yeshiva university • purim to-go • adar 5771 - YU Torah Online

Home,” students engaged Israelis on kibbutzim, in developmenttowns, immigrant villages, towns in Judea and Samariaand religious and secular communities. These compellingexperiences forced students to examine their shared existentialdilemma of loyalty to both a birthplace and a homeland.The trip also introduced the students to “some of thecomplex social issues of the State of Israel,” said RabbiYaakov Neuberger, rosh yeshiva at RIETS. “Specifically, thisgroup was introduced to the issue of the disengagementfrom Gaza in a way that they were not aware of before.These programs are very valuable and should be attended byanyone planning to go into rabbanus [the rabbinate] or chinuch[Jewish education].”Laying bricks for library’s foundation in Nicaragua.Other YU students participated in Jewish Life Coast toCoast—a trip to Richmond, Charleston, Jacksonville andSouth Florida—during which they explored how individualscan become active and make a difference in NorthAmerica’s diverse Jewish communities.“Watching our students engage with the Jewish communityof Richmond was exciting,” said Rabbi KennethBrander, the David Mitzner Dean of Yeshiva University’sCenter for the Jewish Future (CJF). “They interacted withJews of all ages and all backgrounds. In the process ofinspiring the communities they encountered, our studentswere transformed.”Coast-to-Coast and the Nicaragua mission were amongseven experiential learning trips organized this winter by theCJF. Others included a humanitarian mission to Mexico;Project Kharkov, a two-week program aimed at gaining firsthandunderstanding of the welfare challenges and identitycrises facing Ukrainian Jewry; QUEST II, a leadership programthat helped former Gush Katif residents rebuild theirlives in the desert community of Halutza; and “A PlaceCalled Home,” during which students traveled across Israelfor a week, discovering what it means to create a nationalhome for the Jewish people. Throughout “A Place CalledYU students design and lead programs for children of the Martin J.Gottlieb School in Jacksonville, FL.The CJF is grateful to the programming and institutional partnersthat made these missions possible for hundreds of YU students.They include: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee,American Jewish World Service, the Eckstein Family, Jim JosephFoundation, Jewish National Fund and Repair the World.YU in Los AngelesREGIONAL COUNCILA special thank you to the members of the YU Regional Council — Los Angeles who continue to show support for YU by servingas lay leaders and strengthening YU’s visibility in their hometown. The council, currently in formation, includes: Alex Altberg,Jennifer Altberg, Evan Anziska, Israel Bick, Aryeh Goldberg, Mark Hecht, Ari Hier, Adena Rohatiner, Rafi Rosenkranz, LouShapiro, Avi Steinlauf, Shuli Steinlauf, Shimmy Steinmetz, Jonathan Wernick and Alan Willner.For more information about YU in Los Angeles, contact Sarah Emerson Helfand, West Coast Regional Director, atsemerson@yu.edu.