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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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| 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 Alumni Love Stories |
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Jessie Cohen and Haim Shternshus 
My name is Jessie. I was a YJ camper during the late 80's and a TY staff in the summers of 2001 and 2002. I met my husband, Haim Shternshus, during my first summer at TY. Haim was a Hebrew specialist with the delegation from Israel and I was an in bunk counselor. We met during staff orientation; and I noticed that Haim, somehow, kept ending up in my group, over and over again. I found out later that he pretended not to understand what was going on and just put himself in my group. Like everything else in camp, the beginning was very intense and we saw each other all the time, To make a long story short: what started as a fun summer thing, ended up, three years later, in marriage. We got married twice; once in Israel and once in Tallahassee, FL. We now live in Jacksonville, FL with our lovely two year old daughter, who will eventually go to camp.
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| Young Judaea Memories: Reunion in FL, Jan. '09 |
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A great time was had by all who attended a reunion of Young Judaeans from Irvington, New Jersey, 1953-56. We are older and grayer, and a few pounds larger, but we giggled just as heartily as we looked at one another's Young Judaea pictures and exchanged marvelous memories. 
Front row: Richard Schnur, Barry Greenwald
Middle row: Sidney Rabinowitz on chair (our advisor), Bobby Weiss, Judy Mason
Back row: Ruth Shapiro Gilbert, Rona Leichter Seidel, Myrna Schweiger Berg, Stan Gilbert, Billy Appelbaum
Our wonderful leader, Cantor Sid Rabinowitz, attended and led us in a beautiful Havdalah service. We spent the weekend together in Boynton Beach, Florida, and we never stopped talking. We especially enjoyed our Tel Yehudah pictures and those of our dance group which was a huge success at the International Dance Festival in 1955! We gathered together from California, Vermont, Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida, and we had so much fun that we are already planning our next get together! |
| Alumni Profiles: Sara Cohen & Debbie Speregen |
Would you like to be profiled? Email alumni@youngjudaea.org.
 Sara Cohen, Mazkirat, Kibbutz Ketura
Young Judaea Program(s): CJ Hendersonville: 1974- 75 NC, Tel Yehudah 1976- 1979, Lots of years as staff at Sprout Lake and TY, "Hadracha" (today "Machon in Israel") 1978, Year Course 1980-81
Favorite Memories from Young Judaea: 1) Touring Israel in a tiyulit in the heat of the summer. Sitting face-to- face, leg-to-leg, singing at the top of our lungs. No air conditioning but with all the windows open it wasn't bad. 2) Planning and running club meetings-whether as a chanicha or madricha. Yes, that extinct old thing-the clubs! Really, what can beat playing "Name that Slide-Places in Israel" (based on Name that Tune" of course) with your friends from school who wouldn't be seen dead in school doing such silly things? Or going out for pizza at Jerusalem Pizza after the club meeting? Or running a Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration for the whole Jewish community? Or going with your sister (who was the gizbarit of the club) and the madricha of the club to open a club bank account with the dollar bills collected as membership money? Really, those experiences were amazing. 3) Lying on my back in the field in the middle of "aleph" and "bet" with a bunch of other people looking at the stars.
How has your Young Judaea experience impacted your life today?
Ok, that's a hard one. I live on Kibbutz Ketura...
Please describe your current professional involvement. What do you do? The mazkira is like the president or mayor of the kibbutz. The job has been described by one of my predecessors, Bill Slott as "part mayor, part social worker, part dog catcher." Bill's description reflects the difficulty in defining this job, although there is, somewhere, a written job description since we do try to be organized here...
Since the term "mazkira" hints at the socialist- \communist roots of the kibbutz movement-Literally the translation of "mazkira" is "secretary general." The term harks back to the socialist-communist roots of the kibbutz movement. The term doesn't make too much sense in 2009 and therefore, many kibbutzim have started to call this position, "community manager." However, that term doesn't do much to describe the position either. The mazkira of Ketura is responsible for the health and good management of the democratic processes of the kibbutz. I oversee the community budget. I try to make sure that there is integration between the many committees and institutions on the kibbutz-so that when a decision which affects various departments of the kibbutz needs to be made-there is coordination and not stepping on toes. The mazkira is also expected to help members navigate their way through the jungle of kibbutz decision making, and the sometimes rigid rules that govern our life here. There is also an expectation that the mazkira will be not just be a manager, but a leader as well, trying to figure out where we, the community, wants to go, and how we should get there.
To contact Sara or read her complete profile, visit our website.
Debbie Speregen (nee Newberger), Author 
Young Judaea Programs, Years: Young Judaea 1978-1983, Camp Tel Yehudah Alumim '78, Ulpan '79, Machon '80 and MH '81 programs. Camp Sprout Lake Tzevet Sherut Office '79 and Kitchen Staff '80, Camp Tel Yehudah Drama Specialist '84 (?) and Madricha, Year Course, 1982-83
Tell us your favorite memories from Young Judaea: Memory that stands out is working in the kitchen as part of "Dawn Caterers" (we had T-shirts!) at Tel Yehudah for Eli Rockawitz's wedding in the summer of 1979. I frequently worked at TY and at Sprout for conventions in the kitchen (that $35 per weekend was awesome!), but working the wedding was a white-glove, fancy-shmancy big-deal! (I spilled soup on someone in the wedding party. Hey - I was only 15...)
Other memories were visiting camp friends from Queens, Westchester and New Jersey at conventions, since at the time, Long Island seemed so far away. Being at camp during the winter on conventions was always such a thrill - those were some of my fondest YJ memories.
