you get the idea.

At work, what if you passed out candy grams to your Jewish co-workers with a “Shabbat Shalom!” message; started a Torah Fund Drive for OU Alumni to give scholarships so that unaffiliated Jewish students can learn in Israel; or invited them to sit next to you at lunch and discuss a new Jewish book or the weekly parshah? What if you could even give out award certificates of appreciation? Or at least, how about a “well done!” accompanied by a smile? Just don’t try turning off the lights in the whole office and passing out candles.

Of course, one of the best ways of keeping the flame alive is by getting involved with us. Sharing in our friends’ life celebrations as we read this publication is one way; and reading about what’s happening now in those programs you knew and loved is another.

We hope that this magazine will become the place where we all come together to trade news and memories, insights and joys. I especially want to thank Rabbi Yehoshua Marchuck (OU Alumni Director), Melanie Goldberg and Ari Klickstein (OU Alumni Associates), Mayer Fertig (OU Chief Communications Officer) and of course, our editor, Charlotte Friedland, and our art director, Tova Belsh, for their roles in creating this publication.

So please send in your recollections, pictures and life milestones for our next issue; we can share the good (and not-so-good) as true friends. And let’s all get together soon to reminisce in person!

Leadership Messages

By Rabbi Yehoshua MarchuckDirector, OU Alumni Connections

By Rabbi Dave FelsenthalDirector, OU NexGen, IFS

R R

@Ymarchuck

Fall 2014 | Reunion Magazine || 5

NextGen: Providing a Vital Jewish Link

We are blessed with many vibrant Jewish communities offering choices of shuls, day schools and summer programs − activities and environments which enable us to raise our children as observant Jews. However, as our children grow and graduate high school, they are at a most critical stage in their maturation, particularly spiritually. It is a fact that more than 70% of our day school graduates will be attending a secular college, perhaps following a period of time in Israel. Post high school is a time when their religious life is most vulnerable. Chinuch which began at home and in the day schools must continue through the college years. That’s where OU NextGen comes in.

Take my family friend Sam, who came from a well-grounded Modern Orthodox family and attended a prominent Jewish day

school and high school. He spent the usual year in Israel, though perhaps spent more time than he should have hanging out with friends rather than learning in the beit midrash. When he came home from Israel, Sam went to a state university, which his parents found more affordable than a Jewish college, and Sam didn’t object.

Although Sam gravitated to Hillel and Chabad during his first year on campus, the friends he made were Jewish, but unaffiliated. His commitment to davening and keeping kosher gradually eroded, and Friday nights transformed into party time.

But sometime late in his freshmen year he was introduced to a JLIC rabbi whom other students thought was “cool.” He seemed to be interested in talking with students about their issues and problems without any hidden agendas. The rabbi had himself been to university and understood the challenges. Sam agreed to join him and his wife for a Shabbat dinner at their home.

Dinner was a surprisingly relaxed affair, completely counter to

Sam’s expectations. The rabbi talked about sports, and his wife, also a well-informed college graduate, engaged him in conversation. Yes, Torah was a part of the discussion, but Sam didn’t feel it was being forced on him, nor did he feel like he was being judged. After a second such dinner, Sam started meeting the rabbi for an occasional coffee and chat. Sam confessed that he felt ignorant of Judaism despite his day school background; this led to a chavruta between Sam and the rabbi, which became a priority to Sam as he progressed in his college career.

By his junior year, Sam was attending daily minyan, observing kashrut, and enjoying Torah learning for the first time in his life. He had not returned to his previous level of commitment; he surpassed it.

This story, while remarkable, is far from unique. As you will read about in the coming pages of this first edition magazine, the work of OU NextGen programming encompasses all walks of life to ensure that students and young professionals continue to stay

connected to Judaism. Whether it’s through holiday-themed Alumni campus care packages; connecting an alum to the JLIC campus couple; placing an alum on an international service trip, a learning trip or the OU’s Taglit-Birthright Israel: Israel Free Spirit trip, NextGen partners to ensure that alumni of Israel Free Spirit, JLIC, and NCSY are linked to authentic Jewish life on campus and beyond.

This is not about kiruv. It’s about protecting the young people of observant families who are entering environments where their Yiddishkeit is greatly at risk.

As parents and as a community, we have invested e n o r m o u s resources in the religious development of our children t h r o u g h their day school years. It is most critical that we continue our investment to help assure that as our children enter university life they will continue their growth as committed Jews.

By Dr. Simcha KatzFormer President of the OU, OU NextGen Chairman Emeritus

Leadership Messages

Help Keep the flame of Torah burning bright!

Be an OU Partner in TorahMentor an NCSY or IFS Birthright Israel alum

To volunteer as a mentor or sign up to learn more about your Jewish heritage, go to http://bit.ly/OUPartnersinTorah

R


The OU is not here just to tell you what you can and

cannot eat.

Many people think the OU is only about kashrut.

But the OU is also about youth (NCSY),

inclusion for the disabled (Yachad), social action, education and public policy (OU Advocacy) employment (OU Job Board), Israel (OU Israel), Torah and the Jewish people (Community Engagement and Synagogue Services).

JLIC + Hillel = The Perfect Shidduch.

The Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) program partners closely with Hillels

on many college campuses to ensure authentic Orthodox Jewish life on campus.

Taglit-Birthright Israel: OU Israel Free Spirit has a trip

for you, your secular neighbor, and your Chasidishe cousin.

Since the program’s creation over fifteen years ago, Taglit-Birthright

Israel and the OU continue to partner, sending almost 10,000 participants of all backgrounds to Israel through Israel Free Spirit, the OU’s Birthright trip organizer.

The Alumni Connections department keeps the

swag coming even after you graduate.

The OU has a department exclusively for alumni of OU

programs. But wait, you’re not an OU alum just because you’re a big fan of Heinz ketchup! You’re an alum if you have participated in NCSY, Israel Free Spirit: Taglit-Birthright Israel, JLIC or any of the other OU youth programs.

The OU doesn’t only cater to one stream of Judaism.

People assume that the OU has programs only for Orthodox Jews. In actuality the

OU addresses the needs of the entire Jewish community, no matter one’s background.

Many OU Kosher rabbis speak Mandarin, Spanish, Afrikaans, and so much

more.

The OU is proud to certify companies in almost every country spanning the globe. Traveling to Australia? You can catch a webcast on shechting birds. Going to Japan? You can meet an OU rabbi and have lunch. OU certified, of course.

The OU has friends in D.C.

The OU Advocacy Center has been working with government officials to help make your voice heard. OU Advocacy helped pass the Public Policy Education Initiative to make Jewish education more affordable, and secured a federal grant that brings millions of dollars to keep Jewish day schools safe.

Some NCSY advisors say “football” when speaking

about soccer.

NCSY has branched out to include South America, with its first permanent home in

Chile. Qué excitanté?

Israel and Thailand and Germany, oh my!

OU NextGen enables collegiates and young professionals to go on international learning and service trips by linking them with organizations such as MASA Israel, Justifi, Onward Israel and Germany Close Up.

The OU: there’s an app for that.

Need to know what’s kosher? There’s an app for that: OU Kosher.

Need to know the nearest Minchah on campus? There’s an app for that: Jewniversity Resources.

Need to know when’s the next NCSY Shabbaton? There’s an app for that: NCSY.

10 Things you didn’t know

abouT THe orTHodox union

1

2

3

4

6

7

10

8

95


ben Zakkai

Honor Society

...you can identify her, or

...you are that individual! or

...you remember where and when the photo was taken

please contact Reunion at [email protected]. the confirmed identification will be posted to the nCsY website and printed in the next issue of Reunion.

Mystery Vintage Photo

We all know that the two gentlemen in

the foreground are Dr. David Luchins

and Rabbi Pinchas Stolper. But who

is that long-haired young lady stand-

ing behind them? And at what NCSY

event was the picture snapped?

a substantial gift to NCSY was bestowed by Lee Samson, founding director of the West Coast NCSY Region, paying tribute to his late wife Ann, the original “First Lady” of the region. Her memory was honored at this year’s Ben Zakkai Dinner in New York City with the renaming of one of NCSY’s star summer programs: it is now The Ann Samson The Jerusalem Journey. His superb generosity will ensure that NCSY will continue Ann’s legacy, inspiring thousands of teens across the nation to strengthen their commitment to their precious Jewish heritage.

L to R: Rabbi Micah Greenland, International Director of NCSY; Lee Samson; Rabbi Steven Weil, Senior Managing Director, Orthodox Union; Martin Nachimson, President, Orthodox Union.


After six decades, the NCSY Shabbaton continues

to prompt thousands of teens to turn their lives around. But

what keeps that passion burning when the twenty-five hours of fun and Torah-inspiration come to an end?

Havdalah!

Night has fallen. Shabbaton participants amble into a dimly lit room. A band sits on a stage. The individual leading Havdalah stands in the middle of a group of NCSY teen regional heads, each proudly holding a candle aloft. The leader chants the prayer to a haunting Carlebach niggun; hundreds of voices join his. With arms around each other’s shoulders − boys with boys, girls with girls − teens close their eyes and sway in unison to the melody.

At the final blessing, “Hamavdil bein kodesh l’chol,” the room explodes with music, dancing and unbridled NCSY ruach. Then the band transitions to a slow song, pulling the spirited throng inward. Someone tells a compelling story about the awesome privilege of being a Jew. A roomful of captivated hearts open wider.

“It’s dark; you can’t see anyone else; it doesn’t matter what you look like or what your facial expression is. It’s the culmination of an amazing Shabbos. You’ve

grown as a person and as a Jew,” says Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, former international director of education at NCSY (currently associate dean for the Center for the Jewish Future and University Life at Yeshiva University), and second-generation Havdalah devotee. “You’re all coming together to concentrate on that sense of emotion. It’s a very personal, private experience and at the same time one of tremendous unity.”

T h e N C S Y H a v d a l a h tradition, dating back to the program’s fledgling days in the early 1960s, appears to be a case of spontaneous combustion.

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, NCSY’s first director, recalls how the realization came over him that Havdalah could be a potent, transformative moment. “[That first time] we recited Havdalah there was a feeling of, ‘what’s next?’ No one was in a rush to go anywhere. We had just shared a beautiful Shabbos together; it seemed like a wonderful time to start singing and dancing.” And so, they did. “The kids took off with it. No one wanted to stop. It went on and on. It was something they had never experienced before. All of the leaders understood we had to keep doing this.”

As Shabbaton participation grew, NCSY leadership decided to enhance the experience further.

They hired musicians, some of them NCSYers. “No one had done such a thing. At most communal Shabbos gatherings, Shabbos just ended and that was that,” says Rabbi Stolper. “But at an NCSY Shabbaton, it’s a different world. The music was a big part of it. It gave everyone a tremendous feeling of joy that they carried into the week.”

That joy sailed right into the next decade. “I never dreamed it would happen in that tremendous way,” Rabbi Stolper reflects.

Paul Glasser (father of Rabbi Yaakov Glasser), associate vice president of Institutional Advancement at YU, was a senior in high school when he first experienced an NCSY Havdalah. “In those days, the band was behind a curtain,” he says. “After Rabbi Stolper said the final brachah, you heard three beats of a drum and then the music. It created a moment.”

According to Glasser, the songs and inspirational story reflected the era. The first generation after the Holocaust, many Shabbaton participants had parents who were survivors and

they had heard stories of relatives who had been murdered. “We sang songs like Ani Maamin, slow hartzig [heartfelt] melodies,” says Glasser. “We heard stories about the gedolim of Europe. The most important ingredient was emotion.”

Although many of the ’80s teens later brought the secular slam dancing fad to the Havdalah fervor, the spirit of the moment remained intact. Members of the regional board still hold the candles, eyes brimming with emotion; the music and story still touch the heart, and the swaying arm-in-arm camaraderie continues. “You feel connected, soul to soul,” says Rabbi Dave Felsenthal, director of NextGen. “It’s like we’re all on a mission to make the world a better place, to strive in Judaism and come closer to Hashem.”

With the 1990s and Y2K, came meteoric advances in

communication technology, hijacking the teenage attention span. NCSY promptly cranked up its Havdalah voltage. They tweaked the traditional order: instead of starting with something slow and emotive, segueing into the powerful speech, reciting Havdalah and striking up the band after the final brachah, the dancing now starts in the middle of Havdalah, in the dark. “Teens needed to get more energy out sooner,” says Rabbi Glasser. The stories are shorter; the messages more direct. “These are slight strategic shifts to address where the kids are. We’re dealing with a more concrete and empirical generation.”

Six decades since that first extended flame, the teenage neshamah yet responds to NCSY’s signature Havdalah. Despite the fact that today’s teens are technologically-possessed, they are still connecting to its spiritual power. “They don’t have their phones in hand, and they’re

coming off a Shabbos of incredible togetherness, learning and laughter,” says Micah Greenland, NCSY international director. “There’s an electricity in the air. It’s like catching lightning in a bottle.”

“When you have the zechut to lead an NCSY Havdalah, to look out at hundreds of kids who are closing their eyes and singing their hearts out, it gives you confidence in the future of the Jewish people,” says Rabbi Glasser. “Our generation of youth is not beyond an extraordinary spiritual moment. The power of the music, the storytelling, going through a transformative Shabbos experience together with other teens, discovering who you are through that experience − that’s what energizes the Havdalah. That experience catapults teens to that magical moment when they look inside and say, ‘I could do more.’”

____________________

Bayla Sheva Brenner is a staff writer at the Orthodox Union.

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The college years are often about journeying out into the world and finding that one thing that speaks to you. And for many people, the map to their ultimate destination is quite different from the one they’d originally envisioned. The remarkable stories of Rabbi David and Ariel Pardo are perfect examples.

In truth, their journey began

in high school. Both David and Ariel grew up in California in traditional households that slowly grew closer to Orthodoxy. Both attended public school, Ariel through grade school

and David through his high school years. “I used to keep my kippah in my pocket,” says Rabbi Pardo about his earlier years. “Then I started at NCSY and over one of the summers I wore my kippah the whole time.” From that summer on, he started wearing his kippah proudly. “I was made fun of, my friends called it antediluvian, but I refused to take it off. It was like I’d made a statement about Judaism

and I couldn’t stomach going back on it.”

Both Ariel a n d D a v i d became integral parts of the Jewish Learning Initiative on

Campus (JLIC) at UCLA where they met Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan. “Two other girls and I were the only frum girls living on campus,” recalls Ariel. “We’d host

Shabbos meals that sometimes drew a dozen people. I really liked doing that.”

But when each began at UCLA, the idea of “JLIC couple, Rabbi David and Ariel Pardo” wasn’t yet a thought.

Originally there was to be David Pardo the economist and Ariel Pardo the orthodontist. But these plans, like many visions of the future that young students bring with them to university, changed. After an internship, Ariel realized that dentistry wasn’t for her. For David, an internship with Meryl-Lynch clinched the idea of switching gears. “I had a sort of quarter-life crisis,” he says. “I looked back at college – and it seemed like everything I loved about the experience had to do with the Jewish community on campus. It all meant so much to me; I couldn’t let it become just some hobby that I’d leave behind.”

Just like that, the plans changed. David decided to attend Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York and, a year into his studies, he and a friend went to Israel where he resumed learning. David and Ariel started dating during that time. “At first it was over Skype,” recalls Rabbi Pardo, “then I flew back to America for three weeks and we dated. The next time I flew back, I proposed.”

all Mapped out

How a JLIC couple carved out their own

winding path to a fulfilling life mission

By ArI ZIegLer

JLIC UCLA: 2009 –

Ariel is at extreme

left, David Pardo on the right.

Ariel Pardo speaks to students at Brandeis JLIC.


“It’s funny,” says Ariel. “I used to tell people that I didn’t want to marry a rabbi or live in Israel, and I ended up marrying a rabbi and living in Israel for three

years!” During those three years, Rabbi Pardo studied for semichah at YU’s Gruss Kollel and worked at Torat Shraga and Isralight in the Old City. Ariel was also studying and attending classes at Touro.

After their stint in Israel, the Pardos moved to Toronto for a year, during which time David worked at “The House” (an independent organization catering to young adults that works closely with the Federation, Birthright, and March of the Living.) It was there that the idea of working with the JLIC became a potential reality. “We were at our Shabbos table and we were just talking about mundane things, like housekeeping and cleaning; then we looked at each other, and decided together that we had to get back to a college setting. That’s when it became real,” says Ariel.

The next year they were offered the position as the JLIC couple at Brandeis University (Massachusetts) where they could inspire others the same way they had been inspired at UCLA.

And they hit the ground running. On an “average day,” Rabbi Pardo explains, “we have student chavrusas, go to the cafeteria and talk to students over lunch, schedule shiurim at night, and coordinate holiday and general events with the Hillel and the Brandeis Orthodox

Organization (BOO). But there’s nothing ‘average’ about it!”

Both Rabbi Pardo and Ariel agree that the most important part of their job is their presence on campus and their availability to students. They’re there to uplift, educate, listen, and advise the students who wouldn’t otherwise have access to Jewish, let alone religious, role models and mentors.

“College is a time of exploration, and on a secular campus your beliefs are challenged,” says Ariel. “You want to make it possible for students to come to you with their questions, especially the tough ones. They have to know that you will accept them and work with them. It’s okay for them to have doubts. I took a biblical criticism course at UCLA and my head was filled with doubts. Those doubts drove me to look for answers, which ended up strengthening my Judaism.”

“The cool thing about the job,” says Rabbi Pardo, “is that the students’ needs vary widely. We deal with everything from interpersonal issues, family issues, and common halachic questions to really profound spiritual questions and controversial issues.”

A diverse range of students come to the Pardos seeking mentoring, advice, or just a friendly, welcoming face. But the couple has created a sense of community despite these disparities. “We have students who went to yeshivah in Israel for two years, and we have students who heard Havdalah for the first time with us. Everyone is unified and heterogeneous. We keep it all together,” Ariel notes.

“We once planned a Shabbaton for a Shabbos when it wasn’t going

to rain so we could use the yard. And then it rained anyway. We crammed eighty undergraduates into the nooks and crannies of the house. But everyone loved it and we got so much positive feedback!”

Their road from students inspired by JLIC’s work on campus to being an important and ever-flowing source of that inspiration has been full of changes and unplanned pit stops. “Make plans,” advises Rabbi Pardo. “Plans are great, but be ready for them to change and for things to be even better than you planned. Focus on doing good and you’ll be happy.”

And what does the future have in store for the Pardos? “We still have the cool factor on campus so we can stick around Brandeis,” says Ariel. “Right now, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

____________________

Ari Ziegler is a digital marketing associate at the OU’s NextGen Division and a group leader for OU Israel Free Spirit. A graduate of Brooklyn College, CUNY, he often still works with JLIC on the Brooklyn College campus. He’s also a novelist working on publishing his first two books.

“Plans are great, but be ready for them to change and for things to be even better than you planned. Focus on doing good and you’ll be happy.”

A Brandeis class

Rabbi Pardo addresses students at Brandeis JLIC.

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fifteen years ago, when Michael Steinhardt

and Charles Bronfman wanted to find a way to foster a sense of Jewish pride in American youth, they came up with an innovative program: Taglit Birthright Israel − a free, ten-day heritage trip to Israel for an immersive experience in the Jewish homeland. But first, they wanted different organizers to run pilot trips to test whether this was an idea worth its salt.

“The Orthodox Union applied to be one of the trip organizers, and after a lengthy process, we were chosen,” recalls Rabbi Dave Felsenthal, founding director of the OU’s Taglit-Birthright Israel: Israel Free Spirit and director of NextGen. “We ran a great trip, and we’ve been doing it ever since.”

As one of sixteen North American trip organizers, the OU Israel Free Spirit trips have perfected the art of the experience in a way that puts an emphasis on the spiritual and educational, a natural extension of the kind of inspirational outreach work done by the OU’s NCSY and its public school offshoot, the Jewish Student Union (JSU).

“We offer much more than the typical Birthright Israel trip. In addition to adding extra fun activities, we introduce participants to spirituality and Jewish values. It’s no wonder they give us top rankings for both the physical and spiritual aspects of this trip,” says “Rabbi Dave.

“I think what sets Israel Free Spirit trips apart are the resources we invest above what’s required. We’re not looking to make a profit, we’re simply looking to touch people’s neshamot and make a real difference in the way they relate to their Judaism and Israel.”

While the program used to average less than ten trips a year, thanks to its excellent reputation, that number has grown tremendously. This past year, IFS ran fifty-eight trips. Approximately forty North Americans participate on each trip, and they are joined by eight Israeli participants. And while Birthright Israel still inspires a deeper Jewish identity in participants who’ve had little to no formal Jewish education and background, its reach now extends to inspire a love for Israel for those who have been in Jewish day schools and yeshivot since kindergarten.

“Even people who are strongly connected Jewishly and live a religious lifestyle could often use an experience that demonstrates life

israel Free spirit: A Different Kind of Birthright Trip

By Tova Ross


in contemporary Israel and its r ich culture,” explains Scott Shulman, program director of Israel Free Spirit. “We see Birthright Israel trips as an amazing gift that should be for as many people as possible − from those who have no idea what being a Jew means to those who grew up fully observant but never had this kind of experience in Israel.”

Because of the diversity of participants, Israel Free Spirit trips are always organized for specific groups, catering to each with cultural sensitivity. Of course, all trips include hallmark experiences such as going to the Kotel on Friday night and a moving Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony at Masada.

Believe it or not, for some people it takes more than a free trip to Israel to get them there, and that’s where niche trips come into the picture. These customized tours are tailored to people who may need a bit more convincing to visit the Jewish homeland. “In addition to the goal of a standard Israel Free Spirit trip, these niche trips additionally offer a connection to a specific, innovative industry that highlights some of Israel’s amazing talent,” says Shulman. Examples of highly successful niche trips include an Arts and Entertainment trip with visits to Israeli performing artists, and a High Tech trip featuring a visit to Google. The Media trip demonstrates how so much of what goes on in Israel is blurred in the mainstream Western news media. These specialized itineraries capture the interest and imagination of each participant precisely because they emphasize something of specific interest to them.

Israel Free Spirit trips for observant Jews renew

their sense of purpose to their observance, or even crystalize a burgeoning plan to one day make Aliyah. That’s the case of Elissa Nechemia, 25, who participated in an Israel Free Spirit trip three years ago. “Time passes differently

when you’re on a Birthright Israel trip,” said Nechemia. “The ten days my peers and I spent in Israel felt more like two or three months because we did so much each day. I had the time of my life, and it’s something that I’ll never forget.” Nechemia not only now plans to make Aliyah in the near future, she is also determined to secure a job with Birthright to staff future trips and enable others to have the same powerful experience she had.

“There’s nothing quite like a niche Birthright trip,” said Avital Chizhik, a journalist and regular contributor to Haaretz who accompanied two media trips organized

by Israel Free Spirit. “I’ll never forget the participants’ excitement, the way they looked at Israel through a lens so perfectly suited to them as artists, thinkers, creators, commentators. They were encouraged to see Israel in

both its totality, its epic stories and beauties, as well as in its smallness − the little moments, interactions with Israelis, images, smells, sounds. When you can relate to Israel in your own language, with your own special lens, whether it’s art or film or writing, it becomes all the more vibrant. I hope

that our trip participants will be returning to Israel on many more occasions, as well as bringing Israel closer to home by recreating it in their work wherever they are.”

For more information about Israel Free Spirit trips, call us at 212.613.8299, email [email protected] or visit israelfreespirit.com/Reunion ____________________

Tova Ross is a freelance writer for publications including Tablet Magazine, Kveller, The Jewish Week, and The Forward, among others. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

“We’re not looking to make a profit, we’re simply looking to touch people’s neshamot and make a real difference in the way they relate to their Judaism and Israel.”

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alumniSPOTLIGHT By Charlotte Friedland

The daughter of a pediatric oncologist in Baltimore, Leora has always been interested in medicine, though her goal is not to become a physician. Instead, she spent the last seven years developing Music is Medicine to help children stricken with serious illnesses overcome their fear and despair.

If you’ve done the math, you’ve computed that Leora started this service project while

still in high school at the age of fifteen. She and her older sister, who recently completed medical school, had grown up very much aware of the needs of ill children. Musically gifted – they both play the guitar, sing, and write songs – they decided to play a concert for a group of hospitalized children. When they saw tears dissolve into laughter, they realized their potential to make patients

happy. Over time, they began to work with the children, writing original songs for each one based on the child’s interests; and then they watched the impact of their personalized gift with wonder, as each child emerged from downcast “patient mode” to happy, playful childhood. “We were fortunate,” she says,” that we were given grants to continue the work, even while still in high school.”

