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"Because of our staff, students have someone to tell them they don’t need anyone’s permission to explore themselves through Judaism. They have someone there to share that being Jewish at all means they’re automatically part of a deep, weird, complex tradition that prioritizes asking questions, taking care of each other, and gratitude for life and all its beauty and schmutz."
Meet Danielle Outgoing Director of Development from Charlottesville, Va |
Five years ago, I had never kept Kosher for Passover, never fasted for Yom Kippur, and never had a deep, meaningful relationships with an Israeli. I’d never had a conversation with a rabbi, never hosted a Shabbat dinner, and never wished someone a “shana tova.” Before I started working at the Brody Jewish Center, I had never really even considered myself Jewish – only Jew-ish, half Jewish, or my favorite – a “cashew” (that’s a person with a Jewish parent and a Catholic parent – a double helping of guilt).
Growing up, being Jewish meant we celebrated Chanukah and Passover. I have strong, early memories of getting a Mulan VHS as my Afikomen prize and dedicating Chanukah candles to honor people I loved. My Judaism was expressed through family traditions that stuck over the years because they were meaningful and helpful to the generations of people I come from. So while my family didn’t have Shabbat dinners, we had family dinners around the table each night with rituals and strict no-technology rules. We didn’t name the concept of tzedakah in my family, but when I got my first allowance for helping out around the house, my mom made me measure out 10% of my $5 and put that fifty cents in a pouch to donate. We were never technically part of a Jewish community, but in the summers when we’d visit my grandparents in their Ft. Lauderdale retirement community, I had an army of beloved Jewish grandmas who commented on my bosom, burnt my bialys, and made me play Boggle by the adult rules.
Before I started working at the Brody Jewish Center, I was Jewish - I just didn’t know what that meant. And more - I never thought I was “Jewish enough” to claim it as part of my identity. Since beginning my work in the Jewish nonprofit field, not being “Jewish enough” is a pattern I’ve started noticing everywhere. Even my mom doesn’t feel Jewish enough, and both her parents were loud Brooklyn Jews whose families immigrated from Russia. My mom is self conscious because her family didn’t go to temple and she doesn’t know the Hebrew versions of prayers. But every year, Arlene Buynak leads a vintage Maxwell House haggadot seder for my immediate family and anyone else curious enough to try gefilte fish once. Still, she doesn’t feel “Jewish enough.”
Not being “Jewish enough” is also something I’ve heard many students talk about during my time with Hillel. But here’s the difference - Hillel is there to hear it. Because of our staff, students have someone to tell them they don’t need anyone’s permission to explore themselves through Judaism. They have someone there to share that being Jewish at all means they’re automatically part of a deep, weird, complex tradition that prioritizes asking questions, taking care of each other, and gratitude for life and all its beauty and schmutz.
I’m proud Hillel so often talks about radical inclusivity because that’s what it will take to continue to reach Jewish people in the future. Students right now want to know themselves and express themselves authentically. In the Jewish world, It isn’t enough to be anti-gatekeeping - it’s up to us to hold the doors wide open. It’s up to us to welcome them in and give them a blanket and a hug and some matzah ball soup because, man, it is cold out there right now.
I’m proud that our Hillel does this. And I know for a fact that we do, because Rabbi Jake and the countless other talented BJC staff I’ve known did it for me.
Through their kindness, friendship, honesty, and wisdom they’ve taught me not only more about being Jewish, but have given me the space to try it on as part of my identity for the first real time. And thanks to working at Hillel, I’ve been able to hold that fragile, electric space for others. I even did it for a student, another cashew, on the 10-hour plane ride to Israel as I led my first Birthright trip. She told me about her grandmother braiding challah, and about how going on this trip made her feel connected to a part of her story she didn’t know very well. The poetry is not lost on me.
In the last five years, I’ve helped write and design a haggadah, made a challah cover out of pressed flowers, and listened to a Shabbat service on Zoom from the car. I’ve had my home filled with Jewish students the week of my wedding to help me braid and bless the challah my great uncle cut at my wedding. I had my cell phone force restart the weekend of August 11th and 12th, 2017, as it buzzed 1,048 times with donations from Taiwan and 48 of our 50 states. I worked at the Jewish institution seven tenths of a mile away from a group of neo-Nazis marching with tiki torches, chanting “Jews will not replace us,” chanting, “blood and soil.” I probably would’ve been Jewish enough for them.
As I prepare to leave the BJC, I offer my sincere thanks to everyone I’ve met during my time with the Brody Jewish Center. To our donors - thank you for understanding that what we do matters for the future. Your generosity continues to move me, our team, and all of our students. It’s because of you that can retain the staff, maintain the building, and provide the warmth that makes the Brody Jewish Center and Berman Student Center a home. We truly would not be here without you. One last time I ask that you continue to support our Hillel as generously, or even more generously than you have in the past. Great things are on the horizon for Rabbi Jake, Paige, Annie, Doris, and the wonderful student leaders who have taken on this cause as their own.
