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Students can now major in Jewish studies at U.C. Santa Cruz
Written by Jennifer AisenbergStarting this fall, some students at U.C. Santa Cruz will have a snappy new answer to the age-old question, “What’s your major?”
Jewish studies has joined physics, sociology and computer science as an undergraduate discipline at the Santa Cruz campus.
“We’re excited about the major,” says Nathaniel Deutsch, one of more than 20 principal and affiliated professors in the department. “The university gave us a vote of confidence at a time when there’s a financial crisis affecting the U.C. system, but they realize Jewish studies is a vibrant and growing program at Santa Cruz.”
The program touches on a broad spectrum of Jewish topics, including literature, art, history, ethics and philosophy. Students may take courses in Yiddish language, Hebrew (modern and biblical), Israeli history, Holocaust and American Jewish history, as well as Deutsch’s seminars on the shtetl and the Bible.There’s even a class on the history of sin.
“The number of courses is substantial,” Deutsch says. “We have also put on lot of events, such as conferences and lectures, which have raised the profile of Jewish studies.”
Elevating Jewish studies from a minor to a major did not happen overnight.
The buildup took years, with Murray Baumgarten taking the lead. A longtime professor of English literature, Baumgarten is also a Jewish history scholar. Deutsch credits his efforts over the years with developing the program at Santa Cruz.
It started with a Holocaust course Baumgarten taught in the 1980s. From there, various foundations and donors contributed to the cause, among them the Helen Diller Family Foundation, the Koret Foundation and the David B. Gold Foundation. U.C. trustee Anne Neufeld Levin, a Holocaust refugee, endowed a chair in Holocaust studies at the campus.
How did the evergreen-lined hills of Santa Cruz end up a magnet for a program like this? Deutsch says his university has always had a surprisingly large Jewish population among the student body of 16,000.
“I think it has the largest proportion of any in the U.C. system,” he says. “Santa Cruz is a campus that attracts young people interested in questions of identity and culture. They see Jewish studies as a way to explore that.”
Deutsch notes that non-Jewish students also have signed up for the courses, with even the Yiddish classes overenrolled.
Read the full article at Jweekly.com...
New Jewish pre-school set to open this fall in Eltingville
Written by Jennifer AisenbergOorah's Torah Spot has offered family entertainment, concerts and educational programs over the years.
Little Star seeks to provide cost-effective education for children who are 3 or 4 years of age, are fully potty trained, and have all necessary vaccinations.
The Little Star Pre-School fills a unique need for Jewish parents of all backgrounds who are looking to infuse a little extra Jewish warmth and culture into their children's early education.
In addition to helping children develop English and math skills, students will also learn the Hebrew alphabet and ancestral heritage.
"We know how important it is for children to start off on the right foot," says Rabbi Yehoshua Weinstein, director of development at Oorah. "What they learn when they are young can affect them for many years to come."
Read the full article at The Staten Island Advance...
For more than a decade the semi-underground haven known as Chulent has served as the second home for young dropouts from New York’s fervently Orthodox communities.
Now, ironically, Chulent itself is homeless.
Until May, Chulent held its revels inside the upstairs room of the historic Millinery Synagogue, led by Rabbi Chaim Shimon Wahrman, in Midtown. According to Chulent founder Isaac Schonfeld, though there had been some past inconclusive discussions about the synagogue’s reclaiming the room for renovation, the reasons for the group’s ultimate ejection from the donated space are not altogether clear, beyond what he characterized as a somewhat clouded dispute about a broken door lock.
The Millinery Synagogue did not return repeated phone calls requesting comment.
“We have a constituency but no resources,” jibed Schonfeld. “The Millinery Synagogue has resources but no constituency.
“Even though we’re mystified and hurt,” he added more somberly, “we’re thankful to the synagogue for giving us a place under its roof these many years.”
During those years the threadbare upstairs room mixed talk (sample topics: anti-Orthodox media bias, religion as enemy of the truth, chasidism and Sufism), inventive and traditional music and holiday-centered events to draw disaffected youth from the area’s chasidic and “black hat” communities. Exemplars of a wider phenomenon of voluntary and forced exile from strongholds of the devout, these displaced young Jews and their kindred castoffs — many walking contradictions unable to close the doors of their heritage completely behind them — have gradually expanded their blip on the Jewish-American social and media radar.
“We’ve always tried to be accepting and nonjudgmental,” said Schonfeld, a 47-year-old bachelor, self-described “shy guy” and a never-deviating observant Jew. “You can bring a ham sandwich. Just don’t leave it on the table.
