Year Course 1971-1972 Reunion
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Twenty-seven members of the original 78 who were on the 1971-1972 Young Judaea Year Course reunited from Nov 6th-8th at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Baltimore. MD. We are all still flying high from the experience. Pearlstone is a great place for a reunion, kosher food, great accommodations, made it easy for our diverse group to spend a Shabbat together.
We started the weekend on Friday night with Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner, and then finished with an opportunity to reconnect with each other through "Who Am I?". Prior to the event, each attendee emailed 5 fun facts about themselves since YC. We read off the "Who Am I?" clues and each participant tried to figure out who of us matched the fun facts. It turned out to be fun and a great way to start the reunion!
Left: Andrea Schwartz, Ronna Narotsky and Janet Stillman Weismark 
Shabbos Day included a light breakfast and Shabbat Services. Barry Fierst came and gave a presentation about Keturah and the Arava Institute, then some folks took tiyulim while others chose to hang out and talk. Later we did havdalah in a circle under the stars, embracing each other... wow! After dinner, we all got together for a slideshow of all of our old slides and then a kumsitz around a campfire, singing all the songs we knew and loved in Hebrew and English, sharing our feelings. We then spent the next few hours in the three moadonim.
Above: Andrea Schwartz and David Backman read from the YJ shiron, from camp and Israel
Sunday we connected with our friends in Israel and around the country who were unable to attend the reunion weekend.
Left: Group of friends from YC 1971-72.
We are still looking for a few of our friends from Year Course. If anyone knows how to reach them, they are Mike Baum, Mitch Cherry, Carole Kellner, Jimmy Levine and Ed Wolf. Email alumni@youngjudaea.org with information.
Are you planning your Young Judaea Year Course reunion? Would you like to plan an event in your area for Young Judaea alumni to reconnect with each other? Please contact alumni@youngjudaea.org and we'll help you with your event! Read about other YJ events here.Do you know someone who would love to go on Year Course/Shalem?
Send them to our brand new Year Course website: www.yearcourse.org. Registration for 2010-2011 is OPEN! The recruitment team is eager to meet with any potential applicants. If you know students who would love to be in Israel on Year Course / Shalem next fall, please help us spread the word! |
Alumni Profile: Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg
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Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg (TY 1973-'75, YC '74-75), Director/Founder, Birthday Angels Birthday Party Project
How has your Young Judaea experience impacted your life today? What I do today is an outgrowth of what I learned in YJ, both ideologically and professionally. The people I met in YJ are my lifelong closest friends. What I experienced on the YJ Israel programs, at conventions, leading groups and in camp inspired me to make a life in Israel. Even the work I have done for over 40 years has been a spin off of what we did in YJ - informal, child centered value education.
Favorite memories from Young Judaea: The 1973 Year Course program left an indelible impression on my life.
 Please describe your current professional involvement. What do you do? After years of educational programming and informal education and recreation developer and trainer I ran a high-end theme party business. For 15 years I created theme parties and trained entertainers to run two hour elaborate events for kids. It always killed me that the kids who were able to celebrate their birthdays and get all this esteem building attention were from wealthier homes and not the kids who really need this kind of positive attention and recognition.
So in true YJ tradition, I established this organization that provides birthday parties to underprivileged children in Israel. It is called Birthday Angels.
It puts together my formative YJ training years where I learned to build "peulot" and turned the skill into a reach out program for Israel's neediest. I create these do-it-yourself Party Kits complete with the games, music, decorations and prizes. I give these kits out to volunteers all over the country who run a party for a child who would otherwise never have been able to celebrate his or her birthday. After the party the child sends a Thank You card to the donor which has proven as significant emotionally for them as the party is for the Israeli child. To date, we have given over 5000 birthday parties! We work with over 20 major volunteer organizations around the country and won the Aliza and Menachem Begin award, twice, for Service to the Community.
Where are you living now? Israel. Year Course was the experience that made me understand that this is my place.
Are you currently involved with Young Judaea or Hadassah? I had the opportunity to work at Camp Tel Yehudah this past summer (2009) which was a great experience. I was reminded again of the spirit of camp and the incredible people who work to create an incredible bubble of fun, learning and values. My kids have all gone to Sprout and TY and my daughter always says that she wants to make aliyah.