I leave Hillel after five years knowing that I am Jewish enough, knowing that if I take part in my Judaism thoughtfully and joyfully, I’m doing it for me. For this gift I cannot thank our community enough.
Click here to donate to the Brody Jewish Center.
Growing up, being Jewish meant we celebrated Chanukah and Passover. I have strong, early memories of getting a Mulan VHS as my Afikomen prize and dedicating Chanukah candles to honor people I loved. My Judaism was expressed through family traditions that stuck over the years because they were meaningful and helpful to the generations of people I come from. So while my family didn’t have Shabbat dinners, we had family dinners around the table each night with rituals and strict no-technology rules. We didn’t name the concept of tzedakah in my family, but when I got my first allowance for helping out around the house, my mom made me measure out 10% of my $5 and put that fifty cents in a pouch to donate. We were never technically part of a Jewish community, but in the summers when we’d visit my grandparents in their Ft. Lauderdale retirement community, I had an army of beloved Jewish grandmas who commented on my bosom, burnt my bialys, and made me play Boggle by the adult rules.
Before I started working at the Brody Jewish Center, I was Jewish - I just didn’t know what that meant. And more - I never thought I was “Jewish enough” to claim it as part of my identity. Since beginning my work in the Jewish nonprofit field, not being “Jewish enough” is a pattern I’ve started noticing everywhere. Even my mom doesn’t feel Jewish enough, and both her parents were loud Brooklyn Jews whose families immigrated from Russia. My mom is self conscious because her family didn’t go to temple and she doesn’t know the Hebrew versions of prayers. But every year, Arlene Buynak leads a vintage Maxwell House haggadot seder for my immediate family and anyone else curious enough to try gefilte fish once. Still, she doesn’t feel “Jewish enough.”
Not being “Jewish enough” is also something I’ve heard many students talk about during my time with Hillel. But here’s the difference - Hillel is there to hear it. Because of our staff, students have someone to tell them they don’t need anyone’s permission to explore themselves through Judaism. They have someone there to share that being Jewish at all means they’re automatically part of a deep, weird, complex tradition that prioritizes asking questions, taking care of each other, and gratitude for life and all its beauty and schmutz.
I’m proud Hillel so often talks about radical inclusivity because that’s what it will take to continue to reach Jewish people in the future. Students right now want to know themselves and express themselves authentically. In the Jewish world, It isn’t enough to be anti-gatekeeping - it’s up to us to hold the doors wide open. It’s up to us to welcome them in and give them a blanket and a hug and some matzah ball soup because, man, it is cold out there right now.
I’m proud that our Hillel does this. And I know for a fact that we do, because Rabbi Jake and the countless other talented BJC staff I’ve known did it for me.
Through their kindness, friendship, honesty, and wisdom they’ve taught me not only more about being Jewish, but have given me the space to try it on as part of my identity for the first real time. And thanks to working at Hillel, I’ve been able to hold that fragile, electric space for others. I even did it for a student, another cashew, on the 10-hour plane ride to Israel as I led my first Birthright trip. She told me about her grandmother braiding challah, and about how going on this trip made her feel connected to a part of her story she didn’t know very well. The poetry is not lost on me.
In the last five years, I’ve helped write and design a haggadah, made a challah cover out of pressed flowers, and listened to a Shabbat service on Zoom from the car. I’ve had my home filled with Jewish students the week of my wedding to help me braid and bless the challah my great uncle cut at my wedding. I had my cell phone force restart the weekend of August 11th and 12th, 2017, as it buzzed 1,048 times with donations from Taiwan and 48 of our 50 states. I worked at the Jewish institution seven tenths of a mile away from a group of neo-Nazis marching with tiki torches, chanting “Jews will not replace us,” chanting, “blood and soil.” I probably would’ve been Jewish enough for them.
As I prepare to leave the BJC, I offer my sincere thanks to everyone I’ve met during my time with the Brody Jewish Center. To our donors - thank you for understanding that what we do matters for the future. Your generosity continues to move me, our team, and all of our students. It’s because of you that can retain the staff, maintain the building, and provide the warmth that makes the Brody Jewish Center and Berman Student Center a home. We truly would not be here without you. One last time I ask that you continue to support our Hillel as generously, or even more generously than you have in the past. Great things are on the horizon for Rabbi Jake, Paige, Annie, Doris, and the wonderful student leaders who have taken on this cause as their own.
I leave Hillel after five years knowing that I am Jewish enough, knowing that if I take part in my Judaism thoughtfully and joyfully, I’m doing it for me. For this gift I cannot thank our community enough.
Click here to donate to the Brody Jewish Center.
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"We're excited to take on Chutzpals during its second year. It's a great program and we're excited to build on it and help first years and second years build connections to our Jewish community." Meet Katie & Lauren Second year students from Richmond and Northern Virginia. |
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"I was here with my older brother, Ben, at first. I was the younger brother and he really helped guide me around UVA and helped me meet a lot of new people - older people - to help integrate me into the community... Now I'm excited to show my little brother around." Meet Jake & Max Fourth Year & First Year brothers from Fairfax Station, VA |
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"[HJLI] was a way for me to finally do something leadership wise as a first year here. It was a small program, so it was nice to get to know people in depth." Meet Sammi First year from Greenlawn, NY |
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"We learn about things conceptually and we do some exercises and activities in class, but this is my first time really getting to put what we're learning into practice." - Evan Meet Evan, Alexa, and Jason Student entrepreneurs from Roslyn, NY, Roslyn, NY and Oakton, VA, respectively. |
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"It was nice to know that there are a lot of other Jews [at UVA.] Hillel has been a nice starting point."
Meet Adin. First Year from Vienna, Va |
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"Everyone finds their own connection to Judaism and to the community in a different way. I'm able to help other people try and form this connection through tikkun olam and different service opportunities."
Meet Jackie. Third Year from Great Neck, NY |
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"What I really like about the Jewish community at UVA is whenever I walk from point A to point B on Grounds, I see someone I know from the Jewish community and I can wave to them."
Meet David. Second Year from Williamsburg, VA For David, being part of a Jewish community is about two things: people and consistency. “What I really like about the Jewish community at UVA is whenever I walk from point A to point B on Grounds, I see someone I know from the Jewish community and I can wave to them,” said David, a second year studying Spanish and Statistics. |
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Over the past two years, his involvement has been widespread. David was part of the Building Innovation Team, helping Springboard Innovation Fellow Annie assess the needs of students for the newly opened Berman Student Center. He also was part of the spring cohort of Hillel’s Jewish Learning Fellowship with Rabbi Jake. “It was so nice to talk to Rabbi Jake once a week during quarantine while I was in JLF wrapping up in the spring. It was definitely the most routine and normal part of finishing last year virtually,” he said.
David’s no stranger to routines with Hillel. When asked what the most meaningful program has been in the last year for him, he brought up Bagels on the Lawn. And though Bagels on the Lawn looks a little different this year, it’s still important to him.
“Coming to the Brody Jewish Center every week to get my bagel and see Paige and Annie is a really wonderful experience,” he said. “Paige is always there, and she asks me how I’m doing. She’s just this wonderful adult in my life that cares about me that I can see once a week. It’s nice to eat my bagel outside and see some people from the Jewish community - because I haven’t really been going to online programming with Hillel. I really like the in-person connections, and now I still at least get to see people once a week.”
In addition to small in-person activities with Hillel like Bagels on the Lawn, yoga, and hiking, David’s also started a friendship with a Brody Jewish Center engagement intern.
“At the beginning of the semester Gina reached out to me as an engagement intern, and we’ve actually been talking every other week for most of the semester. We get on an hour-long Zoom call, and we just talk. She’s really into education policy so we have these really wonderfully riveting conversations,” he said.
“The Jewish community is passively in my social life in a really positive way,” David said.
We’re thankful that our Hillel can be a source of community for our students, and that we’ve been able to pivot this year to still offer meaningful and consistent experiences to students like David.
David’s no stranger to routines with Hillel. When asked what the most meaningful program has been in the last year for him, he brought up Bagels on the Lawn. And though Bagels on the Lawn looks a little different this year, it’s still important to him.
“Coming to the Brody Jewish Center every week to get my bagel and see Paige and Annie is a really wonderful experience,” he said. “Paige is always there, and she asks me how I’m doing. She’s just this wonderful adult in my life that cares about me that I can see once a week. It’s nice to eat my bagel outside and see some people from the Jewish community - because I haven’t really been going to online programming with Hillel. I really like the in-person connections, and now I still at least get to see people once a week.”
In addition to small in-person activities with Hillel like Bagels on the Lawn, yoga, and hiking, David’s also started a friendship with a Brody Jewish Center engagement intern.
“At the beginning of the semester Gina reached out to me as an engagement intern, and we’ve actually been talking every other week for most of the semester. We get on an hour-long Zoom call, and we just talk. She’s really into education policy so we have these really wonderfully riveting conversations,” he said.
“The Jewish community is passively in my social life in a really positive way,” David said.
We’re thankful that our Hillel can be a source of community for our students, and that we’ve been able to pivot this year to still offer meaningful and consistent experiences to students like David.
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"I didn’t even really know how strong the Hillel at UVA was until I got here, and I feel so lucky that I made this decision and have had such a wonderful experience overall at UVA - specifically within the Jewish community.”
Meet Gabby. Fourth Year from Philadelphia, PA When Gabby and Ester were paired together as Jewish Education Interns for Hillel, they wanted to shake up the way students at UVA thought about Jewish education. Together they came up with the idea for a podcast called Shabbat Schpiels, where they took very specific topics in Judaism - Jewish culture, history, religion - and talked about them in engaging and relatable ways. If you’ve met Gabby, you wouldn’t be surprised by the way she’s jumping into this new project to help connect to fellow students during a time of social distancing. Gabby’s the type of person who sees a problem (like not being able to run traditional in-person Jewish education programs) and jumps into action creating a solution (like starting a podcast to engage students where they’re at on their own schedules.) Before starting her podcast Gabby was solving problems with Hillel over the summer. |
This summer, Gabby interned with the Brody Jewish Center in a position focused on prospective students and getting our name out there more as a thriving college Jewish community.
“I had a really tough time throughout the college process in high school,” Gabby said. “The main thing that drove my college decisions when looking at school was the strength of the Hillel there. I didn’t even really know how strong the Hillel at UVA was until I got here, and I feel so lucky that I made this decision and had such a wonderful experience overall at UVA - but specifically within the Jewish community.”
Gabby’s outreach focused on connecting with guidance counselors at Jewish Day Schools, sharing everything she loved about her experience with Hillel at UVA, and listening. Through her conversations, Gabby learned that the limited kosher dining was a barrier keeping some Jewish students from considering UVA. “I came up with the idea of instituting better kosher options here, and making that a priority,” she said. “That’s what I’m working on now, actually, even though the summer internship is over.”
Gabby just joined the student advisory board for dining services, and is working closely with UVA Dining and Aramark employees. “They've been very receptive to any and all ideas and complaints about dining. I talked a lot a bout kosher food options, and there were two Muslim students there talking about having better halal options. Between us, we’re making better accessible food for religious minorities a priority for this committee,” she said.
If you’re reading this, you’re starting to see a trend.
“I’m good at executing things,” is how Gabby puts it. “Once an idea is out there, I will make sure it happens.”
If you’ve never put together a podcast before, it’s quite a lot of work. From research to scheduling guest speakers, from community engagement to find out which topics speak to your audience to sound editing, podcast production requires a lot more than just an idea.
“It was mostly Ester’s idea,” Gabby said. “She brings a lot of creativity and ideas, and she has a lot of curiosity for introducing topics. I have a lot of Jewish background knowledge. The two of us coming together was the recipe we needed to make this actually happen - and that wouldn't have happened without us both interning with Hillel.”
Gabby and Ester’s podcast premiered today, and their first episode "Schmeared Across the World: The Jewish Diaspora and How We Got Here” is a must-listen. If you don’t have 30 minutes to devote to listening right now, click here to listen to their two-minute intro. We promise you won’t be disappointed.
“I had a really tough time throughout the college process in high school,” Gabby said. “The main thing that drove my college decisions when looking at school was the strength of the Hillel there. I didn’t even really know how strong the Hillel at UVA was until I got here, and I feel so lucky that I made this decision and had such a wonderful experience overall at UVA - but specifically within the Jewish community.”
Gabby’s outreach focused on connecting with guidance counselors at Jewish Day Schools, sharing everything she loved about her experience with Hillel at UVA, and listening. Through her conversations, Gabby learned that the limited kosher dining was a barrier keeping some Jewish students from considering UVA. “I came up with the idea of instituting better kosher options here, and making that a priority,” she said. “That’s what I’m working on now, actually, even though the summer internship is over.”
Gabby just joined the student advisory board for dining services, and is working closely with UVA Dining and Aramark employees. “They've been very receptive to any and all ideas and complaints about dining. I talked a lot a bout kosher food options, and there were two Muslim students there talking about having better halal options. Between us, we’re making better accessible food for religious minorities a priority for this committee,” she said.
If you’re reading this, you’re starting to see a trend.
“I’m good at executing things,” is how Gabby puts it. “Once an idea is out there, I will make sure it happens.”
If you’ve never put together a podcast before, it’s quite a lot of work. From research to scheduling guest speakers, from community engagement to find out which topics speak to your audience to sound editing, podcast production requires a lot more than just an idea.
“It was mostly Ester’s idea,” Gabby said. “She brings a lot of creativity and ideas, and she has a lot of curiosity for introducing topics. I have a lot of Jewish background knowledge. The two of us coming together was the recipe we needed to make this actually happen - and that wouldn't have happened without us both interning with Hillel.”
Gabby and Ester’s podcast premiered today, and their first episode "Schmeared Across the World: The Jewish Diaspora and How We Got Here” is a must-listen. If you don’t have 30 minutes to devote to listening right now, click here to listen to their two-minute intro. We promise you won’t be disappointed.
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Meet Paige.
Brody Jewish Center Assistant Director from Atlanta, GA On the Friday before Rosh Hashanah, Brody Jewish Center Assistant Director Paige Simunek’s phone was lighting up all day. She’d had a busy few days of cooking 135 made-from-scratch Rosh Hashanah dinners for students, and was sending out reminder texts to those who had reserved meals. Every few responses to those texts came a note from a student recently impacted by COVID-19.They were apologizing because their roommates had tested positive and they wouldn’t be able to pick up their meals. They were sharing that they were being moved to quarantine dorms, hotels, and apartment complexes rented out by the University, and, again, wouldn’t be able to stop by for their Rosh Hashanah boxes. If you know Paige, you know that caring for others, especially our students, is her top priority. So when 10+ students weren’t able to pick up their meals, Paige drove around Charlottesville dropping off meals so students in tough situations at least had a connection to the holidays through familiar food like kugel, apple cake, and roasted chicken. |
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To Paige and the rest of the Brody Jewish Center staff, making and dropping off meals wasn’t just about getting food to students who’d signed up for it. It was about showing students they had people in Charlottesville who cared about them, and would go the extra mile just to wave at them through their window while they were feeling isolated.
Paige says a lot of students are naming isolation and loneliness as their social lives change drastically because of the pandemic.
“Students want to be in more control, and they want to find their spaces. Very few other CIO’s are being as active this semester. The sororities and fraternities can’t do anything in person, and they have not pivoted, for the most part, to virtual programming. Students are feeling really disconnected - and some talk about it and some don’t,” she said.
“Our biggest job right now is just being here. There have been students that have picked up a Shabbat box that have never actually been to a Shabbat dinner at our building. It’s been really interesting to see which students can now participate, and which are looking to more than ever. Going virtual has made us accessible in a whole different way.”
“Our role of supporting students, or our role of relationship based engagement - none of that has changed. It’s just pivoted. What has changed is that we have to think outside the box in some ways. How can we be accessible to all of our students? How can we meet their needs as a community? Because by providing more grab-n-go opportunities, we get to see students for a few minutes and ask them how they are. And then we can follow up and have that one-on-one connection with them,” Paige said.
“What we do is more important now than ever because when we have students that are isolated, or we have students that aren’t seeing anyone outside their roommates, or students that are anxious because they’re going to graduate in an potentially uncertain economy, we’re there to listen.”
That’s what a community does for one another, and come global pandemic or high water, that’s what Paige and the rest of our team will do for our students.
Paige says a lot of students are naming isolation and loneliness as their social lives change drastically because of the pandemic.
“Students want to be in more control, and they want to find their spaces. Very few other CIO’s are being as active this semester. The sororities and fraternities can’t do anything in person, and they have not pivoted, for the most part, to virtual programming. Students are feeling really disconnected - and some talk about it and some don’t,” she said.
“Our biggest job right now is just being here. There have been students that have picked up a Shabbat box that have never actually been to a Shabbat dinner at our building. It’s been really interesting to see which students can now participate, and which are looking to more than ever. Going virtual has made us accessible in a whole different way.”
“Our role of supporting students, or our role of relationship based engagement - none of that has changed. It’s just pivoted. What has changed is that we have to think outside the box in some ways. How can we be accessible to all of our students? How can we meet their needs as a community? Because by providing more grab-n-go opportunities, we get to see students for a few minutes and ask them how they are. And then we can follow up and have that one-on-one connection with them,” Paige said.
“What we do is more important now than ever because when we have students that are isolated, or we have students that aren’t seeing anyone outside their roommates, or students that are anxious because they’re going to graduate in an potentially uncertain economy, we’re there to listen.”
That’s what a community does for one another, and come global pandemic or high water, that’s what Paige and the rest of our team will do for our students.
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"Listening is a great starting point for interconnection across cultures. I think humanizing another voice leads to empathizing, which leads to great conversations.”
Meet Rose. Third Year from Arlington, Virginia. She started with a simple question: What experiences of anti-semitism do you wish that your non-Jewish friends were aware of? It was a question she’d asked herself when she was sitting down to write a poem and reflect on recent incidents of anti-semitism she’d seen unfold on social media - specifically NFL player DeSean Jackson’s problematic Twitter and Instagram posts. “There was a lot of surprise from my non-Jewish friends who didn’t know that this wasn’t the first time someone had said something like this,” said Rose Goldstein, an incoming third year from Arlington, Virginia. From this poem and these ideas, Rose created @DearNonJews, an Instagram account designed to give Jewish people an opportunity to tell their personal stories and provide the context of modern Judaism as a unique culture. “I made this so Jews could express themselves and share information with their non-Jewish friends who might not know those stories because we never had the opportunity to share them before,” Rose said. The Instagram page has been active for just about two weeks, and has more than eighty people following it already. Shared in the first few anonymous stories were Jewish experiences of anti-semitism in college dorms, defacing of synagogues, stereotypes about thriftiness and nose size, and a frequent feeling of wishing non-Jewish friends recognized anti-semitism and stood up against it. “It actually grew quite a bit. A lot of people asked if they could share it with others,” Rose said. “At this point I’ve gotten responses from people all over the world - people I don’t know - people living in Israel, in Kurdistan. There are a lot of Diaspora Jews who answered the survey. It’s been really interesting to read the diverse stories from people whose parents grew up in the Middle East or in the American South.” Most interesting to Rose hasn’t been the spread of @DearNonJews, but another question she was wrestling with when she was writing the poem that inspired the account. It’s the second question of her survey: What are you most proud of when it comes to your Jewishness? What do you want your non-Jewish friends to know most about your Jewish culture/story/identity? |
“What I’ve noticed is that a lot of the responses to the second question, to what people are proud of had the word ‘resilience’ in them,” Rose said. “It doesn't necessarily surprise me because my answer would definitely include resilience, but it’s been really interesting to see almost 100 percent of the responses have included that word.”