Read the full article at The Jewish Week...
At Eden Village Camp, a brand-new Jewish sleep-away camp in Putnam Valley, 50 miles north of Manhattan, the children are actually clamoring to eat their vegetables.
On a recent hot and muggy Wednesday, while approximately 40 campers ranging in age from 8 to 17 listened eagerly from the long dining hall tables, a counselor announced the lunch menu: eggplant and summer squash, fresh from the camp’s own farm and stuffed with polenta, quinoa, lentils, feta cheese and pickled Swiss chard, along with a green salad.
“Is this from the land?” asked the counselor rhetorically. After the campers enthusiastically responded in the affirmative, the room resounded with a hearty “Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha’olam, boreh pri ha’adamah,” the Jewish blessing thanking God for creating “the fruit of the earth.”
And with a clinking of cutlery against metal dishes and serving bowls, everyone noisily dug in, making quick work of the nourishing meal.
One of five camps to emerge this summer from the Foundation for Jewish Camp and Jim Joseph Foundation’s “Jewish Specialty Camp Incubator,” Eden Village — in which kids learn about environmental sustainability, milk goats and take electives in things like herbology and permaculture — feels, true to its name, like a little paradise, free of the cliques, bullying and talking-behind-the-back pettiness that all too often plague summer camps.
“Here we don’t have color war,” observed Ceren (pronounced Keren), a 14-year-old camper from Chicago. “Here we would have color peace.”
Campers, who run the spectrum from unaffiliated to Modern Orthodox, use words like “healing,” “spiritual,” “inspiring” and “loving” to describe their experience. The entire camp abides by a “no body chatter” rule that discourages individuals from commenting on each other’s clothing or physical appearance. The rationale? As Ceren explained, “There’s so much more to a person than a shirt. You should look within.”Read the full article at the Jewish Week...
Meet the Future Today: Skilled Volunteers for Israel
Written by Jennifer AisenbergBaby Boomers represent the largest, most educated and financially secure generation in history. They see the stage after retirement as a time for meaningful work and service which includes volunteering. In the United States, the secular community has set up programs to tap the skills of boomer volunteers. However, nothing comparable exists today to attract, recruit or match Jewish baby boomers with the needs of Israel’s nonprofit organizations.
That’s about to change.
Skilled Volunteers for Israel has launched to help fill the gap. At the same time, the venture will enable the Israeli nonprofit sector to harness the talents of this abundant Jewish communal resource.
Skilled Volunteers for Israel was conceived by Marla Gamoran of Madison, Wisconsin. Marla, whose motivation to begin this venture came from her own personal experience, told us, “I’m at a place in my life where I can spend more time in Israel and started looking for volunteer opportunities for myself. I found so many options for volunteering for Jews up to the age of 35 as well as unskilled options such as the Sar-El program, but I found nothing specifically geared to the Jewish professional, over age 50 looking for volunteer opportunities tied specifically to my interests or profession.”
Read the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy...
High School Israel Trips Regain Foothold
Written by Jennifer Aisenbergby Ramie Arian
In the midst of the recent Jewish Agency board meetings, a small but significant policy shift was announced, one that was barely reported in the media, but which may produce a significant change in the way in which young American Jews experience Israel.
This news was the announcement of a grant of $1 million to Lapid, to complement Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) support of Birthright and MASA, in order to determine how to structure what will eventually be a program budgeted at $20 million per year.
Lapid? (note-- click here to watch the video at eJewishPhilanthropy!)
Given that most folks have never heard of Lapid, and given that $1 million is a very small grant in the context of JAFI’s budget, it is hardly surprising that the story garnered little notice. So, what’s it about, and why might it be important? Here’s the background.
Until the advent of Birthright, a decade and more ago, the most common way for a young American to visit Israel was during the high school years, on an educational teen tour sponsored by one of the long-standing Jewish youth movements or organizations. Such tours were (and continue to be) sponsored by the youth affiliates of the major synagogue movements, like USY (Conservative), NFTY (Reform), and NCSY (Orthodox), and by the Zionist youth movements like Young Judaea and Habonim Dror, among other sponsors. Most were summer programs of 5 weeks’ duration or more, though some – notably those sponsored by the Alexander Muss High School in Israel – took place as well during the school year. Prior to the era of Birthright, some of these were relatively large operations: in 1999, NFTY and Young Judaea each boasted 1200-1500 summer Israel participants.
Read the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy...