| Reorganization at Young Judaea |
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Thank you for the overwhelming alumni response we received immediately after the announcement of Young Judaea's reorganization was made last week. To learn more about this reorganization, please read this letter from Rabbi Ramie Arian, National Director. |
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Young Judaea Scholarship Campaign |
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 Let's Face It. 
Young Judaeans Can Change the World.
Today's Young Judaeans will lead tomorrow's Jewish community. Our job is to prepare them. To help them become leaders. To connect them with Israel, their heritage and each other.
For 100 years, Young Judaeans like you have kept the Jewish community strong.
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| Young Judaea Memories and Photographs |
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Thanks to Connie Victor for sharing these photographs with Young Judaea. They are from the 1958-1959 Year Course, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year!
Below: Connie Victor (nee Polak) in Israel 
Above: Mel Reisfield, Ethan Vogel. Can you name the others?
Below: Judaeans with Mrs. Ben Zvi at the President's House.
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| Young Judaea Alumni Love Stories |
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Dana Cagan Kapustin & Andrew Kapustin 
Year Course 1990-1991
Dana Cagan Kapustin
I grew up in Texas, worked at CYJ Texas, and went to TY in 1988 & 1989. I went on Year Course 1990-1991. And in 1994, I was a madricha for machon in Israel! I went to the University of Texas at Austin after Year Course ... worked for a bit, completed my Masters in Education, and now I am thrilled to be at home with our kids.
Andrew Jay Kapustin
Andrew is from Miami, and went to CJ in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He worked there as well. He did Machon in Israel. And he went on Year Course, (war course 1990-1991). He went to Duke for undergrad, Harvard Medical School, and UPENN for his training in Radiology. He is practicing with a group in Charlotte, NC.
OUR HISTORY
We dated a bit on Year Course, and then went our separate ways after Year Course ... always keeping in touch and remaining great friends. We have many mutual friends from Year Course. Towards the end of college, we got together for good. We got engaged over Passover in Puerto Rico in 1995, graduated from college, and moved to Boston. Andrew started Medical school, and I started a job. We were married in Miami in 1996, and our closest friends from Young Judaea sang to us at our wedding. We lived in Boston for 5 years, and then Philadelphia for the next 5 years.
We now live in Charlotte, NC. We will be married 13 years in June. We have 3 children. Our daughter, Danielle, is 10 and will be going to CJ this summer, in Ofarim. We have twin 7 year old boys as well, Jacob and Charlie. I am very active in Hadassah locally, and enjoy getting the young women's chapter of Hadassah up and running in Charlotte. We are looking forward to our trip to Israel in April with our kids. We travelled 2 years ago for the first time with kids to Israel. Our kids fell in love with our Moshav families that we stayed with on Year Course. We stayed at the new Young Judaea youth hostel and it is GORGEOUS!! We have plans to stay there this spring as well. Our children share our love for Israel, and we owe that and much, much more to Young Judaea!
Thanks to Young Judaea for bringing us together! We continue to give back year after year, and we are happy to do so!
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| Alumni Profile: Talia Dvir (nee Grobard) |
Visit the Young Judaea website to read other alumni profiles.
Talia Dvir (nee Grobard)
Teacher/Jewish Educator
Camp Sprout Lake, 1988-92
Camp Tel Yehudah, 1994-97
Machon, 1997
Favorite Memories from Young Judaea: Celebrating Shabbat with my friends and singing and dancing during Havdallah. I am still in touch with a number of friends from Young Judaea, as is my brother Sam Grobard who also attended YJ.
How has your Young Judaea experience impacted your life today? Young Judaea has not only enhanced my connection with Judaism, but with the state of Israel. The knowledge that I gained from learning how to pray to peer leadership, has shaped who I am today.