At Princeton, Leora grew this creative pastime into a full-fledged non-profit; acquiring grants from Princeton and beyond; partnering with Johns Hopkins to raise funds for cancer research and implementing new projects. Music is Medicine took on a life of its own after Leora created Donate a Song, a program that drew in musical artists from across the country to write, sing and perform personalized songs for patients. Drew Seeley was the first to be involved in this project, and the list grew rapidly, ultimately including Glee’s Darren Criss, Sam Tsui and Elle Winter, among many others. (Original songs created for Music is Medicine, and much more, can be found at musicismed.org. Funds from downloads are donated to

Leora FriedmanJlic alumna Talented, resourceful, and wise beyond her years, Leora Friedman looks to the future with bright ambition. Now a graduate of Princeton University, she has just begun a twelve-month fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation. Her modesty about her achievements matches her passion for her highly successful project, Music is Medicine.


cancer research.) Leora and her organization took on celebrity status. She was interviewed numerous times in numerous venues (including Forbes), received prestigious awards and accolades, and was flooded with emails from teens and musicians volunteering to start branches in their local communities; but Leora never lost sight of her mission.

From her hard-earned successes, Leora discovered that she had a keen interest in entrepreneurship. She began thinking of the astounding contributions to mankind that could be possible. She became truly inspired when she realized that she could combine her business acumen and leadership skills with worthwhile humanitarian projects. Though the precise roadmap was unclear, that ambition gave her direction in life.

But no individual can build a dream alone. Leora found critical support and friendship from her friends in the Jewish community at Princeton. JLIC was a huge component of her Jewish life, along with Chabad. Leora had come from Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, which is religiously diverse, and she found an even more pluralistic Jewish community at Princeton. Yet at first, finding her way was a bit daunting. “That first week as a freshman, I would have felt lost without JLIC. But I was lucky to quickly find a group of friends through JLIC. The rabbi and his wife are both role models and friends; they run Jewish educational programs, give shiurim, and invite us over for Shabbat meals. It’s truly an amazing program!

“In college, your identity forms a lot. I love to sing, so it was very important to me that my JLIC friends were so supportive of my music. In addition to working on Music is Medicine, I joined an

acappella group called Koleinu, and my JLIC friends turned up to all of our concerts.”

Motivated to crystalize her Jewish identity further, Leora went to Israel in the summer of 2012 with the Taglit-Birthright Israel: OU Israel Free Sprit program. She had never been to Israel and the experience enabled her to integrate her cultural identity, her relationship with Israel, her spirituality and her faith. “It was only ten days, but it felt like so much more,” she recalls. All of the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to come together; her motivations became clearer and better defined.

“I believe that everything I care about is rooted in Judaism,” she reflects, “my appreciation of people and respect for humanity, the drive to do good, wanting to make the most of what I’ve been given by God. Everything I do is rooted in my faith.

“In life we have choices and they can be good, bad or neutral. The goal is to make as many good choices as possible, and to transform the bad or neutral ones to good. My way is to take things that may seem bad and turn them into something positive.”

Nothing Leora learned about Judaism on campus or off was lost on her. “It’s important to make sure your values impact on your personal life and with your family,” she states firmly. “The next stage is to use them to help other people.”

Leora’s practical use of her well-absorbed Jewish values will take different forms in the future. Somewhat surprisingly, she does

not see herself as the eternal CEO of Music is Medicine. She spent this past summer participating in the 2014 eLab Summer Accelerator Program at Princeton University’s Keller Center with the goal of

growing her organization, to make it sustainable and less dependent on grants. It’s true that for most of her teen and adult life, she put an endless number of hours into building Music is Medicine, and through it met “some of the most gracious and special people in the world, especially patients and their families.” Yet she is not a candidate for “founder’s syndrome” − a common tendency of founders of businesses and organizations to hold onto their leadership at all costs and resist change. Laughing lightly, she says “For an organization to succeed, its original leader must be able to move on and transfer authority to someone else.”

And she has every intention of doing so. Leora is not sure where the future will lead her, but she does know it will have to do with using her abundant passion for helping people. And there is no doubt that wherever she goes, she will take along her commitment to Judaism, her guitar, and her loving heart.

“It’s important to make sure your values impact on your personal life and with your family.”

Darren Criss and Leora promoting MiM at the MTV Video Music Awards

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But that’s all behind him now. “I loved football for nine years,” he reflects, “but I’m not ready to give the rest of my life to it. My life revolved around eating and lifting weights.” In fact, Misha’s life has taken a decidedly more contemplative turn. Now he thinks in terms of his spiritual development and pinning down the values that are meaningful to him.

It all started on his trip to Israel this past winter with the OU’s Taglit-Birthright Israel Free Spirit. “I learned a lot about myself on that trip,” Misha recalls. “I was surprised by how much there was to learn about Jewish culture and religion, surprised by the strange feeling of being in a place where you are surrounded by enemies. Somehow, peoples’ values are different there and there’s this intense feeling that universal truths are waiting to be discovered.”

alumniSPOTLIGHT

Misha daniloviFs alumnusThe son of prominent research scientists who were invited to the University of Wisconsin, Misha was brought from St. Petersburg as an infant and raised in Madison. An able student, he quickly absorbed American culture and proved himself in football, moving from high

school stardom to a position as offensive lineman for the Northern Iowa Panthers. There was challenge and glory, and endless

hours of practice.


Misha fondly remembers the rabbi who accompanied the trip. “He taught me everything I know about Judaism, in ten days.” He remembers the impact of the rabbi’s statement to the group: “God is taking our hand through our first baby steps in this land.” Misha had always felt an association with Judaism, but had never observed any of its practices. “This was definitely my first experience of a Shabbat. I had never had a Bar Mitzvah, but I did during this trip − on top of Masada,” referring to the ancient mountain fortress remembered as the last stand of heroic Jewish fighters.

Somehow, every experience on that trip – planned or not – found its way into Misha’s soul. “There are no coincidences in life,” he explains, “so when we were snowed in at the hotel, literally stuck there, it was beautiful! Everyone started connecting, talking about themselves, and everything clicked.”

One morning, on a trip through the desert, a leader of the tour pulled them out of the Bedouin tents where they had been staying. “She made us look, really look, at the stillness of the desert. There is nothing to see, nothing to hear. And I thought, this is how people lived for centuries! I was seeing a different side of life.”

That started him thinking. “One of the things I learned from the rabbi is the importance of having a mentor, a guide. I didn’t have any notion of spirituality before. But now I knew that I needed to find guidance, and spirituality is guidance for the soul.”

Oddly enough, the seeds for this thought process began during his football years. Misha confesses that he was the typical high school athlete. “You’re a celebrity, and you think you have everything figured

out.” But there was a rude awakening in college football. Coach Rick Nelson, his offensive line coach, saw that Misha was n o t p l a c i n g e n o u g h impor t a n c e o n practicing. M o r e o v e r , like most high school stars, he “thought he was the whole team.” One day, during his sophomore year, “the coach put me in my place, publicly!” recalls Misha. It was a humbling experience, but after that, “there wasn’t a moment of football practice that I wasn’t trying to learn something. I learned that I was part of a team. In short,

I became coachable. You have to

accept the fact that someone knows

more than you.”

Today, that search for a

mentor has taken various turns.

Most recently, he went on a

three-week trip to Nepal which

included a twelve-day trek in the

mountains. “I had six or seven

hours to just think,” he says. “It

gave me time to reflect.”

And the search will continue. Misha recently moved to Philadelphia where he took a position as project manager of marketing and finance at Helix Medical Technologies, a company which is marketing a medical device invented by his father. “It’s a new life, a clean slate,” he beams. A challenging position, it will put his education in finance and organizational leadership to good use. But Misha has no intention of letting his work life get in the way of his pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. He is exploring Judaism further through the OU Partners in Torah program and in local Jewish groups. “Connecting with your soul takes effort, but it’s worth it,” asserts Misha, for “the soul is a part of God that is within us.”

“Connecting with your soul takes effort, but it’s worth it.”

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Avi graduated from Brooklyn College in 2011. During his college years, he was active in JLIC and president of the Orthodox Club, which coordinates activities with JLIC. To meet the challenge of engaging more students in campus Jewish activities, he worked closely with Rabbi

Reuven and Shira Boshnack, JLIC educators and advisors to the Orthodox Club. “They are terrific,” Avi attests, “they ran Thursday Mishmar, as well as weekly classes for guys and girls.” Some of those classes were co-ed, others gender specific, to accommodate differing comfort levels of the diverse body

of Jewish students. And he’s proud that during his time in college leadership they reached out to the Sephardic community and to Hillel, bringing in new groups to shiurim. Fabulous S h a b b a t o n i m drew toge ther people from other colleges, too, often totaling 100-125 participants. The

Shabbatonim were always packed with learning, warmth and fun. “And that’s the best way to meet new people,” says Avi.

As in out-of-town colleges, the dynamism, openness and sociability of the JLIC couple played the most crucial role in

alumniSPOTLIGHT

avi greenbergerJlic alumnusA college campus smack in the middle of a strong Jewish community can be a blessing, but the location also creates problems for student leaders. “At a commuter college campus, people don’t want to hang around after classes to meet new people,” explains Avi Greenberger, “so it’s hard to build a sense of community.”


forging a community of committed Jewish students. The Boshnacks always maintained an open house, welcoming all; they hosted Shabbat meals, entertaining their core of devoted students as well

as new faces, and drew them into their personal family as well. “When I went to their house, I even enjoyed talking to their children. Even though they were all under thirteen, these kids had college friends, and everybody was comfortable.”

Avi notes that an inevitable challenge faces the JLIC couple each year. They are constantly forming new friendships with incoming students, but they don’t want to lose touch with alumni either. “They do teach chasanim and kallahs [the Jewish laws of family purity to brides and grooms] so that’s one way they bridge the gap,” surmised Avi. “Of course, the current student body must be their main focus, but they do encourage alumni to stay in touch.”

And he does. It’s been seven years since Avi started Brooklyn College, and he stays connected to the JLIC community by attending the Shabbos Minyan every week. He looks forward to the annual Alumni Reunion BBQ, as even friends who have married and

moved away come back for this event. It’s a chance to share old times, and talk

about their current lives.

In Avi’s case, he gives his old buds the lowdown on Fox News and Fox Business where he is now a set technical director. He started at Fox News as an intern, then became a freelance teleprompter operator, and later moved up to his current position. “It’s live TV, so it’s really challenging,” he says. “You have to be on top of your game; any mistake you make is seen by everyone watching.” He credits his experience in Jewish leadership on the Brooklyn campus with empowering h i m t o m a k e quick decisions. “ W h e n y o u ’ r e running an event, you somet imes have to think fast. In my work, I often have to make split-second decisions; I know I can handle that.”

He doesn’t let the pressures of the job get to him. “It’s a lot of fun. I’ve been here four years now, and I still love it.” One of the big benefits is the fact that Avi never knows what celebrities he will meet. “Let’s see,” he thinks back, “among others, I’ve met Mike Tyson, Dr. Oz, Miss America…” The list is long.

Media work is never a 9-5 affair. Avi acknowledges that there are times when the hours are long

or inconvenient, though he does have a “normal workday” from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. And how does a religious Jew navigate an industry that often requires 24/7 availability? “So far, that hasn’t been a problem,” he maintains. “As an intern, I told them that I couldn’t come in on Shabbos, and they said they could work around that.” When he freelanced, he volunteered for every Sunday shift. “It’s never been an issue for me or for any of the handful of observant Jews who work here.”

Secure in his Judaism and content in his career, Avi looks back on the positive experiences of campus leadership with JLIC and the Orthodox Club, and looks forward to a future in the TV industry. “I need new challenges to stay motivated. Someday, I’d like to direct,” he muses. “But right now, I’m happy right where I am.”

He credits his experience in Jewish leadership on the Brooklyn campus with empowering him to make quick decisions.

Avi and Rabbi BoshnackPhoto Courtesy: @lillybeth930

The day Mike Tyson dropped in

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In short, Nina (née Novetsky) joined the Southfield Michigan chapter of NCSY when she was thirteen years old, and never left. Part of the reason she actively fundraises for NCSY and still sometimes attends a Regional Convention is that she later married Dan, the guy who was regional director when she was in her teens. “I was one of the kids who gave him grey hairs,” she quips. But let’s not get ahead of the story.

Looking back, Nina reflects that initially she joined NCSY because her older brother was an active member and she was struck by how all the older kids in her shul were involved. Once she was old enough to join, she found plenty of reasons to stay. “Part of the lure of NCSY in the ‘70s – back in the day before internet and email – was that we could get together with Jewish kids from other cities, even other states all across the country. That’s very

exciting to a teenager. We felt like we had friends everywhere. And that bond extended well beyond our teen years. I’m still in touch with NCSY friends. It’s really inspirational – today there are NCSY alumni across the country and around the world who will gladly open their homes to share

their Shabbat tables, as others did for us.”

Another facet of the attraction to NCSY, she recalls, was the transformational way it teaches about Judaism. Informal, warm, interactive and meaningful, the powerful messages of Torah

Judaism are absorbed by the teens at a pivotal stage of their lives. “Initially, I was interested in socializing, but became intellectually intrigued by what they were teaching us. I wasn’t going to easily accept anything new, though. I challenged my advisors constantly about Torah observance, looking for weaknesses in the system. Time and again, I was shown that my

ninaButlerncsY alumnaWhat started out as a passing curiosity in a great social program morphed into a life-long commitment to an organization that changed Nina Butler’s life.

“Today there are

NCSY alumni across

the country and

around the world who

will gladly open their

homes to share their

Shabbat tables.”

alumniSPOTLIGHT


ignorance was the problem, not something wrong with the Torah. I realized I simply had to learn more. And the more I learned, the more the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.”

That potent NCSY blend of components – a welcoming social ambience and dynamic intellectual challenge – has the same power today as it did back then. “And never underestimate the importance of peer support,” Nina says, noting that eventually many NCSYers intensify their Jewish commitment and observances. This result, of course, is the goal of NCSY, but the process can be perplexing and painful, particularly to the teens’ parents. “And that’s where NCSY can really help. First of all, NCSY takes great care to communicate a message of kibud av v’eim, genuinely honoring and respecting parents; but perhaps more importantly, we met other kids just like us, going through the same thing. NCSYers support one another− and along the way, they inspire one another. We had this sense that we’re all in this together, and there’s great strength in that.”

An important byproduct of that transformational experience is that former NCSYers have a past that opens them to respect other Jews, regardless of their current practice or affiliation. “Everyone is moving along the path; it’s not for us to judge anyone else. It’s clear

to me now that tolerance and respect for others is a key, enduring message of NCSY.” Nina sighs, “I wish we could export that value to the rest of the world.”

Maybe Nina can’t reach the entire world, but she is trying. The Butler family is distinguished in Pittsburgh for their outstanding hospitality and kiruv. People who would never have a Shabbat meal, university students, family, friends, all find their place at the Butler Shabbat table. “We’re not out to indoctrinate,” Nina chuckles. “We respect everyone. We simply answer questions. There’s no need for a hard sell because the product is so good!”

And it’s no secret that the place to be in Pittsburgh every summer is at the Butlers’ annual Garden Sizzler, “an adults-only gastronomic experience” held in their backyard to raise funds for NCSY. Serving dozens of succulent BBQ dishes and other tantalizing fare, the event attracts 300 people including local dignitaries and Jews of every stripe. “It’s a wild time and we are proud to host a wide cross-section of the Jewish community,” Nina says. “Some people would not know about NCSY in Pittsburgh without the Sizzler. They’re inspired and thrilled to support an organization that is so successful in turning teens on to leading committed Jewish lives.”

The example set by the Butlers has been so successful that other NCSY alumni are raising large sums for NCSY through their own BBQs in other cities. But

Nina and Dan’s is by far the most famous, and they will be happy to coach anyone who would like to emulate their event.

And how did they actually meet? “Mmm, I met Dan when I was a kid and he was regional director of NCSY,” recalls Nina. “Over the years we got better acquainted, so when I went to Stern College, I tried to fix him up with some friends. But I discovered he didn’t want me to fix him up; he was actually interested in me! We were engaged in only five weeks, probably because we had shared the NCSY experience for so long.”

The wedding of Dan and Nina Butler soared with lively NCSY ruach. And in the thirty-seven years since, their commitment to living a full, vibrant Torah life inspires all who know them − and keeps the NCSY banner flying high.

“There’s no need for a hard sell because the product is so good!”

Continued on...

a kiruv veteran’s perspective “We’ve been in Jewish outreach long enough to learn that God has long-range plans, spanning generations,” reflects nina Butler. “everyone who has been involved in this way has come across a kid who sim-ply didn’t take to the nCsY experience. He came once, maybe twice, but then dropped out. And you figure he’s lost. It’s discourag-ing and sad.

“But we’ve been around long enough to see an amazing phenomenon. now and then, a teen will come to his parents and say his friends want him to go to an nCsY event with them. And his father or mother will say, ‘oh, nCsY. I remember that. I went there myself when I was your age. You’ll have a good time!’ even though the parent didn’t stay with nCsY, the single encounter was so positive that it left good memories. they may even encourage their kids to go.

“so there’s a second chance. even if we think we lost one generation, we may be able to influence the next. We’ve had a peek into God at work.”

R


“I was straight out of yeshivah, and here I was in a co-ed scene watching public school kids hanging on to every word the rabbis uttered.”

And that experience changed his life. He came back enthralled, not only by what he had heard, but by what he had seen. “I was straight out of yeshivah, and here I was in a co-ed scene watching public school kids hanging on to every word the rabbis uttered.” They were grappling with the basics − with aleph bet − he realized, while

he had been privileged to grow up in an observant home and attend a yeshivah. Suddenly his entire outlook changed, and he wanted to share what he had with others. He’s been passionate about outreach ever since.

Back in those days, there was a thin line between the Yeshiva

University youth program and NCSY. It was through these organizations that he met the three most pivotal people in his life: Ivan Lerner, first regional director of Central East NCSY, who hired Dan as his assistant in 1971; Gary Torgow, the first NCSYer assigned to Dan, who became an invaluable friend and supporter; and Nina Novetsky, who later became Mrs. Dan

Butler. And he met all three on the same day.

It was at a Torah Leadership Seminar in December of 1970 that a few of Dan’s remarkable talents became known. The event was not going well and some advisors got together to see what they could do to salvage the weekend. On the spot, a skit was created, with Dan improvising as a Holocaust survivor (complete with European accent). “I cried, I screamed – the audience was mesmerized,” he says. From that day on, his intense, emotional, forty-minute bit was known as “the Nazi routine” and it became famous in NCSY. In 1975 he and Gary Torgow took it on the road, visiting summer camps coast to coast.

alumniSPOTLIGHT

dan ButlerncsY leadership

Dan Butler describes himself as a teen who had become lackadaisical about Judaism, though he had been a star student at the fledgling Yeshiva of Scranton in the 1960s. (“I was valedictorian – shows you how low the bar was back then,” he quips.) Fearful that his cynicism might reach toxic levels, his siblings insisted that he needed to recharge his spirituality at a Torah Leadership Seminar run by Yeshiva University at Camp Morasha. “All the heavy hitters of the kiruv scene were there – Rabbis Riskin and Weiss, as well as other charismatic leaders” recalls Dan. “And somehow, inexplicably, I had forgotten to bring my tefillin. They were all over me.”

Thousands of people have heard this man speak.

Better get in line.

Dan ButlerMotivating and inspiring with Jewish ideals.

Dan

But

ler :

Mot

ivat

iona

l Spe

aker

P.O

. Box

815

62Pi

ttsb

urgh

, PA

152

17

Booking inquiries

If you are looking to laugh, learn and be inspired Jewishly at your next conference, meeting or event, then Dan Butler is the

speaker you need.

For additional information, availability or pricing, please call

Dan Butler at (412) 427–6944.

You can also reach him by email at [email protected].

These are just a few of the words that have been used to describe Dan Butler’s presentations:

The guest presentation was extremely moving and inspirational. One phrase that stuck with me was “if everyone put their problems on the table, everyone would take theirs back.”

His story may not have made direct references to the laws and values of Judaism; however, this story did embody all the characteristics Jews should strive to be. These include being a mensch, caring about others, supporting your family, being a good role model, etc. We should also learn from this that we should not take our lives for granted. We are very blessed to live such healthy and happy lives.

I loved the way his story paralleled his faith in Judaism. It is incredible to see how just one person could affect so many others lives and how one small voice can change the way we look at the world.

Daniel suffered greatly and many unfair things seemed to happen to him, but he never seemed to question God or get angry with him. In fact, the opposite seemed to happen

Daniel’s presentation let me reflect on my own life and the challenges God has given me, though none are comparable to the trauma in Daniel’s life.

His story was inspiring. Although it was very sad, he told the story with such hope and faith in the Jewish people. I was overwhelmed with emotion, not just because of the sadness of the story, but also because of the power of the Jewish people.

He was very captivating and emotional throughout his entire speech. He did not lose my attention for a second, and really made me feel grateful that everything that I have. He was an amazing speaker from start to finish.

I was so moved by the guest presentation! It really made me think about how lucky I am to just have the basic functions as a human. It was so amazing...

Not only did I think the story was incredible, but I just found him to be an unbelievable story teller. He had me completely mesmerized from beginning to end and you could see and feel all his emotion. However, I thought the best part was how he re-iterated some strong points in Judaism that really answered my “why do bad things happen to good people” question - he said “Sometimes G-d says yes, sometimes he says no, but he always listens” and I think that is a great way to think about a person’s relationship to G-d. ...

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In fact, at a Shabbaton in Cleveland in the 1980s, he was on the scene when NCSY advisors were puzzling over how to break through to an audience of cold, unreceptive kids. “Should I do the Nazi routine?” Dan asked Rabbi Stolper, receiving an enthusiastic affirmative answer. Unfamiliar with the skit, the person running the event didn’t like the sound of that idea. “Trust me,” Rabbi Stolper told him, “it’s the best thing we’ve got!” Dan did it that night − and it worked.

Lately he’s moved on to more contemporary presentations. “I was never an NCSYer, but if your grandma was in NCSY, I was probably her advisor,” Dan tells young audiences today. He recounts his professional involvement with NCSY as though he has done it a thousand times. Ivan Lerner, as mentioned, had seen that Dan had innumerable talents and hired him as his assistant when Dan was only nineteen years old. Later, when Ivan retired from the position, Dan became regional director.

Dan was recognized as one of the dynamite leaders that kept NCSY growing. Naturally, he became close to Rabbi Pinchas Stolper while the latter was still national director of NCSY. At one point, when Dan was thinking of leaving his position at NCSY, Rabbi Stolper dragged him into the office of Rabbi Berel Wein, then executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, hoping Rabbi Wein would convince him to stay. What followed clearly delineated the characteristic styles

of these two leading figures. “Rabbi Stolper, in his fluid, effusive way, began to wax poetic about my impact on NCSY,” recalls Dan, “but Rabbi Wein held up his hand and said, ‘Spare us the Klal Yisrael speech. Danny, are you going to stay or not?’”

Eventually, he went to law school, but outreach was never far from Dan’s thoughts. He remained actively involved in NCSY, going to Shabbatonim and conventions, raising money and encouraging others to do likewise.

But wait, that’s not all. In his varied career he has been a college professor, a weekly syndicated columnist, a judicial law clerk, a prosecutor and a family court hearing officer. For eleven years, Dan (or rather, the Honorable Daniel Butler) served as a judge of the Municipal Court of Pittsburgh. Additionally, after ten years on Pittsburgh’s semi-weekly Domestic Violence Court, his

participation in national judicial domestic violence seminars under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice earned him the approbation of the National Conference of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. He and Nina were both Community Service Awardees of the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh.

In his spare time, Dan is an Executive Board member of the Orthodox Union and has spoken in dozens of cities as a Scholar-in-Residence in its behalf. Not surprisingly, his blend of experience, insight and humor make him highly sought after as a motivational speaker. He speaks an average of once a week, sometimes as a motivational speaker, other times to fundraise for NCSY or HASC.

He credits Nina with not only keeping the home fires burning, but for inspiring all who know her (including him) with her devotion to outreach and chesed. “Nina is a chesed machine,” Dan remarks,

and he can pinpoint when her most challenging activities began. With the first liver transplant at a Pittsburgh hospital in the 1980s, Pittsburgh became “the transplant capital of the world.” Patients streamed in, including

some who were Jewish, but there were few local kosher accommodations back then. Nina and Dan joined venerable Orthodox Union activist and officer, Donald Butler, a”h, and his wife Chantze (Dan’s uncle and aunt who lived next door), who spearheaded “Friends of Jewish Patients” to provide kosher food

and respite to patients and their families. Moreover, they put up those families in their own home, sometimes for months, while the patient waited for a lifesaving organ to be available.

Nina caters to their needs with her usual grace and easygoing ambience. Hosting people in such desperate circumstances has both upsides and downsides, particularly when the medical efforts are not successful. On those occasions, the small group of local hosts must help the families cope, offering solace with care and sensitivity.

On occasion, the Butlers’ guest patients have joined hundreds of locals who annually attend the Butler’s NCSY Garden Sizzler event. (This year’s was their 23rd.) One of them even “benched Gomel” at the BBQ. And that’s because the Butlers draw everyone they know into their lives and into the causes dear to their hearts.

It’s a Jewish value they developed through their NCSY years and beyond, a value they have passed along not only to their children, but to thousands of people who have been fortunate enough to meet them. ____________________

Charlotte Friedland is the editor of Reunion.

Outreach was never far from Dan’s thoughts.

R


Preserving Our NCSY Legacy


hat began as a personal quest will result in a historical record of one

of the most successful Jewish outreach efforts in

the history of the American Jewish community.

It all started at last year’s Ben Zakkai Dinner, the evening celebrating NCSY’s prestigious honor society. Rabbi Yehoshua Marchuck, director of OU Alumni Connections, sought out Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, who had been NCSY’s first national

director in 1959 and nursed the organization through its infancy to the global teen-led outreach effort that it is today.

Rabbi Stolper’s extraordinary vision of the potential power of a teen Torah outreach organization ran counter to the prevailing assimilationist winds of the era. “The map of America could be redrawn if one only had the willpower and stomach to buck the tide,” Rabbi Stolper wrote at the time.

Rabbi Marchuck’s quest was a personal one. He had grown up in a traditional Jewish home, became involved with NCSY as a teenager and has been active in outreach and Jewish education ever since. He passionately felt that it is time to document the founding and growth of this dynamic youth movement which over the years had, as Rabbi Stolper predicted, snatched thousands of teens from sterile Jewish lives and brought them into the warm sphere of Torah observance. “No one has greater historical knowledge about NCSY than Rabbi Stolper,” he explained.

Rabbi Stolper agreed to do the video interview, but had one concern: it would be a bit difficult to meet, since he had moved from the east coast to Chicago. Two months later, while attending a regional convention in the area, Rabbi Marchuck visited Rabbi Stolper in his home. The two spent

hours talking and Rabbi Marchuck captured it all on videotape.

Rabbi David Felsenthal, the director of the Orthodox Union’s NextGen division, quickly realized the importance of the effort. From that initial interview, he decided to broaden the idea to reaching out to many who were involved in the first few years of NCSY − as advisors or NCSYers. He felt that there are so many people whose stories must be told, before they are lost to the next generation. The plan is to post the videos to a YouTube channel dedicated to the topic.

Rabbi Felsenthal also had a specific model in mind. “We want to pattern it after the testimonials of the Shoah,” he said. “Everybody always says the NCSY stories are unbelievable. But they are believable to those who lived them, and an inspiration to all who hear them. It’s time we preserved those stories so they can be shared.”

“The history of American Jewry cannot avoid a chapter titled ‘NCSY,’” Rabbi Marchuck added. “The Orthodox Jews of America owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to NCSY.”

Rabbi Felsenthal also believes that the video archive is in line with NCSY’s overall goals. “Our mission is to empower and impassion Jewish teens, but this video archive will impassion the older generation as well. We’re showing them how valuable they are and how

valuable their experiences are.”

During the landmark interview, the most important moment for Rabbi Marchuck was when he asked Rabbi Stolper if he feels he has seen NCSY’s lasting impact.

“Some people plant seeds and never see anything,” Rabbi Stolper said with emotion. “[After all these years] I look around and see a forest.”

____________________

Michael Orbach is a staff writer at the Orthodox Union.

Whether you want to show off your bouffant hairdo or your bell-bottom jeans, NCSY wants your old photographs for the first-ever NCSY photo archive.

“In general, everyone looks at NCSY through his own prism,” explained Rabbi Yehoshua Marchuck. “When people say NCSY to me, I think of Long Island from 1986-2000. That’s NCSY to me. But speak to someone in New Jersey who is five years younger, and you will find a different perspective.”

After a flood destroyed the basement of the Long Island NCSY office where many photographs were kept, Rabbi Marchuck insisted that the time had come to archive whatever precious photos can be found. The idea developed along with plans to commemorate NCSY’s sixtieth anniversary.

“The photo archive aims to capture what makes NCSY unique to each generation,” commented Duvi Stahler, NCSY’s director of marketing. “By providing an online gallery, NCSY alumni can reconnect with their experience no matter where they are now.” Essentially, the archive will recreate each era, effectively chronicling the growth of a significant segment of the Orthodox community.

More than 1500 photos have been submitted so far. Members of OU’s Yachad vocational program and interns have begun scanning the photos.

Eventual plans include broadening the archive to social media platforms so as to allow people to identify themselves and find their friends in the photographs. Rabbi Marchuck noted that there is a deeper, personal drive behind the photo archive. “To many of us, NCSY is family; and just like families have photo albums, this archive is our family album.”

If you have photo(s) to share with the NCSY archive, contact [email protected].

R


A great way to get a little Erev Shabbat inspiration is with a short dvar Torah video by fellow alumni, rabbis, or teachers from NCSY or JLIC. One week, you might hear a shiur from the Rosh Yeshivah of a Kollel in Toronto, the next from a JLIC educator in California, or an NCSY advisor in New York. While reconnecting recent alumni to their mentors, to older alumni, as well as to NCSY legends, the videos also serve as a kesher between NCSYers preparing to choose a college and the JLIC family that may well be their best conduit to Jewish life on campus.

Using YouTube as a platform to host divrei Torah as of Shavuot this year, NCSY Alumni and guests have recorded more than fifty-four “Thinking J” short videos, with a cumulative run-time of just over five hours. But no need to watch them all at once; each week a new video (each running about five minutes) can fuel your inspiration. Find it or subscribe for free at Alumni.NCSY.org or at YouTube.com/NCSYAlumni.

NCSY’s founding director, Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, and current international director, Rabbi Micha Greenland,

have contributed videos, as well as other dynamic educators, advisors, and directors.

A few excerpts:

How is Jewish Time like a Circle? Rabbi Micah Greenland, International Director of NCSY

“We’re used to thinking of the calendar as a line, that every point on that line is a brand new point that we’re experiencing for the very first time. …In fact...we’re experiencing a day in Jewish history; it’s that date that we’re re-experiencing. The inherent nature of that day is so…valuable for us to keep in mind.”

Tapping into the Inner Fire for Lag B’Omer, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan - JLIC UCLA Educator

“Rabbi Akiva somehow found strength and said ‘Even though I lost 24,000 students, I will

not give up hope. I will look to the future…’ Lag B’Omer is to celebrate Rabbi Akiva’s courage…he found inner strength when most people would have given up, and he taught new students. We celebrate the continuation of our mesorah; we can study the Torah because Rabbi Akiva didn’t give up hope.”

Will You Chase the Pack or Are You Being Chased? Parshat Tazriah, Rabbi Lashak,

Southwest NCSY

“The reason why the human was created last is because the human

is the most important thing. It’s like at a wedding − the bride is the last to show up because she is the most important one. So when Hashem created the world, first He created all the animals and then created the humans to show that the purity of humans is so much greater.”

What’s Your Har Sinai Moment? Parshat Terumah, Shira Neuman, JLIC Educator at UMD Hillel

“Perhaps what the Ramban is trying to teach us is that all it takes is one

memory of our own Har Sinai moment to put us in the right frame of mind for prayer...our Har Sinai

moment is anytime you feel a connection to God.”

How Do You Define Holiness? Parshat Kedoshim, Rabbi Dov Emerson, Head of School, YULA HS

“What makes an activity p roh ib i t ed is not the activity itself, but rather the context it falls into…the goal is to

strive for kedushah… The mission of kedushah is challenging. In a certain sense it would be much easier to live in a world where everything was off limits. Instead we are charged by God to engage with the world around us, to benefit from all it has to offer, but to do so in the framework of Jewish law, in a manner that elevates ourselves and brings us closer to God.” R

Can you offer an absorbing parshah thought, a fresh vort? New divrei Torah are always welcome! If you would like to record a video, please email alumni@ncsy.

org or call (212) 613-8349.

____________________

Ari Klickstein is an alumni associate of OU Alumni Connections.

It’s all at YouTube.com/NCSYAlumni | By Ari Klikstein


ou alumni

Connections

in action!

The goal of the OU Alumni Connections

department is to create bridges for graduates of OU

programs to authentic Jewish experiences,

while linking them to their old friends. To do so,

OU Alumni sends out biannual gift packages

on Jewish holidays; gives alumni priority

status on Taglit Birthright-Israel: Israel Free

Spirit trips, partners with other organizations

to provide opportunities to travel internationally on

highly subsidized programs to Israel, Thailand, and

Germany; sends out weekly divrei Torah videos;

places interns on multiple college campuses to

facilitate reunions; and much, much more. OU

Alumni programs ensure that alumni can integrate

their secular life with their Jewish life throughout

their college years.

<< Team Alumni celebrated its second year running with Team Yachad this past February, raising funds not only for Yachad, but for the OU Alumni Connections Department as well. In 2014, the team raised almost $10,000.

Team Alumni running for Team Yachad, February 2014.

Left to right: Melanie Goldberg, Rabbi Dave Felsenthal, Rabbi Jack Abramowitz

alumni Connections instituted internships at campuses throughout

the US and Canada that are highly populated

with former NCSYers. Alumni interns ensure

that the NCSY experience doesn’t stop at high

school graduation: their goal is to foster unity

by reaching out to their campus’ NCSY Alumni,

facilitating connections by linking them to

Jewish life on campus and by hosting events

each semester.

Queens College Chanukah 2013 Queens College NCSY Alumni, left to right: Heather Mishelle, Shoshana Leshaw, Sara Wolkenfeld [NCSY Alumni Intern 2013-2014]

Maccabeats at Queens College Chanukah 2013 Leora Margelovich, Yael Kaplan and friends


Ski Trip to Mohawk Mountain, Connecticut. JLIC at Yale University, Winter 2014.Left to right, back row: Noah Simmons, Rachel Miller, Leon Ebani, Josh Fitt, Ezra HusneyFront: Danny Ulman, Jonathan Ellison, Rabbi Noah Cheses

Waffle Bar Event at Rutgers University, April 2014.Rutgers NCSY Alumni, left to right, Jonathan Tamarov, Shifra Isaacs, Rachel Ullman, Talia Friedman and Susan Teplinski with JLIC Rebbetzin Nataly Weiss (second from right)

Simply Tsfat Concert at Yale University, Fall 2013.

Want nCSY alumni events at your campus? Email [email protected] and we’ll help!

The first step towards a more fluid transition between high

school and post high school life for teenagers from the NCSY

public school and Modern Orthodox communities is provided by

NCSY Alumni 12th Grade Specialists. Alumni specialists continue

where NCSY ends by attending events on college campuses

with both the newly-graduated NCSYers and students who have

just returned from gap-year programs.

Post-Passover Pizza Party at Brandeis University, 2014Shani Weiner, Leah Naghi

Alumni Dinner at University of Guelph, Fall 2013

On the near side of the table: left to right, Mitch Canes, Intern Daniel Goldberg, (If

you know who the third guy is, let us know!) Isaac Rose (standing). Far side of the

table: left to right, Adam Verk, Aaron Hoffer, Amanda

Cait, Jody Steinman.


Rabbi Marchuck addressing NCSY alumni leaders at the OU Israel Center

A reunion is held at the OU Israel Center

in Jerusalem every spring for recent NCSY

regional board alumni in Israel during their gap

year. Director of Alumni Connections, Rabbi

Yehoshua Marchuck advises the recent alumni

about how they can take their leadership

training and Torah education and bring it to

the next level once they

return to their college

campuses in North

America. nCSY alumni

Israel Reunion

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, third from the left, met with two West Coast NCSY Alumni currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Fifth from the left is Sam Marrow from Los Angeles; sixth is Sagi Hebron from San Diego.

Twice a year, OU Alumni Connections sends holiday-themed campus packages (prepared with help from the OU’s Yachad Vocational Program), along with a survey, to all our alumni. In addition to being a great way to stay in touch, we gain the most recent inside info about Jewish life on many campuses and receive updated listings for the ‘Jewniversity Resources’ map app, available on iOS and Android devices. This year, over 1,300 people responded to the Alumni survey. This feedback helps us assess the needs of Jewish students on many campuses.

Sign up to receive campus packages by emailing [email protected].

Download the campus resources app at www.bit.ly/JewUMap

Campus packages include Chanukah candles.


TraVeL!ou alumni

ThailandWith one of Alumni Connections’

partner organizations, Justifi,

alumni participate each

summer on a trip to Thailand

to promote social justice. While

they explore the positive cultural

and historical treasures Thailand

has to offer, they are also

witness to the damage caused

by human trafficking. For two

weeks, participants volunteer

in a school teaching English to

Thai children, empowering the

children to lead better lives in the

future. Participants are recruited

from January-May from JLIC

campuses, NCSY Alumni, and

former IFS participants.

GermanyEvery summer, OU Alumni and

Orthodox young professionals

travel to Germany on a program

called “Germany Close Up.” They

visit the Jewish communities of

Berlin and Munich and meet

with German opinion-makers

from academic, grassroots,

Jewish and political spheres. A major focus is on the history

and repercussions of Germany’s complex and often dark

relationship with the Jewish community.

Teaching English at the Tom Karen Center, an

after-school program

Brightening the kindergarten of the Karen Village in Chaing Rai

This year’s GCU participants learning about Berlin’s

Old Synagogue, its first, established in 1714, over three hundred years after Jews first

arrived in the city.


The Israel Free Spirit (IFS) trip is a ten-day Taglit-Birthright Israel experience which

emphasizes the spiritual connection between the Land of Israel, the people of

Israel, contemporary Israel and our vibrant Jewish tradition. The goal is to share

the magic of Israel with young Jewish adults of all backgrounds and interests

through encounters with the people of Israel in their communities and the Land of

Israel through activities such as volunteering, hiking, biking, kayaking and more!

Through these unforgettable active learning experiences, participants are able to

appreciate the complexities of Israel while forming friendships that last a lifetime.

Alumni of the Israel Free Spirit trips gathered together at The Alumni Community center in NYC to celebrate Chanukah in style. The college students and young professionals reunited with other trip participants, as well as staff, and reminisced about their good times in Israel.

After returning from their trips, participants competed in the Bring Israel Home Challenge against other Israel Free Spirit trips. The winning team of the four-week competition had their mifgashim (Israeli participants on the trip) flown in for a weekend reunion Shabbaton in New York City.

Freespirit

Israel


The North American university environment is a marketplace of ideas and experiences that can pose both challenges and opportunities to an Orthodox Jew’s observance and commitment. In partnership with Hillel, the OU administers the Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), a program that helps Orthodox students remain rooted in their Judaism while navigating the college environment. JLIC places Orthodox rabbinic couples to serve as Torah educators within the Hillels on local college campuses. JLIC educators strive to enhance the learning opportunities available to students, and also to bolster an infrastructure for Orthodox life to flourish. The educators offer weekly shiurim and classes, bring guest speakers and events to campus, and make key Orthodox necessities − such as kashrut, chagim and Shabbat − easier to observe and more meaningful.

JLiC rabbinic families strive for an individualized touch. Students grace their Shabbat tables as regular guests, interact with them in informal settings and learn with them b’chavruta. The ongoing availability of the families creates a comfort level that enables students to develop personal relationships with them. Students turn to them seeking guidance in their lives, whether of a halachic, personal, or intellectual nature. JLIC provides avenues for spiritual development and exploration for Jewish students from varied backgrounds. It presents a positive, sophisticated and welcoming face of Orthodox Judaism on campus.

JLiC

This year, JLIC hosted its inaugural all-campus alumni event on March 3rd: a pre-Purim party at the Brooklyn Brewery. Over 100 alumni attended, representing eight JLIC campuses. The night featured great food, great friends, and great fun. Old friends reconnected, and many current and former JLIC educators came as well.

Brandeis University JLIC Alumni on a tour of the brewery floorLeft to Right: Dina Green, Ilana Weitzner, Sara Guénoun, Jeremy Berman, David Fisch

JLIC Alumni from the University of Maryland.

JLIC Rutgers Alumni Left to right: Andrew Cohen, Elana Winchester, former JLIC educator Nataly Weiss, Edye Lang, Dana Gelles, Eitan Pludwinsky, Zeke Pariser, Ilana Resnick, Dan Rosenblum.

Queens College JLIC Alumni Left to right: Arielle Hartman, Danny Leiberman, Kivi Schwartz


JLiC hosts annual reunions and fundraisers across North America where many current and former students, family members, and community members come out to support all the wonderful work JLIC does. It’s always an evening filled with good fun and great people.

JLIC Alumni from Johns Hopkins University Left to right: Ben Greenfield, Michael Pisem, Sara Guénoun, Dina Green, Rivky Stern, and current JLIC educational fellow at NYU, Rebecca Rubenstein, Ali Cohen

JLIC Greater Toronto Second Cup Fundraiser, March 2014

Rabbi Aaron Greenberg of Toronto JLIC

JLIC Alumni from Brooklyn CollegeBack row, left to right: Rabbi Boshnack, Ari Ziegler, Michael Ziegler, Natan Skolnick, Front Row: Melanie Goldberg, Dara Feinberg, Shoava Berezin-Bahr, Cheryl Geliebter, Zehava Birman

JLIC UCLA at their Ice Cream SocialFirst row, left to right: Sharona Kaplan, Shaina Sadighim, Daniel Levine, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. Standing, left to right, Esther Behmanesh, Rebecca Hermel, Shadi Nemanpour, Nikkie Mashian, Jon Sadik, Jacob Rabbanian, Kenny Marks, Danny Bandary, Josh Sadik, Daniel Shamooeliam

University of Maryland Alumni with former JLIC Educators Rabbi Eli Kohl (second from left) and Naomi Kohl, far right.

Left to right: UCLA JLICers, Yael Glouberman, Dani Glouberman, Haley Kotch, Naomi Esserman


rom a distance, it looked like any other wintry

Friday night in the NYU kosher cafeteria...students enjoying a gastronomically pleasing and spiritually fulfilling Shabbat dinner. But if you took a closer look, you would have noticed Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and his wife, Lady Sacks, among the students. They had joined this Friday night dinner as part of a co-sponsored NYU Bronfman Center and OU NextGen JLIC Orthodox Student Leadership Weekend.

The planning for this sparkling Shabbat of February 14, 2014 had started several months earlier when Rabbi Yehudah Sarna, NYU Bronfman Center executive director and former rabbi of NYU JLIC, spoke with Rabbi Gideon Black, the current NYU JLIC rabbi, about involving Orthodox student leaders from across the country at the NYU Bronfman Center Summit meeting. And for this very special Summit, he would ask Rabbi Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the UK, to spend Shabbat

with them, to inspire, to educate and to help them put their own commitment to the Jewish nation into focus. Invitations were sent to select student leaders across the United States and Canada.

Who wouldn’t be thrilled to accept that opportunity? As forty student leaders from over twenty-five campuses checked in at the NYU Bronfman Center in

a Dazzling shabbaton FoR caMpus leaDeRship

By Hani Lowenstein

Special guest Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks empowered and inspired the communal

leaders of tomorrow.


Greenwich Village, their diversity was quite apparent. Some students came from campuses with only a handful of Orthodox Jews and limited kosher food, while others were accustomed to three minyanim a day and numerous learning opportunities. But there was a common thread uniting them: each one passionately wanted to support and enhance Orthodox Jewish life on their college campus.

To hear Rabbi Sacks speak and to meet other student leaders was a prospect worth clearing all other engagements off your personal calendar. And no one

was disappointed. Rabbi Sacks clearly gauged his

audience well, focusing on the theme of leadership, blending his rabbinic eloquence with the practical insights of one who had borne the mantle of leadership.

He discussed his path to assuming the

leadership role of Chief

Rabbi of

England. He shared personal failures that he had experienced in his life, reassuring the students that the path to success is often strewn with many failures. And Rabbi Sacks spoke about the profound impression of other leaders upon him, citing the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who had taught him that “great leaders create leaders.”

Melanie Miller, then a senior at University of Florida, came away deeply moved. She reflects that “having the honor of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks as our guest speaker spoke to the importance of Jewish life on campus. We realized that it provides the foundation for Jewish communal life of the future. The weekend also underscored the significance of what each and every one of us is doing on our respective campuses. We work so hard to create community, meaningful Jewish experiences and engaging educational experiences. Rabbi Sacks made us feel that it is truly worth all that effort.”

After a beautiful Shabbat, it was time to channel all of the inspiration and energy into the discussions at the OU NextGen JLIC Student Leadership Summit. The goal of this portion of the weekend was for student leaders to discuss best practices, challenges, and intercollegiate opportunities. It was an unparalleled chance to

brainstorm and share ideas.

“For me, the most constructive part of the weekend was finding out I’m not alone in my struggle for Orthodox life on campus. I wanted to learn what other student leaders do to boost participation at events,” says Brandon Lurie, a student at McGill University. His sentiment was echoed by many others, all of whom described the NextGen Leadership Summit experience as transformative. Empowered, the student leaders left with a fresh perspective, ready to face the realities of their respective campuses.

Of course, learning from others is nice, but doing is something else. Little by little, JLIC staff learned of some of the accomplishments of those leaders in the weeks and months that followed. Brandon, for instance, lost no time in following through on the inspiration and practical suggestions he had acquired at the summit. One week after the Summit Shabbaton, the McGill Orthodox community initiated a Shabbat Minchah minyan, followed by Seudat Shlishit, for the first time in three years. ____________________

Hani Lowenstein is a Student Leader sh ip and Educa t i ona l Resources Associate for JLIC.

“We work so hard to create community and meaningful Jewish experiences. Rabbi Sacks made us feel that it is truly worth all that effort.”

R


Hart Levine founded the

Heart to Heart program, before he was named one of The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36 Reinventing the Jewish Community,” he was an “average kid” growing up in lower Manhattan. He was part of a small, but fairly active Jewish community, one of the children of a close-knit Orthodox world within a very diverse community of people in

the Village.

“I was just a Jewish student, go-ing about his life,” says Levine. “I went to Yeshivat Hako-tel for the year be-tween high school and college. Then I went to UPenn for a Shabbat, and fell in love with the Jewish community there. UPenn was really good in the science department and I wanted to

study bioengineering, so that’s where I ended up.”

His ambition was to move

to Israel and work in the field of biotechnology for the IDF, or perhaps agricultural engineering in the Negev. But it was while he was studying the sciences at University of Pennsylvania that he discovered a great need on campus. “At UPenn, I was involved with Chabad, JLIC, Hillel, all that stuff, and in the middle of my sophomore year I met a lot of random unaffiliated Jews. I started talking to them about Judaism and found that they were really into it. I started thinking about that a lot.”

Those thoughts weren’t fleet-ing at all. They stuck with Hart as he continued his college career. “There were plenty of events and opportunities to participate in Jewish life on campus, but 75% of the Jews on campus weren’t com-ing.”

Hart decided to change that.

The first thing he tried was humbling and ineffective. “I mod-eled it after something I did one summer in Israel. A friend and I had gone around with wine and Kiddush cups to apartments in Tel Aviv and did Shabbat Kiddush

with people. I thought, it worked well there; why don’t we try that at UPenn?”

Let’s just say things didn’t go smoothly. “The first problem was finding out who was Jewish. Once we did that, with the names and making educated guesses, my friends and I knocked on the doors and introduced ourselves. We told them we were just some Jewish students from down the hall and asked if they wanted to do Kiddush. It was all very awkward. They didn’t know us. They thought we were trying to proselytize them or something. But there was one girl from South America who didn’t even know there were Jews at UPenn and she was excited. So we said Kiddush with her and then went back to our rooms and drank the rest of the wine ourselves.”

But that initial fiasco didn’t deter Hart or his friends. “We tried to improve from there. What if we just invited students to Shabbat dinners? Almost everyone in my hall was Jewish, so we invited them to a simple Shabbat dinner in the dorm, and we drew about fifteen people who other-wise would not have attended a Shabbat meal that Friday night.”

