April 28, 2010 | 2:35 pm

From Alef:  Jerusalem Bound

Posted by Heather Wolfson

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By Liel Leibovitz
Featured in Alef:  The NEXT Conversation

When we think of aliya, the earliest images that come to mind are of young pioneers in the early Twentieth Century, arriving from Russia or Poland with empty pockets and hearts brimming with passion to settle the ancient Jewish homeland. And yet, nearly 800 years earlier, one of the world’s better-known men made the same journey, giving up a life of fame and fortune in Spain, to fulfill his firm belief that only in Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel, can a Jew live a life that’s spiritually complete.

Yehuda Halevi—physician, philosopher, poet—is the subject of the new biography by Hillel Halkin, a writer and translator who himself made aliya, moving to Zikhron Ya’akov in the 1970s. I spoke to Halkin about Halevi, his poetry, and the lasting influence of his ideas. Click here to read more.

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Check out Birthright Israel NEXT’s Alef:  The NEXT Conversation.  It is a webzine that explores Jewish identity. From memoirs on “Why I Eat What I Eat” to a soul-searching narrative on serving jury duty during the High Holidays, Alef showcases the diversity of Jewish identity through stories, pictures, poems, music and more. 

April 22, 2010 | 11:31 pm

A NEXT Shabbat Experience

Posted by Heather Wolfson

by Eric Rosen, Marketing Director of JConnect LA

Shabbat was epic…..Estee [my wife] was cooking for 2 days straight to get all of the food ready (we were expecting to have 15 people), and she really outdid herself; halfway through the first course a few people jokingly said ‘this is the first, second and third course all at the same time, right?’. I remember being in the middle of a conversation with someone in the earlier part of the meal, and we both looked up and noticed that half of the table had gotten up from their seats and were either engaged in conversation with one another on our couch, and a few others were up roaming around the living room looking at Jewish art, interpreting what they thought was going on in some of the various pieces we have up. Estee looked at me and we both started laughing that people felt so comfortable to just do their own thing. We’ve definitely had our fair share of hosting Shabbat meals, and this was the first time EVERYONE felt and made themselves at home. The one constant during the evening was laughter—people could not stop laughing and cracking jokes. After recovering from the first meal, we moved onto the soup course and then to the main course, during which things got REALLY interesting…...

I picked up a tradition of asking a ‘question of the week’ from my Rabbi, Yonah Bookstein, and I figured a question about Israel would probably be appropriate (I wanted to ask about people’s Birthright experiences, however Estee thought keeping the question in a more general format made more sense, because not everyone at the table had been on Birthright). After having a l’chaim in praise and thanks to Birthright Israel NEXT for hosting the meal, and a quick explanation of the Birthright Israel NEXT Shabbat program, the question was “What does Israel mean to you?’” It’s hard to explain what happened next…..It was one of the epic ‘life conversations’ that I have had time and time again during my experiences in Jerusalem. Every person’s insights and perspective was slightly more profound than the last, and everyone was totally vested and involved in the conversation, sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what would come next, with each person’s thoughts lead to another’s contribution to the discussion. I could never have expected the question and subsequent answers to create such a deep forum for connection in my living room…I think we talked about it for 45 minutes. It was hard to tell because time seemed to stand still. People talked about how Israel changed their life, how it’s really a mind-set as much of a place, their life-changing experiences at the kotel, funny things that had happened that only happen in israel, or how it steered their life in one direction or another. We had the kind of transcendental Israel experience that is usually limited to happening while you are in Israel, but in my living room.

I ran into one of the girls that was with us for Shabbat yesterday, and she said ‘Eric, I had an unbelievable time last Shabbat, and I’m not exactly sure why…..I think it was the question…...it’s funny because I was at another organization’s event the other night and we asked the same question as an ice-breaker for the meeting, and it did not elicit anywhere near what came out last Friday night’. A few other people Estee and I have talked to shared the same sentiment as well. All in all, it was one of our best Shabbat hosting experiences ever, and one of my personal favorites for Friday night meals in general. Thank you so much for putting this program together and making it available to connect and reconnect young Jews to such an important part of Jewish life.

Usually what happens at the Shabbos table stays at the Shabbos table, but I have wanted to share this with you since everyone left on Friday night.
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What is NEXT Shabbat?

Host a meal on a Friday night or Saturday and Birthright Israel NEXT picks up the tab!
Giving Taglit-Birthright Israel alumni hosting meals in the United States or Canada up to $18 per person for up to 16 people, NEXT Shabbat wants you to celebrate Shabbat your way. Redefine rest with a traditional family dinner or take a break from the daily grind with fifteen of your friends at a picnic in the park. Whether your dinner has four people or forty, is home-cooked or take-out, involves singing or just schmoozing, get creative and greet Shabbat with your own flair.