Also, my brother, Sam Grobard, was also a long time Young Judaea member and my father, Avram Grobard, came to American from Israel in the 60's and his first job in the US was as the musical couselor at Camp Tel Yehudah. He even made a recording with the children of Young Judaea singing Israeli songs. He later went on to open a well known Israeli nightclub for 20 years in Greenwich Village called El Avram, where most of his old campers visited once they were older. However, he always remembered his experiences in Tel Yehudah and knew that once he had kids, he would send them there (which of course he did) :)
Please describe your current professional involvement. I am currently in the teaching credential program at San Jose State University, however I have been teaching at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA for the past 3 years. I teach a class about Israeli history to 5th graders, Jewish moral values to 6th graders, basic Hebrew and Bar/Bat Mitzvah prayer classes.
How are you currently involved with Young Judaea or Hadassah? I am not directly involved with YJ today, however I still wear my Camp Sprout Lake Tshirt I received in 1990. :)
Did your Young Judaea experience encourage you to visit or have closer ties to Israel? Being that my father is Israeli, as is my husband, I have very close ties to Israel. I have visited Israel over 30 times, studied in Tel Aviv University for one year, lived there for almost 3, and recently got married in Israel in June 2008.
YJ instilled my Zionist ideologies and allowed me to retain my love for Israel during the good and the bad times. It is what kept me in Israel during the string of bomb attacks during 2002 instead of allowing terrorism to get the best of me.
Where are you living now? Although I am originally from NJ, my husband and I currently reside in the San Francisco Bay Area in Cupertino, CA.
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| Alumni Notes -- Where Are You Now? |
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Sharon Sernik (nee Ivker) -- I have kept in touch with some people that I was on Year Course with, but not too many. I went to Camp Judaea North Carolina starting in '76. I think that I was at TY from '81-85. I was on Year Course in '85-86. BTW, I was Sharon Ivker back then. I live in Orlando, FL with my Colombian (Jewish) engineer husband, Enrique, whom I met at UT Austin, and our 3 children, Miriam, Shoshana, and Z'ev Moshe. I am a graduate of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine with my own small animal practice, which lets me take care of our many 4-legged children as well.
Alas, my kids are not legacies as they opted to go to Camp Ramah with their friends from Orlando. I do want to send them on Year Course though. I still have a few more years before I have to worry about that though, as the oldest is only 13. My brother, Mark Ivker, (YC '86-87), made aliyah, and we took the kids to Israel 2 years ago to visit. Before my kids were born, I went back twice for vacation. Feel free to contact me at westmonteanimalclinic@gmail.com.
Katherine Klein (nee Freiberg) -- I went to Camp Tel Yehuda in 1994 and 1995. I also did Year Course from 1997-1998. After Year Course, I went to Goucher College in Baltimore, MD and majored in Elementary Education. I then got my M.Ed. in Special Education at Towson University (also in Baltimore). I got married to David Klein in 2006. We currently live in Fairfield, CA where Dave is a second year resident in Family Medicine at Travis AFB. He is a Capt. in the Air Force. I am thrilled also to announce that we had a beautiful baby girl this past August. Her name is Maya. I have very fond memories of my time with Young Judea and particularly of my year in Israel on Year Course! It's a year I will never ever forget! :-) Feel free to contact me at katriela27@yahoo.com.
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| Alumni Lifecycle Events |
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Share your lifecycle event with the Young Judaea alumni community. Email, alumni@youngjudaea.org or call 212-303-4589!
BIRTHS
- Amy (CYJ Midwest '87-91, Machon '93, TY and CYJ Midwest Staff '94) and Russ Eisenstein announce the birth of their son, Yaron Matthew, on Sepember 16, 2008.
- Debbie (Schmidt) (CYJ Midwest '86-91, TY '92-94) and Rob Seidner announce the birth of their son, Wesley Stephen, who was born on September 9, 2008.
