Student Reflections on Leadership

Josh Marcus, Brown University

16 Shvat 5785 | February 14, 2025

Sefarim Connect cultivates personalized Torah learning, allowing students to learn what they want, when they want. Seeing that many students on his campus struggled to attend Jewish learning classes due to time conflicts or varying levels of learning, Josh created Sefarim Connect. With free sefarim provided to participants who commit to learning any Jewish text with a chavruta at least once per week, this program has over 100 participants, promoting in-person Torah learning at college campuses across the country.

Miriam Cherson, City College

16 Shvat 5785 | February 14, 2025

Our Welcome Back movie night was a cozy gathering for people to reconnect after winter break. We enjoyed watching a recorded performance of the Broadway musical Come From Away, with snacks from around the world! Everyone had a great time watching and chilling together.

Yaacov Strickon, Queens College

9 Shvat 5785 | February 7, 2025

The Nachalah Queens College Community kicked off the semester with our annual Queens College Torah Bowl. Our amazing team of Josh Goldenberg and Daniella Moadab ran the three rounds of the competition for 14 competitors over the course of shabbat. With friends coming to cheer, test their torah knowledge and have a good time, the completion was lively, with an energetic atmosphere! Shabbat was facilitated by the amazing Nachalah Shabbat Board who organized space for the event, housing for guests, a potluck meal and a Yavneh oneg. Student led Tefilot took place at a local Synagogue and the Queens College Hillel with Seudat Shilishit taking place at the JLIC. We are always excited to have more guests come experience out shabbat at Queens! Feel free to reach out if you're interested!

Daniella Moadab, Queens College

2 Shvat 5785 | January 31, 2025

This past Shabbat, I had the incredible opportunity to reunite with the LEAD fellows for our Shabbaton! It was based on the Upper West Side, which was an amazing opportunity, especially for our Out-Of-Towners, to check out the bustling community for young Jewish professionals. Anyway, Yavneh Staff Member, Tal Ershler, hosted all of us for the meals and prepared meaningful and thought-provoking workshops, which I loved. I was inspired by my peers’ motivated outlooks regarding their Jewish communities on campus and really enjoyed learning more about their strategies and leadership skills. I also enjoyed the smaller and tight-knit Shabbaton. This presented the opportunity to bond with one another as LEAD fellows in a way we wouldn’t have necessarily been able to do on a general Yavneh Shabbaton. After Shabbat, we took the party to SPIN in Midtown where we played ping-pong and most remarkably, I got Pluto in Shoot-the Moon. We then wrapped up with a Melave Malka joined by the local Yavneh staff (Shoutout Zev and Maayan!!) All in all, I am so thankful that I had this amazing opportunity to check in with my peers and I learned so many valuable ideas about what it means to be a Jewish leader on campus. Looking forward to seeing all my east coast fellows next Shabbat at Rutgers!!

Noa Geralnik, University of Michigan

17 Tevet 5785 | January 17, 2025

I recently had the opportunity to be a part of the Yavneh-JNF-USA Alternative Winter Break volunteering trip. On this trip, we visited different parts of southern Israel and volunteered in many different places. We started off the trip with a special shabbaton in Baka where everyone had a chance to get to know each other before we began our volunteering journey. We helped a farmer in his garden, ran with Adi Negev, built and painted benches, and volunteered at a Bedouin village making cheese and sorting spices. As well as this, we also visited important locations including Sderot and the Nova festival and listened to important stories of bravery and perseverance surrounding the October 7th attack. This trip was truly so unique and memorable and I am so happy I chose to spend my winter break on this trip.

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!

Ezra Greenberg, Johns Hopkins University

7 MarCheshvan 5785 | November 8, 2024

While the laws of the Kohen Gadol’s Avodah on Yom Kippur may sometimes seem remote and arcane, they can become much more relevant when you are on trial to be the next Kohen Gadol for the coming year. With the High Holiday Olympics at Johns Hopkins University, that is the exact situation several students found themselves in. Following the Kohen Gadol’s service as described in the Mishna, students competed to demonstrate their expertise at completing the Kohen Gadol’s service. The games began with a Shofar blowing competition, in recognition of the holiday of Rosh HaShanah which had just passed. As the Kohen Gadol would stay awake the night the holiday began, engaged in learning, the next event was Yom Kippur trivia. The day soon arrived, and though we skipped the sacrifices, a race and havdalah bag making contest evoked the offering of the incense in the Holy of Holies. Next a college classic: cup pong, but with a variant set of rules reflective of the sprinklings on the curtain, 1 up and 7 down. The final contest reflected an activity that the Kohen Gadol had to do rather frequently over the day: who could change into and out of the clothes of the High Priest fastest? After all these events, only one student could emerge as the High Priest of Hopkins, but every one of us there had an exciting and educational time competing in the High Holiday Olympics. The High Holiday Olympics were as sweet a learning event as the year we hoped to have.

Emma Muscat, Toronto Metropolitan University

30 Tishrei 5785 | November 1, 2024

I’m so fortunate to be a Yavneh LEAD Fellow! Before starting my event, I noticed a common issue in my community—people, especially girls, felt there was a lack of opportunities for women’s learning and that the social scene was very cliquey with people sticking to who they knew from high school. I wanted to address both of these challenges by creating a space where girls could learn together and form new connections.

That’s how I came up with the idea of Shabbat monthly learning sessions. Each month, a new host and speaker leads a chaburah(study group) on a topic of their choice. The first session was an introduction to the program, where I led a discussion on fundamental Jewish questions and the purpose of Mitzvot in our unique lives. My hope is to create an inclusive environment and revitalise women's education in our community.

With the support of Yavneh, I’m excited to encourage people to branch out and make new connections through learning Torah.

Bahar Pouyanrad, UCLA

30 Tishrei 5785 | November 1, 2024

This year’s Yavneh fellowship in the West Coast kicked off with an unforgettable scavenger hunt that brought together new and returning members in an exhilarating race against time. Divided into three teams, participants embarked on a wild adventure, tackling a series of outrageous challenges designed to break the ice and spark camaraderie. From making animal noises in the heart of campus to asking strangers if they could ride their bikes, the antics were both hilarious and absurd. Although I didn’t win, the thrill of connecting with fellow participants and diving into such ridiculous activities made the day truly memorable. The energy was electric, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store!

Brandon Melamed, Yeshiva University

9 Tishrei 5785 | October 11, 2024

Shalom from Yavneh NYC! This year has been off to an amazing start so far. We have been planning for the year since the summer, and so far have had three great events. Our kickoff event was in a private game room/lounge in Midtown Manhattan, where around 100 people from many different schools came, between different areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. This was followed by an open beit midrash night later in the week, which is our newest initiative to bring more structured Torah learning into the Yavneh NYC community. Our coordinator, Zev Roberts, led a chaburah as well as people had time for their own learning. This week we had an event partnering with Shalhevet, NYU’s Orthodox student organization, in which we had a shiur, dinner, speaker and musical Selichot altogether in order to commemorate the first anniversary of October 7th.

This is Yavneh NYC’s third full year of operating, and we are eager to expand and grow more and do more. We have students from over a dozen different schools in the New York City area, and are always looking to reach more. As always, Yavneh NYC is a Jewish community “Just a Subway Ride Away.”