Shabbat brings together food, drink, music, and celebration. Traditionally candles are lit, bread is blessed and wine is drunk. Create your own rituals or reconnect to the old.
NEXT Shabbat allows you to take charge of your personal involvement in Jewish life and define and create your own community.

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April 21, 2010 | 10:47 am

From Alef:  Labeled Goods

Posted by Heather Wolfson

By Sarah Pumroy
Featured in Alef:  The NEXT Conversation

The first time I realized that Jews had money was when I began attending Hebrew school at my synagogue in fifth grade. I remember staring at Lindsay Stein’s maroon wool sweatshirt that said “Fitch” in white letters and having no idea what it meant. I thought that maybe it was a bad word, since it rhymed with one.

But no, it was a brand name, Abercrombie & Fitch, of course, and it was the first time I realized there was a such thing as a “brand name.” Suddenly it seemed like everyone but me was wearing brand name clothing. I began noticing how lame my Kohl’s bootcut jeans looked next to their A&F flares. When I asked my mother to buy me these expensive lines of clothing, she laughed.

“What do you need those for?”  she said.

“You want me to pay $90 for jeans that come with holes already in them? They’re shmatas – I don’t think so.”

That was when I started feeling inadequate.

Once the bar and bat mitzvah years approached, the differences between my background and theirs became even more apparent. I remember the after-parties: artists hired to draw caricatures of guests, photo booths where you could take a photo that would be transferred to a button that said “Jacob’s Bar Mitzvah – July 10th, 1997″ around the border, entire buildings of country clubs rented out and elaborately decorated to look like a “winter wonderland.” My bat mitzvah party was in the synagogue social hall. It was nice, but certainly humble compared to my peers’.

We’ve never been poor. My parents both have masters degrees and good jobs. We’ve never had financial assistance from the government as far as I know, not that there’s anything shameful about that. We took vacations, went out to eat every Thursday, and my parents paid for my entire college education. But we were simply always middle class, like most of my peers that attended public school with me in St. Paul, MN. And I never felt bad about that until I started my Jewish education. My peers at Hebrew school were all from the suburbs, had huge houses, their mothers all had plastic surgery–you could simply tell they just came from money.

If it were just that they were richer than me, maybe I would have gotten over it. But these girls were also snobby, cliquey, and simply not that nice. I never became good friends with any of them. I remember crying one Sunday morning on the way to the synagogue because of how much I dreaded feeling like an outsider when I was there.

I would have eventually figured out that there were people out there who were much wealthier than me. But I regret that it had to be Judaism that introduced me to it. It put a bad taste in my mouth — one that took many good Jewish experiences for me to get over. As I became older, I started life guarding at the Jewish Community Center. I volunteered with little kids for the JCC plays. The summer after 9th grade, I became a camp counselor at Jewish day camp, where I made a ton of friends and had one of the best summers of my life, and great experiences over the three summers that followed. I went on a Birthright Israel trip my senior year in college, which gave my perception of Judaism a new richness, and eventually led me to where I am now, working at an exciting Jewish organization that does follow-up for Birthright Israel alumni and their peers.

I want to excel in my career and become successful to the point where I don’t have to worry about money, where I can go out to eat whenever I want, own a nice home, and take vacations. I value money to the extent that it can help me live a comfortable lifestyle. But my views on money will always be informed by the way my parents raised me and the things they taught me – that I shouldn’t flaunt my money, that I should follow a budget and pad my savings account, and as for brand names, they can be overrated.

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Check out Birthright Israel NEXT’s Alef:  The NEXT Conversation.  It is a webzine that explores Jewish identity. From memoirs on “Why I Eat What I Eat” to a soul-searching narrative on serving jury duty during the High Holidays, Alef showcases the diversity of Jewish identity through stories, pictures, poems, music and more. 

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April 19, 2010 | 11:32 am

National Volunteer Week

Posted by Heather Wolfson

April 18th-24th is National Volunteer Week. If you’re not already volunteering, now is the time to get moving! Find local volunteer opportunities through Harvest to Harvest here.

Birthright Israel NEXT Los Angeles recently started a weekly volunteer opportunity with Tomchei Shabbos. Tomchei Shabbos was founded in 1977, and has been providing essential Shabbat food packages to thousands of needy Jewish families in Los Angeles.

Every week, volunteers fill Tomchei’s warehouses to package food boxes with eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables, challah, grape juice, chicken and other essentials to ensure that families can have a special Shabbat in their home. Once the boxes are packaged, they are delivered to the receipients by dedicated volunteers.

Please join us every Thursday at 6 p.m. (through June 24) to take part in this wonderful mitzvah.

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April 15, 2010 | 9:49 pm

Adventures in Wine Tasting with NEXT LA

Posted by Heather Wolfson

A L'Chaim at Firestone Winery!

By: Rebecca Nadel

I had already been to Santa Ynez for wine tasting once before.  I’d even been to one of the same vineyards we visited.  I had visited Santa Barbara on countless occasions, but I’d never done any of these things with Birthright Israel NEXT LA.  Drinking wine is always fine, but things are always more fun when you’re hanging with fellow members of the tribe!

I arrived at the designated meeting spot to board an awesome, deluxe, decked out, air-conditioned coach, complete with our own snack bar, and filled with 50 of my Birthright Israel NEXT LA peers.  Even though it was 8:00 am on a Sunday morning, there was a party vibe in the air.  We were ready for an adventure (and to get our drink on)!

During our bus ride to Santa Barbara we enjoyed some lessons on the relevancy of wine to the Jewish religion, how to select a wine that is kosher for Passover, and current trends in Israeli viticulture.  These lessons set the stage by providing a Jewish context to enjoy the day’s experiences. 

We spotted some windmills and enjoyed some pastry during a brief visit to the Danish village of Solvang, took a comprehensive tour and sampled some libations at Firestone, enjoyed lunch and some delicious Sauvignon Blanc with some emus at Koehler, savored some Viognier amongst the lush scenery of Curtis, and enjoyed some chofesh (free time) in the quaint town of Los Olivos.

While in Los Olivos I spent my time traipsing (alright, hobbling) around town with a small group of friends.  We went olive oil tasting, which was quite possibly the highlight of my day, and partook in one more wine tasting at the Epiphany tasting room before re-boarding the bus back to L.A.

The ride home was a peaceful one.  Replete with vino from a day full of tastings, many of the passengers were feeling quite relaxed and sleepy.  For those who were still awake, however, there was a private coach screening of Sideways – very apropos!  Around the time that the movie ended, we arrived back to where we started, retrieved our day’s purchases and souvenir wine glasses from under the bus, and got into our cars to head home and prepare for Pesach. 

What I continue to enjoy about Birthright Israel NEXT LA’s events is that they serve as a comfortable setting for Jews of all backgrounds, where elements of contemporary, mainstream society are seamlessly blended with Judaism in an elegant and successful way.  When I attend their events, I can be a Jew and an Angeleno simultaneously, I don’t have to choose which role I’d like to play on that particular day or evening.  As an involved member of the Los Angeles Jewish community, the dilemma with which I am so often presented when planning my evenings out is “will tonight be centered around Judaism, or will it be a night for soaking up some good ole funky Los Angeles culture?”  I am never posed with this question when I partake in a NEXT LA function.  The city is my oyster (of course metaphorically, as I would never endorse treif), and Birthright Israel NEXT LA is my M.C. 

As for me, the bottles I acquired on my journey are still in my kitchen waiting to be uncorked, possibly even at an upcoming NEXT Shabbat dinner.  Kudos to the organizers for executing such a successful and enjoyable trip!  I can’t wait for the next one…be sure to save me a seat!

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April 13, 2010 | 10:32 pm

From Alef: An Unorthodox Coming Out Story

Posted by Heather Wolfson

By Jessica Annabelle
Featured in Alef:  The NEXT Conversation

Coming out can bring out a wide range of emotions – liberating, difficult, scary, fun, slow, sudden, not actually surprising to everyone but you, political, and super confusing.

For example, the first time I had a crush on a girl was super confusing. Rachel was, like myself, a nice Jewish girl and she happened to sit next to me in Modern Lit class. The important thing to know about Rachel though, was not only that she sat next to me, but that she often wore low cut and loose fitting shirts and sometimes they fell forward and I could see her boobs.

It was the best thing ever.

Simultaneously, it was weird and inexplicable and obviously didn’t mean anything. I had already been through a handful of boyfriends, so I was completely certain having a crush on Rachel did not mean I was a lesbian. On the contrary, I decided having a crush on Rachel meant I was totally normal, because she was hot and all of my guy friends had crushes on her. This weird thing, I decided, had everything to do with her shirts being irresistibly sexy and nothing at all to do with me.