WEDDINGS
- Suzie Patt (CYJ Texas '89; TY '93 - '96; Machon '95; TOL Mazkira '95-'96; National Bogrim Programmer '96-97; TY Staff '97, '00, '05; CYJ Midwest Staff; CYJ Sprout Lake Staff '07) and Ido Benvenisti (TY staff '00 - '05; Year Course staff '01 - '06; YJ Northeast Shaliach '06 - '09) were married on December 31, 2008 in Moshav Beit Hanan in Israel. Suzie and Ido met while working as merakzim at TY over the summer of 2005. Suzie and Ido were married by Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky (Suzie's merakez in Alumim in '93 and Ido's colleague on the Education staff at Sprout Lake in 2008). A large number of Judaeans, TY, Sprout Lake and Year Course staff living in Israel and United States, former TOL staff and chanichim, and Jewish Agency staff were in attendance. Joel inspired cheers for different YJ camps during the chupah, and there was even a spontaneous rikud session well after midnight.
- Noah Gallagher (CYJ Midwest and Camp Tel Yehudah, YC '95-96, Director, CYJ Midwest) and Lauren Gross (CYJ Midwest '91-94, TY '95-97, YC '98-99) were married on Sunday, January 19, 2009.
HELP NEEDED
A Young Judaea Alumni parent and long time YJ volunteer, and a Hadassah member, is in need of a kidney transplant. Here is some additional information, but if you can help please refer to the article for information.
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| Young Judaea and Hadassah In The News |
The Youth Group That Sings Together, Stays Together
Over the years, much has been made of American Jewry's child-centeredness, of its determination to transform ancient holidays like Hanukkah into fun-filled occasions designed to appeal to the most youthful members of the community. But what of its teenagers? Has American Jewry effectively reckoned with that element of the population? Has it successfully integrated its often disdainful, sullen and skeptical 15- and 16-year olds into the Jewish body politic? Well, if not, it hasn't been for want of trying.
Consider the history of the Szoldettes, a division of Young Judaea named after Henrietta Szold, legendary founder of Hadassah, Junior Hadassah and B'nai B'rith Girls. As early as the 1950s, each of these organizations - the first two focused on improving life in Israel, while the third focused on improving life in America - made a concerted effort to involve American Jewish teenage girls in something larger than themselves, while also holding tight to the protocols and conventions of teenage-girl culture. "Every girl wants to have fun and friends. If you're like all the rest, you'll find the Open Sesame in BBG," B'nai B'rith Girls' Members' Manual declared, fashioning the imperatives of communal involvement in terms likely to appeal to peer-conscious, fun-loving teenage girls of postwar America.
Suggesting that Jewish concerns and teen concerns could go hand in hand, promotional brochures like this one spoke fulsomely of activities that were "particularly suitable for girls - of tennis, bowling, swimming, ping pong, folk dancing and modern dance," and of the way that they helped Jewish girls to acquire the "poise that is so essential in modern life." Time and again, these Jewish institutions invoked the notion of fun, standing on its head the widespread belief that Jewish communal life was inherently dull and gray, suited only for those on the wrong side of 40. "Young Judea is not somber and long-faced," its supporters insisted. "Its approach is rather through the play-way, through fun, dancing, singing, games, athletics, picnics and parties." Read the entire article here. |
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Young Judaea's 100th Anniversary...Get involved TODAY! |
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In preparation for Young Judaea's 100th anniversary, we're launching various projects. Please email alumni@youngjudaea.org today, to get involved.
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Oral History Project: Do you have a story to tell about your time in Young  Judaea? We want to hear about it. Young Judaea's Oral History project will connect you with a current Young Judaean who will interview you for this special 100th anniversary project.
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T-Shirt Collection: Do you have an old t-shirt that you're willing to give back to YJ? Not willing to donate your t-shirt, but can email YJ a photo of it?
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THREE Generation Young Judaea Family: Are you a member of a three generation Young Judaea family?
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Other Items: Young Judaea is also looking for photographs, histories, dissertations about Young Judaea.
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Marketing/Public Relations: Are you in marketing or public relations? Would you like to help promote the 100th anniversary of Young Judaea?
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Memorabilia: Do you have memorabilia to lend to YJ for the 100th anniversary virtual history?