To contact Ruthie, you can email her at
ruthie@birthday-angels.org. Or to view additional alumni profiles, please visit the Young Judaea Alumni website.
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| Alumni Love Story |
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Donna and Aaron Horowitz
 If someone had told us the following details about the Freed's Love Story, we would have thought it was us:
They first met at the 1978 National Midwinter Convention, and then didn't see each other again until five years later. The second time they met was at college through Young Judaea / Hamagshimim activities. They quickly became an "item" and were married in 1985. They had three children about 2 years apart starting around 1990. The children have since gone to CYJ Midwest, TY, and Year Course.
Only it wasn't us, it was the Freeds! It was very strange to read about a couple with parallel lives to our own. In addition, we know of at least one other couple who is still married today who got together at that convention, although they had already known each other. There must have been something in the air!
Now for the specifics: Donna was a senior from Ruach B'Tzion (we took great pride in not referring to ourselves as "WPA") and Aaron was a sophomore from Long Island at the 1978 December National Midwinter Convention. He was introduced to her as "the future national mazkir," which she thought was incredibly obnoxious given he was two years away from being a senior. Donna continued to hear about Aaron over the next five years: when a friend of hers developed a crush on him at TY, when he did actually become national mazkir (!), and when he survived being electrocuted on Ketura while on Year Course/Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz (together with Jeff Rosenzweig, chaver Ketura).
Aaron chose to go to school at U of MI in Ann Arbor--a great place to be a Judaean and a Zionist. Donna was already a student there, and was also Director of Michigan Region for Young Judaea. She recruited him to work as a club madrich, and later, he took over as Senior Advisor when the spot was vacated. As mentioned above, we got together pretty quickly and were married in 1985. Our 3 children all attended CYJ from entering 3rd grade through Machon. Two of our kids have gone to TY--our youngest will be going back this coming year. Our oldest just returned from Year Course in June. The other two also plan to spend "gap years" in Israel, including the youngest on Year Course. Maybe one of them will end up telling their story on this page someday in the future...
You can read about other alumni love stories, including the Freed's, on the Young Judaea website.
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| Alumni Notes -- Where Are You Now? |
Would you like to reconnect with your friends? Log on to YJ Connect TODAY! And to read about other alumni, please visit the Young Judaea website.
Daniel Willis -- I live in Davie, FL married to a wonderful woman for almost 20 years and we have 3 terrific children. I have an insurance agency with my three brothers and mom. I'm very involved in Shul and I love going to rock shows! I went to TY in '79 Aleph first session I was in Chug Eilat. It would be great to hear from anyone. Take care, Shalom L'hitraot!!! Felice Prager (nee Klein) -- My early days in Young Judaea stem from Fort Lee, New Jersey, Mel Reisfield's homebase. At the time, I doubt any of us realized how lucky to have Mel as a guide and mentor. I was involved on the local level, attended and was a madricha at CYJ in Amherst, NH (65, 66, 71) and attended TY in Barryville, NY. (67-69 - Freddie's Chug, Ulpan, Machon.) I have lived in Scottsdale, Arizona with my husband Sam for over 20 years. We have two grown sons. Though I have been a freelance writer for many years, my first book was published in September 2009 - Quiz It: ARIZONA. It's the first in a series of books. Information about my book can be found at http://www.QuizItArizona.com. (One recent review: "You don't have to be from Arizona to love this entertaining and humorous book.) Melanie Landay (CYJ Midwest '85-89, TY '91) -- I'm finishing up my 3rd and final year of Reproductive Endocrinology
& Infertility fellowship at USC, celebrating my 4th wedding
anniversary on November 11, 2009, all the while being mommy to 15 month old Sophie and
expecting a baby boy in March. Life certainly isn't boring! Ellen Levitt -- I had a good time in Young Judaea, and I especially enjoyed Convention
weekends which we attended at both TY and Sprout Lake. I also worked
part of senior year in high school as a club leader for younger kids, with my
long-time buddy Jonathan Zweben (who now lives in LA). That may have
been an impetus (of many) that set me upon the path of being a teacher. Jonathan brought me into Young Judaea. I am also friends with
Rochelle Kratzer Grossman and Randy Grossman, who are both YJ alums.