I had successfully convinced myself I was into shirts, not girls. Several years later when I went on my first date with a girl, I explained to the few friends I told that I just “really liked her piercings.” And about a year after that, when I first slept with a girl, I realized that these sorts of explanations were probably no longer going to work.

Because I wasn’t sure how to tell my family and friends from home that I wasn’t straight anymore, after 18 years of evidence to the contrary, the first people I talked to about these new experiences and the questions they raised were my college friends at Hillel. When I tell other people in the LGBTQ community that the first place I came out was in my religious community, their reactions tend to range from surprise to disbelief. For many of my queer friends, religion is dangerous terrain, full of enemy soldiers laying in wait to attack with cures for homosexuality and promises of an eternity spent unloved. This hostile environment is not exclusive to Evangelical Christianity, but can materialize in the most liberal of churches, in small talk with a fellow member of the tribe, or in the mosque. I was blessed with an entirely different experience.

For me, Hillel was a safe place (looking back, even the safest place) to come out because my friends there were also family. We enjoyed each others company and conversation, but in addition to that, we were Jewish. There was a bond between us that could not be broken, and I held on tightly to that as I reinvented myself.

As I sorted through the new questions that arose with each of my new experiences with girls – like, was I interested in women romantically as well as physically? Is this whole thing really worth potentially upsetting my poor mother? And, am I allowed to call myself “queer” when most of my relationships until now have been with men? – I started to rely more and more on the ritual of Shabbat. Once a week, Shabbat allowed me to take a deep breath and set aside the uncertainties. For one day, I focused my energy on celebrating the answers I had found and appreciating the community that sustained me.

It’s been about a year since I first admitted to my best friend and fellow Hillel board member that I might be kind of into girls as well as guys. I’m definitely queer and Jewish and while my mother is not yet able to say LGBTQ three times fast, she has a pretty solid understanding of a few other new terms, including bisexual, Prop 8, partner, and dental dam.

One last thing – Rachel came out about six months ago.

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Check out Birthright Israel NEXT’s Alef:  The NEXT Conversation.  It is a webzine that explores Jewish identity. From memoirs on “Why I Eat What I Eat” to a soul-searching narrative on serving jury duty during the High Holidays, Alef showcases the diversity of Jewish identity through stories, pictures, poems, music and more.

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April 12, 2010 | 11:37 am

From Israel to LA

Posted by Sophie Sills

I deliberated, in a state of semi-committed complexity. Jewish? Kind of. When returning from my Birthright trip, and rejoining my relatively non-Jewish community of friends in San Francisco, I wondered how much closer to my people, my religion and my homeland I considered myself. An affinity, bright and enduring, for the state of Israel grew from my experience. But I still felt no personal connection to any Jewish communities, never invited to a Shabbat dinner, no mezuzah hanging from my door way. The weeks and months passed, my Birthright trip amusements and memories nudging slowing down the darkening hallways of my recollection. Then I moved to LA, the California haven for Jews of all variety. My use of Yiddish ceased to be met with awkward looks of confusion. I could get a decent chopped liver sandwich. During Hanukkah, giant menorahs and festive accoutrement bedecked the businesses of my Los Feliz neighborhood. And I joined, by the workings of cosmic destiny, the Birthright Israel NEXT LA community as an administrative assistant. I went to their events initially out of professional obligation, and then perpetually, unable to sever myself from the major feeling of missing out that would happen if I couldn’t make Queen Esther’s Old Sschool Skate Party, the cooking classes at Sur la Table, or Sweatin’ to the Oldies with Richard Simmons. The awesomeness of the events paired with a sense of inclusivity and diversity of the community hooked me.

I joined the Birthright Israel NEXT team and partners at its annual national conference in New Orleans. The 4 day extravaganza, highlighted by the sweet and nostalgic Havdalah in the park (arms interlocked and singing together), felt more like my days at Jewish sleep away camp in the hills of Malibu, than a work related event.  Our discussion ventured to ask what the future of Judaism looked like, our role in Judaism’s evolution, and its role in our lives. I left feeling more connected to the Jewish community, seeing my place in Jewish culture, and understanding the breadth of my relationship to it as a religion, a community and a way of living.

There is a quote from The Talmud that says, “Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, Grow, Grow.” I take from Judaism the insight and wisdom offered and I apply it to my own small life. In this way, my development as a human is enriched by self-knowledge and world awareness. We are all composed of pieces, like the colorful constituents that create light. At this point, I’d say, being Jewish contributes to my wholeness like a sliver of luminosity.

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