How has your Young Judaea experience impacted your life today? Today, I am an active member of Hadassah. I participated on the Hadassah Young Women's Mission to Israel, and I spend a lot of time and energy fundraising for Hadassah and YJ and supporting Israel. All of my dearest friends are former Judaeans, too. My teenage son is a Judaean and attends TY. My husband is NOT a Judaean, however, even though he says we met at TY on the TY Video...
Please describe your current professional involvement. I am a children's book author and editor. I've written more than 100 books for kids, 'tweens and teens, including three biographies for the Jewish Publication Society (on Ilan Ramon, Yoni Netanyahu and Albert Einstein), a Chanukkha picture book for Scholastic, and in 2006 I earned a Simon Rockower Award for Writing for an article on Operation Solomon for BabagaNewz Magazine.
Please describe how/if your YJ experience encouraged you to visit/have closer ties to Israel. After attending Year Course, I returned to Israel for a semester in my senior year in college. My younger brothers both went on Year Course, and one brother, Rich, made aliyah in 2007.
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| Alumni Notes -- Where Are You Now? |
Alumni enjoy hearing about and reconnecting with friends. Tell the Young Judaea community where YOU are today. Email alumni@youngjudaea.org.
Jackie Lewis (YC '72-73)
I have been living in San Francisco since 1976 (originally from Maryland). I have 2 grown children - where have the years gone? I have been working for the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco as the Recreation Department Director for 21 years and am currently the Games Director for the JCC Maccabi Games which are coming to San Francisco for the first time ever this August. My husband was one of the founders of Kibbutz Keturah and our hevra in the San Francisco Bay Area are all people who were founders of Kibbutz Keturah and former Young Judaeans. Benji Lovitt (YC '92-93)
Young Judaea definitely "worked" for me. I graduated from the University of Texas in '97 and after a few years in the late 90s dotcom world, I became a Jewish professional for 4 years, 3 of them in the national office of Young Judaea. I made aliyah in the summer of 2006 to Tel Aviv before recently moving to Jerusalem. During the days, I build youth trips for an educational tour operator called Israel Experience which brings American groups to Israel for both short- and long-term experiences. At night, I write about immigrant life in a number of places including my blog "What War Zone?" and do stand-up about the same topics. In late February, I'll be doing a 6 city comedy tour for the Jewish Agency in NY, LA, Chicago, DC, Boston, and Toronto. I hope you'll come say hello and laugh at all the hilarious stuff that Israel has to offer.
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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
- Anna (Leos-Urbel) (New England YJ Mazkirut 1995-1997, TY 1995, Merchav Pisgah Rep 1996-97, YC 1997-98, CJ staff 1998) and Leiran Biton (TY 1994), are very excited to announce the birth of our daughter, Adina Rachel Biton, on November 27, 2008.
- Phillip and Miriam Berkowitz Blue (EPA Mazkirut '94-'96, TY '95-'96, YC '96-'97, New England Regional Director '01-'04) are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Talia Ruth, on January 27, 2009.
WEDDINGS
- Eric Ross (Sprout Lake '86, Camp Judaea '88-93, TY '93, '95, YC '96-97) and Jaime Glogovsky were married on Sunday, December 7th in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
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| Alumni In The News |
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Kansas City Star Interviews Sybil Kaplan, After Her Recent Move (Back) To Israel
After Sybil's first Israeli experience on Young Judaea's Year Course in 1957, she knew that Israel was her home. When Kaplan was 30, she immigrated to Israel and reinvented herself as a journalist. She lived there for 10 years during the 1970s, before returning to America. In 2004, after watching one of their daughters make Aliyah, her and Barry decided to return home as well.
JPost.com Interviews Stephanie Jekowsky (YC '05-06), New Oleh
Stephanie was born in New York and moved to San Francisco when she was a baby and grew up there. She attended Brandeis Hillel Day School until third grade, St. Mark's for middle school and graduated from Redwood High School. In 2005, at 18, she came to Israel on a Young Judaea program.
Three Young Judaea Alumni Run For Knesset in Recent Israeli Elections
In the recent February elections in Israel, Gershon Baskin, along with two other Young Judaea alumni (environmentalist Alon Tal and social activist Yosef Abramowitz) ran on the Green Movement-Meimad ticket. The Green Movement, which is left-leaning and secular, merged with Meimad, a left-leaning and moderate religious party, in the run-up to the election. The party's platform focused on energy policy and education.
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| 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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Year Course Spotlight: Judaeans in Israel Have First-Hand Look at Gaza War |
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Ashkelon, Israel
By Adina Disney (YC '08-09)
Special to the Jewish Times
In order to understand I need to see. In order to believe I need to experience.
On January 15, MASA - the Jewish Agency for Israel's umbrella operation for young adult programs in Israel-invited anyone from Baltimore to attend a program hosted by our home community's sister city, Ashkelon.
Because of the war in Gaza this program was modified to keep us safe and let us experience what it was like to be in Ashkelon during this time. Instead of a sit down dinner where we could meet different families residing there, the 13 of us were split up into two bomb shelters where we played with kids for the day.
That day made me wake up. When the war broke out and started to escalate I half-heartedly supported Israel. Sure they needed to protect their citizens but at what cost should the other side have to pay? That's the argument of the other side. Then I lived a day as a person in Ashkelon does. Just one day. And now I understand because I saw and I believe because I have experienced.
Exciting changes for Year Course 2009-2010 are in the works and we need YOU to help us recruit the next group of lucky Year Course chanichim. The new program will include more tiyulim (trips), more access to ulpan, more time to get to know fellow YC participants, and more opportunities to explore the Israel landscape. Click here for more information about the exciting program updates and help us spread the word about Year Course 2009-2010! |
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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! |
| 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! | |
