Students Leave Their Mark on Communities Across the Globe on Service-Learning Winter Break Missions A total of 120 undergraduate students are making a difference to communities in Israel, across the United States and in El Salvador this winter break while learning about local and global issues in each locale. The students are participating in six service-learning missions run by Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) during the month of January. “The primary goal of these and all CJF student programs is to inspire our students to become agents of change in their local communities and the world-at-large,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, The David Mitzner Dean of the CJF. “It is important to us that these future leaders have experiences that encourage them to thoroughly examine our traditions, as well as form opinions about current hot-button issues, so that they can broaden their world-view and deepen their commitment to Torah Judaism.” Two of the six missions are completely new programs at YU. Students on the Shabbat 2010 mission are exploring the roots of Shabbat observance and the contemporary effects of Shabbat on Israeli society and the global Jewish community. Two separate groups of 20 men and 20 women are studying relevant religious texts and discovering how the concepts they encounter manifest themselves in the modern world. They are delving into the complex relationship between Shabbat observance and technology as utilized in hospitals and the army, the social tensions raised by keeping Shabbat in a democracy and issues pertaining to culture, ethnicity and tradition. Another group of 31 men and women with pre-med and political science backgrounds are examining the health-care systems of the United States and Israel on Operation Healthcare. During three days in Washington, DC and a week in Israel, they will tackle the question of whether health care is a personal, communal or governmental responsibility. The group will hear lectures on medical ethics and medicine in Jewish law, and volunteer in local hospitals in Israel. In conjunction with the Jim Joseph Foundation, the popular Jewish Life Coast to Coast mission is exposing 19 students to Jewish life in four communities across the United States: Kansas City, Omaha, Boulder and Denver. The trip includes meetings and discussions with local rabbis, educators and communal leaders and enables students to make a difference through community volunteer work and by facilitating educational programs in schools and synagogues. Ilana Wilner, a junior at Stern College for Women, said she went on the Coast to Coast mission to learn about her potential as a communal leader. “I hope to come out with an understanding of the different Jewish communities, and to learn about the place for women in communal leadership roles, as well as the different values of the schools and shuls,” Wilner said. “I hope to make an impact on the communities we visit and the students we teach.” Another winter break program is a humanitarian mission to a village in El Salvador in collaboration with the American Jewish World Service. Eight students each from Yeshiva College and Stern are learning about tikkun olam [repairing the world] in a Jewish and global sense while helping to build infrastructure for the local developing community. In addition to the above five winter break missions, a sixth mission includes 12 undergraduate fellows from the CJF’s QUEST student leadership program, who are spending a week constructing homes, schools and community centers for former Gush Katif residents in the desert community of Halutza, Israel. These students raised over $20,000 in the fall to support the construction of the Halutza project and are now being given the opportunity to visit the beneficiaries of their fundraising efforts and contribute in a hands-on way. They will also meet with mayors and the heads of charitable organizations to discuss leadership challenges and the methods used to address those challenges. The QUEST program also marks the first-ever partnership between Yeshiva University and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which sponsored the mission. “Our partnership with Yeshiva University has presented a unique opportunity to work with an exceptional group of students who are already committed to becoming leaders in the Jewish community,” said Rebecca Kahn, JNF campus programs manager. “It has also connected the Orthodox community to JNF’s work in Israel, so it has been very exciting.” The winter break trips have garnered significant press coverage, particularly in Israel. Read NJ Jewish Standard piece on the Israel trips, Jewish Week coverage, JTA, Five Towns Jewish Times, Haaretz, Moreshet Hebrew here and here. Listen to Rabbi Brander being interviewed about the winter break missions in Israel on Arutz 7 English radio station (the interview runs from 29:15 to 46:10). Arutz 7 English article on YU/JNF initiative here and here, Arutz 7 Hebrew piece here.