Binyamin Alter, Queens college

12 Kislev 5785 | December 13, 2024

Recently I’ve noticed how the library at Queens is a great place where so many Jewish students spend their time, but there are rarely Jewish events held there. That’s why I decided to organize a Chanukah party in the library to bring some fun and community to the space. From the moment I shared my idea with my Yavneh regional coordinator, Zev Roberts, he was incredibly supportive, offering guidance and encouragement to make the event a reality. With help from Yavneh, I secured funding and worked with Samantha Klein, a junior and Yavneh board member, to help spread the word.

The Chanukah party was a huge success, with dozens of students coming together to enjoy donuts and Chanukah goodie bags. The event created a vibrant atmosphere, bringing people together and strengthening the sense of community and Jewish life in a part of campus where it isn’t usually so prevalent. I’m so grateful to Yavneh for giving me the opportunity to make this happen and for helping to foster Jewish pride and connection in such a meaningful way.

noah meltzer, university of maryland

21 Marcheshvan 5785 | November 22, 2024

Yavneh Fellows from across the country came together to attend the Annual JNF-USA Conference. We kicked off the weekend hearing about the amazing work of different campus organizations that partner with JNF such as: Chabad on Campus, StandWithUs, and our very own Gracie Newmark, representing Yavneh. This led into the kickoff of the Global Conference, consisting of 2,500 other Zionists and JNF affiliates. We heard from Russel F. Robinson, the CEO of JNF-USA who expressed excitement and gratitude for this upcoming weekend. Thursday night ended with a premiere showing of a new movie October H8TE, a film that explores the roots of the rising antisemitism on college campuses after October 7th and introduced by the director Wendy Sachs. On Friday we heard from a variety of speakers who have first hand experience in Israel specifically dealing with trauma and building resilience. We got a first hand look into the psyche of Israelis currently. After a day filled with informative sessions it was time for Shabbat! The Yavneh run and led minyan filled the space with singing and dancing concluding with a Dvar Torah from Bailey Spitz highlighting the importance of doing things when they’re hard like Avraham did with welcoming his special guests and JNF’s assistance in hard times. We continued with a delicious Texas Barbeque Friday night dinner. Saturday continued our smooth minyan with an inspirational Musaf from Steven Galitzer. After davening we dived into the intricacies of Zionism, ethics, and friends of Israel. We heard a new perspective from non-Jews who have dedicated their career to supporting Israel. Shabbat concluded with the entire college summit together in a large Havdalah, where Rabbi Leor Siani from Israel, envisioned a time that we will have the same unity, love, and purpose as that shabbat. Picking up on Sunday Morning we concluded the conference hearing of the amazing achievements of JNF and finished arm in arm hearing from the Special in Uniform performance of Hatikvah.  

Lila Ellman & Josh Katz, university of michigan

21 Marcheshvan 5785 | November 22, 2024

On November 7-10, our community at Michigan was thrilled to host the first ever Michigan Yavneh Football Tournament (MYFT). Backed by Yavneh’s generous and steadfast support, our board of 5 students was able to put on an all encompassing weekend event where we hosted 12 teams and over 100 students from across the country. Over the course of the weekend, we gave our guests a true taste of the Michigan experience, including both the flag football tournament and an electric shabbos atmosphere. The weekend started off with a schmooze on Thursday night where participants were able to meet and get to know each other before the games began. Starting early Friday morning, games were held at the beautiful Michigan fields surrounded by fall foliage. Boys and girls tournament play heatedly continued on throughout the morning. The competition continued until we all came together for Kabbalat Shabbat which was filled with dancing, singing and community. It was so beautiful seeing our Michigan community bursting at the seams with so much joy, ruach, and passion. The Michigan Hillel then hosted participants for dinner and we ended the night with a trademark Oneg “Superbowlneg” at the Michigan Jewish Resource Center, allowing our guests to experience all of the diverse Jewish resources that our community has to offer. The fantastic energy from the day’s events continued on through the rest of shabbos, where guests enjoyed a shiur, snacks, and board games at the Lorkis’, our beloved JLIC couple on campus. We finished Shabbos with Shalosh Seudos at Hillel, and then finished our gameplay action on Motzei Shabbos, where the Stern girls team and St. Peter’s boys team took home the first “MYFT champions of the World” trophies. We were also excited to pay homage to some of our graduated Yavneh fellows who left huge impacts on our community in the form of the first annual Atara Kresch MVP award, Jared Hurwitz Sportsmanship award, and Michael Hammer Hustle awards! Simone Amkraut (Stern) and Jakob Berger (Peters) took home the Kresch awards, Emily Klausner (WashU) and Andrew Pinchot (YU) were the first recipients of the Hurwitz, and Samantha Kaminsky (Michigan) and Alec Kinzelberg (Peters) were the proud recipients of the Hammer award. Overall, our community was so proud to have hosted this spectacular event and so excited to have gotten to know everyone who came! We are already eagerly awaiting next year's MYFT weekend, and can’t wait to see it grow with Yavneh’s help!

Tamar fedida, florida international university

21 Marcheshvan 5785 | November 22, 2024

The Southeast Torah Bowl, hosted by the University of Florida, was a tremendous success! The Shabbaton exceeded all our expectations, providing everything we had hoped for and more. Throughout Shabbat, there was spirited competition, meaningful discussions on Torah concepts, and delicious food—a true Oneg Shabbat experience!

The finalists, the Geshmak Gators, achieved an impressive total win, remaining undefeated throughout the competition. We are incredibly proud of their accomplishment and eagerly look forward to seeing how they perform next year, BZH.

A couple of shoutouts to head organizer, Ari Dvorkin, for directing the entire event; Tamar Fedida for organizing and managing the Shabbaton logistics; Chaim Sufrin for contributing immensely to the Torah trivia writing; and Tziyona Gheblikian, Aliyah Shanes, and Esther Reich for helping with various logistics.

And of course, we were thrilled to have Jocelyn join us as our resident Yavneh representative. Thank you so much, Yavneh, for making this Shabbaton a reality and providing us students with the resources to create an event like this.

We cannot wait to see how next year’s Southeast Torah Bowl tops this one!