After entertaining their guests (four of the attendees stayed for five hours to eat, hang out, and learn zemirot) Hart and his friends realized that there were plenty of people like these: Jews who had never experienced an authentic Shabbat meal in their lives.

How one student

spearheaded a

breakthrough

in bringing

campus Jews

closer to Judaism

By Ari Ziegler

Before


“We really started thinking − wow, there’s something here. And then we just had to decide what we were going to do about it.”

In Hart’s junior year, he and his friend hosted ten Shabbat meals. They didn’t have a name for their small, organized events. “A lot of people asked us who we were with, what organization had sent us, and I just said, ‘I’m Hart Levine. I’m just a fellow student, studying bioengineering, that’s all.’ It wasn’t about an institution or organization. It was about people coming together and learning from each other. It was about creating meaningful conversations and connections with peers.”

By their senior year, they were hosting thirty-five Shabbat

meals on the UPenn campus alone.

The JLIC (Jewish Learning

Initiative on Campus) educators at UPenn, Rabbi Mordy and Limor Friedman suggested that Hart take his project to the JLIC conference and pitch it to the ed-ucators so that they could put him in touch with students on other campuses. At that conference, he met Rabbi Dave Felsenthal of the Orthodox Union who thought Hart’s work was nothing short of remarkable.

“Rabbi Dave actually helped us and attended our first official Heart to Heart Shabbaton at UPenn in 2009,” says Hart. “He put a notice in the NCSY and OU

newsletters which really started getting the word out.”

Then one sum-mer, Hart was going to be in Israel for a friend’s wedding and he remembered something that a student had told him. “He said that when he was leaving yeshivah in Israel they emphasized staying religious, keeping Shabbat, learning, davening, but they didn’t emphasize the fact that when you’re on a college campus you can reach out to the campus Jewish community and re-

ally make a difference.” So Hart cold-called yeshivot in Israel and asked if he could speak to their students about campus outreach.

More than a dozen yeshivot responded in the affirmative, and from those talks Hart garnered over 250 students interested in hosting Shabbat meals on their campuses. Those students would later touch seventy different campuses.

Currently, Heart to Heart has more than fifty campuses

conducting Shabbat dinners, Purim seudot, Pesach Seders and more. “The biggest challenge,” says Hart, “is keeping the ‘peer-to-peer’ atmosphere while giving them some kind of structure. The peer-to-peer involvement is very important. A lot of unaffiliated or irreligious students have this notion that only rabbi-type peo-ple are religious and do Shabbat

and stuff like that. When a fellow student invites them over for Shabbat, they see that being involved with religion and being involved in regular college life aren’t mutually exclusive.

“The most important thing is to realize that you can make a difference. A lot of people doing simple small things makes a world of difference.” R

____________________

Ari Ziegler is a digital marketing associate at the OU’s NextGen Division and a group leader for OU Israel Free Spirit. A graduate of Brooklyn College, CUNY, he often still works with JLIC on the Brooklyn College campus. He’s also a novelist working on publishing his first two books.

“The most important thing is to realize that you can make a difference”

Heart to Heart Chanukah celebrations at NYU, 2013

Tabling for Shabbat dinner invites at the University of Pennsylvania, 2009

HTTp://THeHeArT2HeArTproJecT.org

36 || Fall 2014 | Reunion Magazine Fall 2014 | Reunion Magazine || 37

OUR NEWSCongrats to All OU Alumni!

sharing• Aaron Buechler (NJ NCSY) on making Aliyah attending the hesder program at Shaalvim. He is now in Tzahal as a combat engineer.

Jacob Epstein (SouTHerN NCSY,

NCSY Kollel) on making Aliyah and going into Tzahal

• Samuel Mirsky (NY NCSY) on making Aliyah and serving in an elite unit of Tzahal.

Engagements If you’re already married –

MAzAl Tov!

• Elli Arons (JlIC MArYlANd

‘13) to Ben Marks (JlIC ruTgerS)

• Tamar Demby (JlIC ruTgerS ‘15) to dov Simen (JlIC ruTgerS ‘12)

• zach Felder (JlIC MArYlANd ‘14)

to danielle reich

• Rivka Fogel (JlIC uPeNN ‘11) to eddie Chalouh

• Dena Fried (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Chaim Presman (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15)

• Devorah Friedman (JlIC ruTgerS ‘10) to Avi Schranz

• Jonathan Gans (JlIC MArYlANd ‘14)

to Brooke Prince

• loly Grynspan (JlIC uPeNN ‘13)

to Avraham daphna

• Sheryl Klein (JlIC ruTgerS) to Michael Fruchter (JlIC ruTgerS)

• Yisrael Klein (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14)

to ofra lispon (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14)

• Tzippy Bernstein (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Danny Grosman (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14)

• Michael Kosowsky (JlIC BrANdeIS

‘14) to Tova ramelson

• Talya lerner (JlIC uMd ‘15) to Mark Douek (JlIC uMd ‘14)

• Alexis Mayer (JlIC uPeNN ‘12)

to Noach goldstein

• Tova Miller (JlIC uPeNN ‘12) to Cameron Berns (JlIC uPeNN ‘11)

• Ross Mitgang (JlIC QueeNS ‘14)

to Yardena Winegust

• Aliza Morocco (JlIC MArYlANd ‘12) to leor Joudai

• Shira Moskowitz (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘12)

to david Ashear

• lauren Horowitz (JlIC QueeNS ‘14) to Joseph Novogrodsky (JlIC QueeNS ‘14)

• Dafna Perez (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Eytan Dishy (JlIC ToroNTo ‘13)

• Ana Shore (JlIC ToroNTo ‘16) to Izzy Korobkin (JlIC ToroNTo ‘16)

• Jordana Silberman (JlIC ruTgerS ‘15)

to Ari leskowitz (JlIC ruTgerS ‘13)

• Yonina Goldberg (JlIC MArYlANd

’14) to Joseph Slochowsky (JlIC

MArYlANd ’14)

• Yael Spiegel (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Nachum Silverman (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15)

• Benjy Spiro (JlIC MArYlANd ‘08)

to leah lousky

• Kimberly Syvarth (JlIC ruTgerS ‘13)

to zachary Fuld (JlIC ruTgerS)

• David Wallach (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14) to Erin lehrer (JlIC ToroNTo ’13)

• leah Pariser (lI NCSY) to daniel Falik

Naomi Axelbaum (MIdWeST NCSY) to Yair Eckhardt (MIdWeST NCSY)

Isaac Attia (WeST CoAST NCSY,

CAMP SPorTS) to Tal Meiri

• Tova Flancbaum (NATIoNAl NCSY) to Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin (NATIoNAl

NCSY)

Hadas Fried

(lI NCSY) to Peter goodrich

Alan Yoav Geni (CHIle NCSY, NeW

eNglANd NCSY) to efrat Maymon

• lee Niren (CeNTrAl eAST NCSY) on the engagement of his daughter, Tamar, to daniel Stark

Sophia Rifkin

(MIdWeST NCSY)

to Nachum Matten

(MIdWeST NCSY)

• Rivka Cohen-Melamed (IFS SuMMer

2010) to Yonatan rotenberg

• Janet Rosen (IFS WINTer 2009-10) to elad green

WE ARE PRoUD oF THE

achievementsof the following Alumni

• Ezra Chefitz (JlIC ruTgerS ‘15) and Eitan Sufian (JlIC ruTgerS) on completing the NYC marathon 2013

• Hart levine (JlIC PeNN ‘10) on being named to the Jewish Week’s “36 under 36”

• Brian Rosen (JlIC IllINoIS ‘13) on completing his Ph.d., making Aliyah, and getting married all in the months of May-June 2013.

• Yishai Schwartz (JlIC YAle ‘13) on his fellowship position at the Tikvah Fund in New York

• Sarah Alt (uPSTATe NCSY) on graduating Stern College for Women.

• lea Bekhar (ATlANTIC SeABoArd

NCSY) on graduating Stern College for Women.

• Sari Borenstein (NY NCSY, SouTHerN

NCSY, JolT) on her graduation at Stern College for Women.

Eli Weinstein (NY NCSY, TJJ,

CAMP SPorTS) on graduating lander College for Men

• Mike Fine (NCSY CAMP SPorTS) on his professional achievements. He’s a stand-up comedian and comedy writer and an accredited staff writer for the Friars roasts. He provides comedy material for celebrities including numerous oscar-, grammy-, and emmy-nominated artists.

Rachel Margolin (loNg ISlANd

NCSY, TJJ) on her occupational achievements. She currently runs lioncub Job Search with her husband lavie, a career advisement service with a specialty in linkedIn.

Tanya Raytman (MIdWeST NCSY)

on her academic achievement at loyola university Chicago

• Mottie Widroff (NY NCSY) on earning

his master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. He is starting his third year of his doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology at Hofstra university.

• levissa zeffren (MIdWeST NCSY)

on his graduation from Yeshiva university’s Certificate program in experiential education, becoming the director of Chicago JSu and his induction into Ben Zakkai this year.

• Rachel Scheinberg (SouTHerN NCSY)

on graduating from Stern College for Women

• Gary Sukienik (CeNTrAl eAST NCSY)

on being named to the dean’s list and Honor roll at ohio State university lior Gavra (IFS

SuMMer 2013) on joining the IdF

HATzlACHA RABBAHto the following Alumni who

made aliyah• Kochava Ayoun (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Ariana Berlin (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Rachel Garrick (JlIC IllINoIS ‘13)

• luky Guigui (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Yael Marks (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Adena Morgan (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Tali Segev (JlIC IllINoIS ‘13), and joining the IdF through garin Tzabar

• Elana Weiner-Kaplow (JlIC IllINoIS

‘13), and joining the IdF through garin Tzabar

Penina orlan (SouTHerN NCSY) on making Aliyah and studying in Jerusalem College of Technology, Machon Tal

to submit your announcement for this section, contact [email protected]


OUR NEWSCongrats to All OU Alumni!

sharing• Aaron Buechler (NJ NCSY) on making Aliyah attending the hesder program at Shaalvim. He is now in Tzahal as a combat engineer.

Jacob Epstein (SouTHerN NCSY,

NCSY Kollel) on making Aliyah and going into Tzahal

• Samuel Mirsky (NY NCSY) on making Aliyah and serving in an elite unit of Tzahal.

Engagements If you’re already married –

MAzAl Tov!

• Elli Arons (JlIC MArYlANd

‘13) to Ben Marks (JlIC ruTgerS)

• Tamar Demby (JlIC ruTgerS ‘15) to dov Simen (JlIC ruTgerS ‘12)

• zach Felder (JlIC MArYlANd ‘14)

to danielle reich

• Rivka Fogel (JlIC uPeNN ‘11) to eddie Chalouh

• Dena Fried (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Chaim Presman (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15)

• Devorah Friedman (JlIC ruTgerS ‘10) to Avi Schranz

• Jonathan Gans (JlIC MArYlANd ‘14)

to Brooke Prince

• loly Grynspan (JlIC uPeNN ‘13)

to Avraham daphna

• Sheryl Klein (JlIC ruTgerS) to Michael Fruchter (JlIC ruTgerS)

• Yisrael Klein (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14)

to ofra lispon (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14)

• Tzippy Bernstein (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Danny Grosman (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14)

• Michael Kosowsky (JlIC BrANdeIS

‘14) to Tova ramelson

• Talya lerner (JlIC uMd ‘15) to Mark Douek (JlIC uMd ‘14)

• Alexis Mayer (JlIC uPeNN ‘12)

to Noach goldstein

• Tova Miller (JlIC uPeNN ‘12) to Cameron Berns (JlIC uPeNN ‘11)

• Ross Mitgang (JlIC QueeNS ‘14)

to Yardena Winegust

• Aliza Morocco (JlIC MArYlANd ‘12) to leor Joudai

• Shira Moskowitz (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘12)

to david Ashear

• lauren Horowitz (JlIC QueeNS ‘14) to Joseph Novogrodsky (JlIC QueeNS ‘14)

• Dafna Perez (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Eytan Dishy (JlIC ToroNTo ‘13)

• Ana Shore (JlIC ToroNTo ‘16) to Izzy Korobkin (JlIC ToroNTo ‘16)

• Jordana Silberman (JlIC ruTgerS ‘15)

to Ari leskowitz (JlIC ruTgerS ‘13)

• Yonina Goldberg (JlIC MArYlANd

’14) to Joseph Slochowsky (JlIC

MArYlANd ’14)

• Yael Spiegel (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15) to Nachum Silverman (JlIC ToroNTo ‘15)

• Benjy Spiro (JlIC MArYlANd ‘08)

to leah lousky

• Kimberly Syvarth (JlIC ruTgerS ‘13)

to zachary Fuld (JlIC ruTgerS)

• David Wallach (JlIC ToroNTo ‘14) to Erin lehrer (JlIC ToroNTo ’13)

• leah Pariser (lI NCSY) to daniel Falik

Naomi Axelbaum (MIdWeST NCSY) to Yair Eckhardt (MIdWeST NCSY)

Isaac Attia (WeST CoAST NCSY,

CAMP SPorTS) to Tal Meiri

• Tova Flancbaum (NATIoNAl NCSY) to Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin (NATIoNAl

NCSY)

Hadas Fried

(lI NCSY) to Peter goodrich

Alan Yoav Geni (CHIle NCSY, NeW

eNglANd NCSY) to efrat Maymon

• lee Niren (CeNTrAl eAST NCSY) on the engagement of his daughter, Tamar, to daniel Stark

Sophia Rifkin

(MIdWeST NCSY)

to Nachum Matten

(MIdWeST NCSY)

• Rivka Cohen-Melamed (IFS SuMMer

2010) to Yonatan rotenberg

• Janet Rosen (IFS WINTer 2009-10) to elad green

WE ARE PRoUD oF THE

achievementsof the following Alumni

• Ezra Chefitz (JlIC ruTgerS ‘15) and Eitan Sufian (JlIC ruTgerS) on completing the NYC marathon 2013

• Hart levine (JlIC PeNN ‘10) on being named to the Jewish Week’s “36 under 36”

• Brian Rosen (JlIC IllINoIS ‘13) on completing his Ph.d., making Aliyah, and getting married all in the months of May-June 2013.