And though it’s true that Jewish resilience in the face of anti-semitism is a point of pride, the purpose of the question is more than just to provide an uplifting foil to negative attention.
“I had an individual reach out and ask that I highlight more of what people are proud of too,” Rose said. “So people don’t just see us as victims.”
For Rose, this idea of sharing Jewish pride or Jewish joy is an important step in building bridges across cultures. “Listening is a great starting point for interconnection across cultures,” she said. “I think humanizing another voice leads to empathizing, which leads to great conversations.”
So far, they certainly have. “I saw a lot of my non-Jewish friends at UVA reposting some of the posts, and it was nice to see.”
But @DearNonJews is just at the beginning of these conversations. The possibilities for what’s next for the platform are endless, and Rose has been considering ways to help others share their stories to create a more compassionate community. “I do think there’s always a value for [social media] communication,” Rose said. “I think a post can reach so many people - but in many ways a post is passive consumption of media, whereas I would love to have these conversations in person. It could be an opportunity for other intercultural connections - if we were able to connect with other groups and hear about their pride and their stories - ask ‘What cultural practices do you treasure most? What’s a story in your family that brings you a lot of pride?’ -- I’d love to learn about that.”
By now, you get the point. Rose is an incredible thinker, questioner, and bridge builder. But she’ll be the first to say she didn’t do it alone.
“Since I’ve been involved [in Hillel] I’ve felt more like I can represent myself publicly, and figure out how to foster opportunities for discussion and representation better,” Rose said. “I’ve been having a lot of talks with [Brody Jewish Center Assistant Director] Paige recently, and I think those discussions were a big part of deciding @DearNonJews was something I wanted to do.”
Next year, in addition to continuing to grow @DearNonJews, Rose will be an engagement intern with the Brody Jewish Center. And if her social media presence is anything like she is in-person (trust us, it is…), she’ll inspire other students to get involved, question their experiences, find pride in their Judaism, and share their stories with the world.
Rose and the rest of us can’t wait to hear them.
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"Being connected with others, being in Jewish communities - it helps me recognize the potential for positive impact and the power that I have in my own life. You have to believe in your own power and know that’s not an absolute thing. It’s not something you suddenly have - you build it.”
Meet Clara Sophia. Recent graduate from Fredericksburg, Va. In Kevin Durant’s 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player Award acceptance speech, he said “When you have people behind you, you can do whatever.” |
Clara Sophia takes part in a program with Jewish Women's Group in the Berman Student Center.
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When Clara Sophia Camber, a fourth year student, heard that speech for the first time, she was in Rabbi Jake’s Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF) with Hillel. “I think about that session a lot,” she said. “Because when I think about the things that I have and the person that I am, I realize it’s all because of so many other people.”
“While we were watching that speech and having that discussion I remember thinking that I want to be someone that somebody thanks. I want my job description to be “of service” and not because I want to be thanked - but I want to be helpful to other people.”
But it wasn’t just that one session that Clara Sophia found meaningful. “I loved JLF,” she said. “I’m such a nerd for JLF. It felt so interesting and challenging and the things we talked about during that hour and a half every week felt relevant to the rest of my week.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to miss Rabbi Jake leading class,” she said. “He has such an understanding of what we were going through as students and young people without ever telling us what to do. I felt like in those classes we could say anything and people in the room and Rabbi Jake would help us tease out our ideas, figure out why we felt that way, and connect us with other resources to learn more. It gave me the chance to dive deeper into the stories that are part of who I am.”
This sense of understanding of self was exactly the topic of conversation last spring, when Clara Sophia was sitting at a coffee shop with Hillel staff member Annie Weinberg. Their conversation was about graduation, starting a career, and the two criteria Clara was focusing on for her job search: something that aligned with Jewish values, and something that enabled her to be “of service” to others.
Immediately, Annie thought of Repair the World - a Jewish nonprofit aimed at enabling Jewish people to “take action to pursue a just world,” and Clara Sophia was interested right away. She applied for a fellowship with the organization, and will start her full time job of service and community organizing in the West End of Atlanta in August.
At the end of Kevin Durant’s speech the crowd is in tears. He’s thanking his mom, talking about the experiences he had growing up, learning about the world, and being supported. It’s kind of what Hillel does for students like Clara Sophia, and it’s kind of like what Clara will do for others in her role with Repair the World: support people as they realize who they are and what power they have to change the world.
“Being connected with others, being in Jewish communities - it helps me recognize the potential for positive impact and the power that I have in my own life,” Clara Sophia said. “ You have to believe in your own power and know that’s not an absolute thing. It’s not something you suddenly have - you build it.”
“While we were watching that speech and having that discussion I remember thinking that I want to be someone that somebody thanks. I want my job description to be “of service” and not because I want to be thanked - but I want to be helpful to other people.”
But it wasn’t just that one session that Clara Sophia found meaningful. “I loved JLF,” she said. “I’m such a nerd for JLF. It felt so interesting and challenging and the things we talked about during that hour and a half every week felt relevant to the rest of my week.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to miss Rabbi Jake leading class,” she said. “He has such an understanding of what we were going through as students and young people without ever telling us what to do. I felt like in those classes we could say anything and people in the room and Rabbi Jake would help us tease out our ideas, figure out why we felt that way, and connect us with other resources to learn more. It gave me the chance to dive deeper into the stories that are part of who I am.”
This sense of understanding of self was exactly the topic of conversation last spring, when Clara Sophia was sitting at a coffee shop with Hillel staff member Annie Weinberg. Their conversation was about graduation, starting a career, and the two criteria Clara was focusing on for her job search: something that aligned with Jewish values, and something that enabled her to be “of service” to others.
Immediately, Annie thought of Repair the World - a Jewish nonprofit aimed at enabling Jewish people to “take action to pursue a just world,” and Clara Sophia was interested right away. She applied for a fellowship with the organization, and will start her full time job of service and community organizing in the West End of Atlanta in August.
At the end of Kevin Durant’s speech the crowd is in tears. He’s thanking his mom, talking about the experiences he had growing up, learning about the world, and being supported. It’s kind of what Hillel does for students like Clara Sophia, and it’s kind of like what Clara will do for others in her role with Repair the World: support people as they realize who they are and what power they have to change the world.
“Being connected with others, being in Jewish communities - it helps me recognize the potential for positive impact and the power that I have in my own life,” Clara Sophia said. “ You have to believe in your own power and know that’s not an absolute thing. It’s not something you suddenly have - you build it.”
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“When I look at my kids and they hear about how the world is changing and what it was like, am I going to be able to look at them and say I did everything I could?"
Meet Levi. Third Year student from Charlottesville, Va “I think everyone has a responsibility to learn about the injustices that exist and then act on them.” Meet our first Jewman: Levi Schult, a third-year from Charlottesville, VA. We met Levi at Bodo’s on a sunny Friday afternoon, where he shared his fears, goals, and passions. He walked up with marked confidence, sporting his rainbow Docs, jean jacket, and statement sunglasses. When asked what terrifies him the most, he said when he was younger, it was failure, but right now: “Climate change terrifies me a lot. I think about that pretty constantly. The thing that terrifies me the most about it is that its effects are already being felt now and it’s very hard to get people moving on it. I’m even considering a full career change because of it. I’ve wanted to do astrophysics for my whole life, but over the past 8 months, I’ve realized that I feel like I can't give enough to other people doing it. As much as I do outreach to other people, it’s never going to do the same for other people as it does for me. |
I considered switching to sustainability or climate science of some sort, because I feel like that could actually potentially help other people. Also, when I look at my kids and they hear about how the world is changing and what it was like, am I going to be able to look at them and say I did everything I could? So yeah, that really terrifies me. It’s only going to make a lot of issues that we already have worse.” “UVA is very privileged, and a lot of that privilege is never acknowledged; that’s something that needs to change. There’s a lot of responsibility [on us] growing up right now to help. My favorite quote about it is, ‘you don’t have to do everything, but everybody has to do something.’ If you should know one thing about Levi, he says, “I like meeting new people. In the past couple of years, I realized that I really love people. I feel like people have some of the most interesting stories and such different experiences and backgrounds. I enjoy hearing about what has brought the person I see in front of me into the state they are in today. If you see me, come say hi! That would make my day.”
(written by Allie Motter for Jewmans of UVA)
(written by Allie Motter for Jewmans of UVA)
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“It’s so funny to look back on my journey and think about how when I got to college, Judaism was something that I didn’t consider part of myself. And I’m so grateful for Hillel at UVA because they brought me not only a new community, but a new way of looking at my identity.
Meet Zoe. Fourth Year student from Bethesda, MD. On March 26, three of our Brody Jewish Center staff members logged into Zoom for a call with Zoe, a fourth year student from Maryland. She’d asked for the meeting - as she was in the process of interviewing for a role of Springboard Fellow with three different east coast Hillels, and wanted some feedback to help her make a decision about where to go following graduation in May. Anytime one of our students is interested in working in the Jewish nonprofit world it feels like a success story - but with Zoe, it almost didn’t happen. Because four years before Zoe decided to embark on a career in the Jewish nonprofit space, she had decided she wanted a little space from Jewish life. “I grew up doing all of the Jewish things,” Zoe said. “I went to Jewish preschool, I was in a youth group with my synagogue, and my mom worked there. Judaism was a huge part of my life. But when I got to college, I decided I wanted to step away from it and explore other parts of my identity.” |
Zoe (right) and Livia (left) paint their hands as part of a memorial mural for the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
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But it didn’t last long. “What I realized that first semester,” she said, “was that there was a large hole in my life where Judaism used to be.”
So Zoe started to get involved on her own terms. She started celebrating the holidays with the Brody Jewish Center, she joined our Jewish Women’s Group, and she eventually was recruited to be an engagement intern with Hillel. It was in her role as engagement intern that her relationship to Judaism really started to shift.