We attend the same synagogue, the East Midwood Jewish Center in
Brooklyn, and our children are all close friends. My husband and two daughters and I live in Brooklyn. My main gig is
working as a high school social studies teacher. I was active in YJ at
the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn from 1979-1982 and was at TY
July 1980. In May 2009 I published THE LOST SYNAGOGUES OF BROOKLYN, published by Avotaynu. It is about former synagogues in Brooklyn which for the most part are now churches (a few are schools or medical facilities). On December 20, I will be speaking at the Jewish Genealogical Society in Manhattan. |
| Alumni Lifecycle Events |
As a community, we all share in each others good times as well as bad times. It is with great sadness that we share with you the passing of Tracy Fisher, a former camper and camp counselor at CYJ Texas. Last summer, Tracy was a Nitzanim/Chalutzim counselor first session and a Maginim counselor second session. Tracy is the daughter of Laurel and Mark Fisher and sister of Jacob and Ethan.
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Alumni Book Corner: Published By YJ Alumni
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Looking for something to read? Below is a selected list of books published by Young Judaea alumni. More to come next month....
Do you want your book to be added to this list? Email alumni@youngjudaea.org.
- Michael Bogdanow (CYJ Texas '62-69, TY '69-70) -- "Massachusetts Tort Damages," now in its second edition (Lexis Law Publishing); Visions of Torah: An Artist's Reflections on the Torah as a Source of Insight Into Our Lives (Naissance Publishing House).
- Daniel Mandell (TY '74, YC '74-75) -- Tribe, Race, History: Native Americans in Southern New England,
1780-1880. This book was awarded the inaugural Lawrence Levine Prize by the
Organization of American Historians for the best book on American
cultural history; King Philip's War: The Conflict Over New England (NY:
Chelsea House Publications, 2007), This book is part of a series for high school students.; New England Treaties, Southeast, Vol. XIX in Early American Indian
Documents: Treaties and Laws, 1607-1789_ (Baltimore: University
Publications of America, 2003).; Behind the Frontier: Indians in Eighteenth-Century Eastern Massachusetts (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996).
- Nancy Wassner (YC '00-01, ISP Madricha '03-04, YC Madricha '05-06) -- A Different Kind Of Light: A Year In Israel In Fifteen Pieces, by Xlibris.
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Alumni and Current Judaeans In The News
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Deborah Kenny's Students Achieve 100% Proficiency in Math
Deborah Kenny, CEO and Founder of Harlem Village Academies, instills a passion of love and dedication in her teachers and students. The culture at Village Academies supports great teaching and as a result, her 5th graders are achieving 100% proficiency in math. Watch the video from her interview on Morning Joe.
Paul Rockower Captures The World Through Images
Paul Rockower has spent the last 11 years exploring the world and documenting his experiences through photographs and as well as a collection of memorabilia. Ignited by his summer trip to Israel with Young Judaea, those six weeks traveling around and learning about the country lead to this creative pursuit. Read more about his exhibit at the Univ. of Southern California.
You can also see more about Rockower's travels, by visiting either of his two blogs, http://levantine18.blogspot.com or http://talesofawanderingjew.blogspot.com.
Call To Action: Going Shoeless For A Cause
Stephanie Blitzer, the Social Action Programmer and 3rd generation Judaean, along with other Judaeans organized a "day without shoes" to bring attention to the plight of the Sudanese who are suffering due to the ongoing conflict billed as genocide by the US, in the area. Read this article to learn more about the impact of their efforts.
Correction: In last month's Vatikim, Joelle Schnaider's daughter's name was incorrect. Her name is Lola.
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In Honor and Celebration of YJ's 100th Anniversary...
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Celebrate a Century of Young Judaea, Honor Mel Reisfield 
Become a part of the $100,000 Campaign! For over 60 years, Mel Reisfield has played an integral part in the lives of hundred of thousands of Judaeans. As an educator, leader and mentor he continues to inspire us all to lives dedicated to social responsibility, filled with Jewish traditions and connected to the land of Israel, its language and culture.
To be part of the $100,000 Campaign to honor Mel Reisfield, Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Young Judaea, donate here.
Hadassah & YJ: Special Lifetime Membership Offer Hadassah and Young Judaea: The Perfect Match. Become a Hadassah life member or Hadassah associate today! In honor of Young Judaea's 100th anniversary and to celebrate their special relationship, Hadassah welcomes alumni and current participants of any Young Judaea program to join at this special price. Pay $200. $100 goes directly towards Young Judaea scholarships, and $100 to Hadassah for a lifetime connection. Craig Schneider (YC '81-82) said, " It is an honor to become an Associate of Hadassah. I have tremendous appreciation and pride for what Hadassah has accomplished, and I am grateful for their support of Young Judaea. Being a member of Young Judaea truly changed my life, and it is critical that young Jews continue to have this transformative experience." Join or learn more today.