• Yishai Schwartz (JlIC YAle ‘13) on his fellowship position at the Tikvah Fund in New York

• Sarah Alt (uPSTATe NCSY) on graduating Stern College for Women.

• lea Bekhar (ATlANTIC SeABoArd

NCSY) on graduating Stern College for Women.

• Sari Borenstein (NY NCSY, SouTHerN

NCSY, JolT) on her graduation at Stern College for Women.

Eli Weinstein (NY NCSY, TJJ,

CAMP SPorTS) on graduating lander College for Men

• Mike Fine (NCSY CAMP SPorTS) on his professional achievements. He’s a stand-up comedian and comedy writer and an accredited staff writer for the Friars roasts. He provides comedy material for celebrities including numerous oscar-, grammy-, and emmy-nominated artists.

Rachel Margolin (loNg ISlANd

NCSY, TJJ) on her occupational achievements. She currently runs lioncub Job Search with her husband lavie, a career advisement service with a specialty in linkedIn.

Tanya Raytman (MIdWeST NCSY)

on her academic achievement at loyola university Chicago

• Mottie Widroff (NY NCSY) on earning

his master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. He is starting his third year of his doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology at Hofstra university.

• levissa zeffren (MIdWeST NCSY)

on his graduation from Yeshiva university’s Certificate program in experiential education, becoming the director of Chicago JSu and his induction into Ben Zakkai this year.

• Rachel Scheinberg (SouTHerN NCSY)

on graduating from Stern College for Women

• Gary Sukienik (CeNTrAl eAST NCSY)

on being named to the dean’s list and Honor roll at ohio State university lior Gavra (IFS

SuMMer 2013) on joining the IdF

HATz l ACHA RABBAHto the following Alumni who

made aliyah• Kochava Ayoun (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Ariana Berlin (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Rachel Garrick (JlIC IllINoIS ‘13)

• luky Guigui (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Yael Marks (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Adena Morgan (JlIC BrANdeIS ‘14)

• Tali Segev (JlIC IllINoIS ‘13), and joining the IdF through garin Tzabar

• Elana Weiner-Kaplow (JlIC IllINoIS

‘13), and joining the IdF through garin Tzabar

Penina orlan (SouTHerN NCSY) on making Aliyah and studying in Jerusalem College of Technology, Machon Tal

to submit your announcement for this section, contact [email protected]


• Rabbi Dave and Chanie Felsenthal (AtlAntic SeAboArd ncSY, centrAl

eASt ncSY, nJ ncSY, nAtionAl ncSY) on the marriage of their son levi Moshe Felsenthal to nechama rubin

• Errol Eisner (iFS Winter 2009-10)

and Jaclyn olina

WaRm WishEs FoR naChat anD joy

to the following alumni on the

Births oF thEiR ChilDREn

• David (Jlic toronto ‘08) and naomi Elmaleh (Jlic toronto ‘11) − a daughter, talia

• shawn (Jlic MArYlAnd ‘09) and melissa levine (Jlic MArYlAnd ‘10)

– a daughter, logan Haley

Rabbi David and ariel Pardo (Jlic educAtorS At brAndeiS univerSitY)

− a daughter, tiferet

• mina (Jlic uclA ‘10) and adam hyman (Jlic uclA ‘07) – a son, naftali

• Deena (Rendel) (ncSY cAMp cAnAdA) and scott shulman (centrAl eASt

ncSY) − a son, Yerachmiel Elimelech

ariella & shlomo Benzaquen (WeSt coASt ncSY) – a daughter, Yaffa eliora

Elissa and arieh Friedner (nJ ncSY,

clevelAnd ncSY

director) − a daughter, Ayeles

• Chaya (nJ ncSY) and luis murrell – a son, Ammitai Yosef

• yosef and shoshana Polakoff (WeSt coAt ncSY, nAtionAl/ou HQ) – a daughter, Gila

• Rebecca (halstuch) (li ncSY) and ariel schochet (nJ ncSY) – a daughter, batsheva Meira

Erin (Cooper) (AtlAntic SeAboArd

ncSY, ncSY Give) and David steibel (centrAl eASt ncSY)

– a son, Alexander

Becca (Cohn) (MidWeSt ncSY) and Rabbi meir Wexler (SoutHern ncSY)

− a daughter, Sophie Aliza. Mazal tov to grandma, Rhoda (Gerson) Gleicher (SoutHern ncSY).

• Rachel (shevick) (nJ ncSY) and Alan Shammah − a daughter, Yehudit

• Esther (nY ncSY) and mottie Widroff (nY ncSY) − a daughter, Sarel

orit (meyers)

(MidWeSt ncSY) & moshe “Ziggy” Zharnest (nJ ncSY)

– a son, Yaakov dovi

• hanna (MidWeSt And ncSY tJJ)

and shamshy schlager (AtlAntic

SeAboArd And ncSY tJJ) – a daughter, Adella Alta

We Mourn...• Etta Chinskey (li ncSY)

• Daniella lee-Casper

(WeSt coASt ncSY)

• Rabbi louis Ginsberg

(upStAte nY ncSY)

• Rhonda levine (li ncSY)

• Rebbitzen miriam lowenbraun (AtlAntic SeAboArd ncSY)

• anne samson, wife of lee samson, creAtor oF WeSt coASt ncSY

• Devorah turk-saslow (nY ncSY)

• lauren Zalkin-anton (li ncSY)

• janet (Zahava) Goldwasser (AtlAntic SeAboArd ncSY)

a hEaRty maZal tov to the following alumni on their

Marriages

shayna abromson

(Jlic JoHnS HopkinS ‘10)

and Arieh kovler

• marissa Goldrich (Jlic illinoiS ‘16

pHd) and Eitan Barlaz (Jlic illinoiS

‘15 pHd)

ilana Barta (Jlic QueenS ‘14) and Akiva Fund

• Kelly (Raquel) Finkelstein (Jlic upenn ‘11) and Daniel Swartz

• adi Fried (Jlic brAndeiS ‘14) and Zack Sax

• seth huttel (Jlic QueenS ‘14)

and rivky Weiss

merav Peretz (Jlic brooklYn) & mordy stroh, who met on the 2013 Jlic Winter iSrAel Free Sprit trip

• tehila Berglas (Jlic toronto ‘14)

and duvy katscher (Jlic toronto)

• Kimmie Kfare (Jlic brAndeiS ‘13) and david Warmflash

• hannah Kaiser (Jlic MArYlAnd ‘15)

and lee mirowitz (Jlic illinoiS ‘13)

• shayna Radensky (Jlic QueenS ‘13) and Eli Ehrenreich (Jlic QueenS ‘13)

josh Riback (Jlic

JoHnS HopkinS ‘13)

and erica Stern

• jason sugarman (Jlic brAndeiS ‘13)

and Ariel barnehama

Caren lewis (Jlic JoHnS HopkinS ‘14)

& jules szanton (Jlic JoHnS

HopkinS ‘13)

sarah Weg (Jlic QueenS ‘13) and Netanel Spero

Willie Balk (centrAl eASt ncSY,

SeAttle ncSY) and Estee Gross, advisor (nJ ncSY, upStAte ncSY)

• shira Beleck (AtlAntic SeAboArd

ncSY) and Moshe Heideman

• lauren Friedman (li ncSY) and Ari Grosman

annie Ben-Chetrit (SoutHern ncSY)

and Roy Cohen.

• Rachel hill (nY ncSY) and Yaakov nussbaum

shayna nordlicht (MidWeSt ncSY)

and Ethan Katz (MidWeSt ncSY)

• ariella Kossin (MidWeSt ncSY) and mendel lazaros (centrAl eASt

ncSY)

• malky Weil (SoutHern ncSY) and David spektor (WeSt coASt ncSY). Mazal tov to parents Rabbi steven and yael Weil (ortHodox union).

miriam shapiro (nY ncSY) and Elie schwartz (nY ncSY). They met at a NY NCSY Shabbaton.

• melissa nourmand (nY ncSY) and Sasha Mehdizadeh

hadassah Bell (nJ ncSY) and jeffrey smulevitz (nY ncSY)

• Chani Colton (nJ ncSY, SoutHern

ncSY) and Josh Gildin

congratulationS cuy kznMabrouk felicidades Bravo MazAl Tov


OU ALUMNIPhone: 212.613.8349

email: [email protected]

NCSY ALUMNIPhone: 212.613.8370

url: alumni.ncsy.org

/MYNCSYALUMNI

@NCSYALUMNI

youtube.com//NCSYAlumni

instagram.com/NCSYAlumni


JLICPhone: 212.613.8171

url: JLICONLINE.ORG

/NATIONALJLIC

/JLICNATIONAL

/JLICNATIONAL


IFSPhone: 212.613.8299

url: Israelfreespirit.com

/ISRAELFREESPIRIT

@IFSTAGLITBRI

/ISRAELFREESPIRIT


NCSYPhone: 212.613.8233

url: NCSY.ORG

/MYNCSY

@NCSY

/MYNCSY


HEART TO HEARTPhone: 212.613.5126

url: theHeart2HeartProject.org

/H2Hproject


OUPhone: 212.563.4000

url: OU.ORG

/OrthodoxUnion

@OrthodoxUnion


OU Alumni CONNECTions

Looking forward to hearing from you!


Looking forward to hearing from you!

3 || Summer 2014 | Reunion Magazine

through Did you meet

NCSY?

The story of how a couple

met is always special. God’s Hand

in crossing their separate paths is

often abundantly clear.

Sometimes God’s Hand uses NCSY

to unite two people from different

backgrounds and different regions

to build a Jewish home together.

We want you to tell us your story!

Email us at [email protected] and we’ll feature you on our

“Met Through NCSY” page!

www.ncsyalumni.org/met_through_ncsy

44 || Fall 2014 | Reunion Magazine4 || Summer 2014 | Reunion Magazine

To Download or View the App Online:

www.BIT.LY/JewUMap

The Jewniversity Resources app offers users up-to-date Jewish resources on more than 150 campuses across North America.

Available on Android, iOS and Online!Anyone deciding between universities — high schoolers, their parents, guidance counselors and high school educators — can see and compare resources at specific schools.

Current college students can find new resources for learning, Shabbat meals and kosher foods on their own campus or another they are planning to visit.

OUR MAP SHOWS LISTINGS OF:Campus Rabbis and Educators

MinyanimCampus Programming

and LearningShabbat Meals

Holiday ProgramsIsrael Trips and International

Travel OpportunitiesKosher Food and Dining Halls

AND MORE!

Reunion Fall 2014

Documents

Transcript of Reunion Fall 2014