Email alumni@youngjudaea.org or visit www.youngjudaea.org/100 to get involved or participate today! |
| Taglit-Birthright Israel: Young Judaea - Israel Now |
Experience the real Israel with Taglit-Birthright Israel: Young Judaea - Israel Now, our FREE, 10 day Birthright program for college students and young professionals, age 18-26. You'll see and feel the country from the Kotel (Western Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem to the night-life in Tel Aviv. Climb the ancient fortress of Masada at sunrise, and hike the country from the Negev Desert to the Northern Galilee, and much more. Participants will meet and experience the cultural diversity of Israel, and each group will be joined by Israeli peers, who will share their perspectives on life in Israel.
Give others the opportunity to glimpse into YJ through Taglit-Birthright Israel! Registration opens on February 19th and space is limited, so please tell your friends and friends. SIGN UP NOW TO LEARN MORE! |
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YC Spotlight: Judaeans in Israel and United States |
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Year Course Participants Head to IDF Army Bases to Provide Support 
One hundred twenty-five students on Year Course have headed to army bases to provide support for IDF troops involved in Operation Cast Lead. Students are performing some of the menial, but essential, jobs on the bases, including working in storage facilities, packing food, and sorting uniforms. With smaller jobs handled by Young Judaeans, soldiers are able to assume more critical roles.
In addition, Young Judaeans in Israel are volunteering with children and families staying at the Judaean Youth Hostel, whose homes are in areas near Gaza. Young Judaeans are planning special activities to keep the children entertained.
Year Course students are also raising funds for those affected by the conflict. Some participants recently held a movie night in Jerusalem, where they also sold army paraphernalia, in an effort to raise money for the IDF. Other students are selling wrist bands which say, in Hebrew, "My heart is with the South." Proceeds from the bracelets will be donated to bomb shelters in the south.
"These are difficult times, with the current conflict in Gaza and families in the United States and Israel who are still suffering due to tragedies of the past few years," says Nancy Falchuk, national president of Hadassah. "Our youth membership are working in communities affected by war and by weather, and understand the impact every person can have on easing the suffering of people in need."
Alternative Winter Break: Judaeans Volunteer in New Orleans
Young Judaeans rolled up their sleeves to help the citizens of New Orleans during Alternative Winter Break 2008. The group of almost 60 teenagers from across the country worked with three main organizations during their week-long trip.
Some volunteers worked with Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), an organization that is entirely volunteer-run, doing anything and everything needed to help the shelter function, from playing with animals to cleaning cages to organizing food donations.
Another group spent much of their week with All Souls for Christ, whose church was destroyed by Katrina and is now rebuilding at a former Walgreen's. Our volunteers helped put insulation into and mud newly erected walls, clear out lots, paint parking lot insignia, and more. Some of this group also had the opportunity to get down and dirty while rebuilding the homes of the church's constituents.
Others worked with the environmental organization Green Light New Orleans. They traveled to residences throughout low-income neighborhoods of the city and installed energy-efficient bulbs into all of the homes' fixtures. In a note of appreciation, the leaders of Green Light told Young Judaeans: "You saved New Orleans 260,040 kwh of electricity, $30,360 of inefficiently spent money and 295,020 pounds of globally destructive carbon emissions."
Judaean Jenna Isaacs said, "I learned how to insulate walls and gut a house-but I mostly learned more about people. Over this week I've felt more confident in myself, my culture and my religion than I ever have before." |
| Young Judaea Employment Opportunities |
Manager of Youth Education is responsible to develop youth curriculum for year-round and camp programming that encompass topics such as: Jewish and Israeli history, Jewish identity, American and world Jewry, social action, current events and other topics that will transmit Hadassah's message of Jewish values to youth across the country. The Youth Education Manager will collaborate with key staff and lay-leaders, both adult and youth, to ensure the consistency of educational materials throughout the country, and will be responsible for spearheading the educational efforts around the celebration of Young Judaea's 100th anniversary. Send resumes to jobs@hadassah.org. |
| Feedback and Suggestions |
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Email YJ Alumni Relations with your feedback and suggestions for future newsletters! | |