By the nature of her role, Zoe began meeting other Jewish students around UVA - specifically those less likely to just show up to Hillel. “I became so much more comfortable reaching out to people, talking to strangers, creating programming,” she said. “It also taught me to empathize with others, and see what they wanted from a Jewish community. Meeting a lot of Jews and seeing how different we are helped me realize that you don’t have to fit into the mold - there is no mold.”
Over the next two years, Zoe continued to invest in the Jewish community at UVA, through her leadership role with Jewish Women’s Group, through her experiences traveling with Hillel to Israel and through her relationships with staff. And her fourth year, when Zoe was thinking about starting her career, she chose to continue the work she started in Jewish community building as a professional.
“It’s so funny to look back on my journey and think about how when I got to college, Judaism was something that I didn’t consider part of myself. And I’m so grateful for Hillel at UVA because they brought me not only a new community, but a new way of looking at my identity.”
Identity. It’s exactly what she said she’d wanted to explore in the first place. It’s the reason she tried to distance herself from Judaism during those first few months of college. And surprisingly to Zoe, it’s what she found in a Jewish tradition and community once she felt like it belonged to her.
Stories like this are exactly what the Brody Jewish Center strives to cultivate for students everyday. And it’s what Zoe herself will help her future students do: show them ways to find themselves in Judaism, and give them opportunities to learn about themselves and the world around them through the traditions, rituals, principles, and stories Jewish people have carried for generations.
“I am so excited to meet my future students,” she said. “College is such a crazy time because you’re put into a new space and you don’t know where you fit in - my goal is to let all students know that they fit automatically in the Jewish community just by being themselves. They’re wanted, and welcomed, and appreciated for who they are.”
So Zoe started to get involved on her own terms. She started celebrating the holidays with the Brody Jewish Center, she joined our Jewish Women’s Group, and she eventually was recruited to be an engagement intern with Hillel. It was in her role as engagement intern that her relationship to Judaism really started to shift.
By the nature of her role, Zoe began meeting other Jewish students around UVA - specifically those less likely to just show up to Hillel. “I became so much more comfortable reaching out to people, talking to strangers, creating programming,” she said. “It also taught me to empathize with others, and see what they wanted from a Jewish community. Meeting a lot of Jews and seeing how different we are helped me realize that you don’t have to fit into the mold - there is no mold.”
Over the next two years, Zoe continued to invest in the Jewish community at UVA, through her leadership role with Jewish Women’s Group, through her experiences traveling with Hillel to Israel and through her relationships with staff. And her fourth year, when Zoe was thinking about starting her career, she chose to continue the work she started in Jewish community building as a professional.
“It’s so funny to look back on my journey and think about how when I got to college, Judaism was something that I didn’t consider part of myself. And I’m so grateful for Hillel at UVA because they brought me not only a new community, but a new way of looking at my identity.”
Identity. It’s exactly what she said she’d wanted to explore in the first place. It’s the reason she tried to distance herself from Judaism during those first few months of college. And surprisingly to Zoe, it’s what she found in a Jewish tradition and community once she felt like it belonged to her.
Stories like this are exactly what the Brody Jewish Center strives to cultivate for students everyday. And it’s what Zoe herself will help her future students do: show them ways to find themselves in Judaism, and give them opportunities to learn about themselves and the world around them through the traditions, rituals, principles, and stories Jewish people have carried for generations.
“I am so excited to meet my future students,” she said. “College is such a crazy time because you’re put into a new space and you don’t know where you fit in - my goal is to let all students know that they fit automatically in the Jewish community just by being themselves. They’re wanted, and welcomed, and appreciated for who they are.”
Jacob (left) enjoys sufganiyot with Israeli soldier, Eli (right).
Jacob (left) explores Tel Aviv with fellow UVA student Lyndsay (center) and Israeli soldier, Amit (right).
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"I came to realize that being a Jew goes beyond going to services and celebrating the holidays; it means being part of an international and intergenerational community that looks out for each other."
Meet Jacob. Fourth Year student from Pittsburgh, PA. "Growing up in a large Jewish community, I always planned on going to Israel through Birthright. Before arriving, I envisioned seeing the famous sites such as the Western Wall and Masada, but I did not anticipate the genuine connections I would build with both the Israelis and the Americans on the trip. Even though I played the role of tourist and enjoyed visiting such a beautiful country, spending time in Israel taught me lessons about myself that will stay with me longer than any photo. I came to realize that being a Jew goes beyond going to services and celebrating the holidays; it means being part of an international and intergenerational community that looks out for each other. As a former member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed 11 of my neighbors in 2018, I struggled to understand how to best practice my faith in an a world that can appear unfriendly to Jews. When one of the Israeli soldiers on the trip told me “You, and all other Jews, will always have a home in Israel”, I felt a sense of safety and belonging. Going on Birthright has encouraged me to find a community to continue these conversations in Washington, D.C. where I will be working after I graduate. I look forward to staying in touch with my new American and Israeli friends, and I hope that other young Jews can learn about their other “home” in Israel." |