YJ is 100
Happy 100th Anniversary Young Judaea! For 100 years, Young Judaea has been connecting American Jewish youth to Israel and to each other. Won't you help us celebrate with an anniversary gift of $100? Details available here. |
| Help Your Friends & Family Who Are Making Aliyah! |
Do you know of anyone who: - Participated in a Young Judaea, YJ Impact, or Hamagshimim program,
- Is currently under the age of 30,
- Has recently made aliyah or planning on doing so.
If so, please e-mail this person's name and any contact info (e-mail or phone) to Ruti Mor Paz at ruti@atidolami.org. Ruti will be in touch with this individual directly about his or her background and the absorption services for new immigrants offered by the Merkaz Hamagshimim. By contacting Ruti, you'll help: - Young Judaea secure valuable funding for our student and young adult programs,
- Your friend or family member get settled comfortably in Israel.
Thanks in advance for your help! Please be in touch with Ruti with any questions. |
| 10 Steps To Giving Back, Israel Programs Dept. |
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Young Judaea's Israel Programs Department is looking for alumni to help local recruiters reach more young adults to spend time in Israel. Here is how you can help:
1. Are you a musician or author? Donate your CD's, books, or other giveaways, and we will give them as gifts.
2. If you are well connected to your community, share your resources with the local Recruiter.
3. Speak to your Rabbi, friends and family about the programs Young Judaea offers.
4. If you have a child between the ages of 15 and 35, our Recruiters would love to speak with your child and his or her friends about all of our programs.
5. Join your local Recruiter to speak at Israel Fairs and Information Nights about our programs.
6. Host an info session in your home.
7. Share your story of how your life has been impacted by your YJ Israel Program experience.
8. Offer to be a reference to those interested in the program.
9. If you work in a high school, synagogue, or university, you can assist with campus recruitment.
10. Add Israel Programs information to your Facebook page, blog, email signature, etc.
Our local Recruiters are looking forward to hearing from you! New Jersey: Omer Givati, 212-303-4581; New York: Diana Diner, 212-303-4580; Southern California: Jennifer Weinstein, 310-709-8015; Washington D.C. & Baltimore: Jennifer Putterman, 240-601-0738, Miami & S. Florida: Danielle Rubinstein, 786-269-8999, Sigalit Noakh, 347-573-2802; Texas: Gil Yaari, 713-723-8354; Boston: Meital Fischer, 617-734-4838; Midwest: Meytal Ozeri, 847-492-9604; Shalem: Russell Heller, 212-451-6215.
We are looking for YJ Alumni who are savvy with marketing. We are putting together an alumni circle, a team of our alumni who want to help us cultivate recruitment opportunities for Young Judaea Israel Programs throughout the US. If you are interested in joining our circle please contact Dan Deutsch, Director of Israel Programs at ddeutsch@youngjudaea.org. |
Alternative Winter Break -- December 23-30, 2009
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 Young Judaea's 3rd annual Alternative Winter Break (AWB) community service program for teens (9th-12th grades) will be held in South Florida from December 23-30, 2009.
AWB is a program that immerses participants in an entirely different environment to engage in intensive community service, youth leadership development and experiential Jewish learning that is both enriching and transformative. This powerful experience provides participants with opportunities to learn about problems faced by members of communities with whom they may have little or no direct contact. By integrating the service learning element into the program, AWB participants build community and leadership skills, explore their Jewish identity. They leave with a deeper commitment to service where the tenets of tikun olam (repairing the world) and tzedek become a part of their daily life.
South Florida has diversified communities with many social concerns. This is particularly true within the Latino and Caribbean immigrant communities, many of whose members came to the U.S. as refugees. Issues we will concentrate on include poverty and the Jewish value of helping those who "are strangers in a strange land." Miami is home to one of the highest poverty rates in the U.S. with roughly 27% of the population living below the poverty line.
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| Feedback and Suggestions |
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Email YJ Alumni Relations with your feedback and suggestions for future newsletters! | |
