Campus Update: New York University

By Abe Fried-Tanzer

KOACH at NYU has enjoyed a variety of programming throughout the fall and has much to look forward to in the coming semester. The year started off early on with a field trip to the nearby Angelika Film Center to see the controversial Israeli film "The Bubble" from Eytan Fox, director of "Walk on Water." The film was superb and we were lucky enough to have our very own shaliah, Itamar Kremer, join us for both the film screening and the subsequent discussion on Shabbat afternoon following lunch. The discussion touched upon issues not covered in the film and extended to the broader ideas of Conservative Judaism and making aliyah.

October rolled around and we took another field trip, this time heading a bit further away to Burgers Bar in Brooklyn. KOACH Fieldworker Mark Greenberg joined us for this excursion and a nice group of students enjoyed some burgers and several orders of fries. In November, NYU participated in the international KOACH Shabbat. Rabbinic Intern Leor Sinai spearheaded a discussion on Saturday afternoon about Hekhsher Tzedek and its relevance for us as college students. The real treat was a special Saturday afternoon, when KOACH held egalitarian minhah, ma’ariv, and havdalah services for the first time. Nearly thirty people were in attendance and heartily agreed that we should try KOACH Saturday afternoon services again in the future.

We closed out the semester just before finals week in December with a low-key but extremely well-attended Hanukkah party, where we ate jelly donuts and latkes which looked suspiciously like hash browns. Leor led us in a brief text meditation, and we sang songs and made edible dreidels (contact me if you want the recipe). We returned in late January and kicked off the semester with a "learn to lead" service-teaching program during our first Shabbat back.

In the coming months, we hope to strengthen KOACH at NYU and help build up our attendance at services on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. We have a terrific community right now that can only get better as we see our numbers growing and involvement becoming stronger. We plan to gauge interest in and start work on our very own songbook and try our Saturday afternoon services again soon. We will truly unite as a community in April, when we invite high school juniors and seniors to join us for a KOACH at NYU Prospective Students Weekend, where we will provide the students with a taste of Jewish life at college. We are looking forward to the rest of the year and are already excited to welcome in a new class of first year students come September.

Campus Update: University of Illinois

By Cheryl Krugel

"Cheryl, when's the next KOACH Movie Night?" "Can we put anchovies in the hamantashen?" "It's great that KOACH has such a strong presence on campus." These are just a few quotes that I've heard about the programs that KOACH has been heading up this year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

During first semester, we were in the process of building a new Hillel building, so our Hillel was located in a temporary facility, far from the center of campus. It was difficult to plan programs because of this location. Fortunately, the new building opened at the end of the semester and we have had many successful programs since. The Conservative minyan now has a large space partially dedicated to our services, so this is an exciting improvement over some of our previous locations.

Our religious services continue to garner a consistent crowd while also reaching out to new and returning students. This year, we held a class to learn how to lead Friday night kabbalat Shabbat and ma'ariv, so we'll be seeing some new faces as leaders this semester and in the following years. We also are expanding our Saturday morning egalitarian minyan, consistently being able to hold a service every month with regular attendees while also reaching out to new students and community members.

One of our newest programs is a monthly movie night. We get together at either my apartment or Hillel and watch a movie that has something Jewish in it — Jewish actor, director, or theme. Some of the movies we've watched are "Keeping the Faith," "The Frisco Kid," and "Everything is Illuminated."  These have helped to build a strong social community that permeates through other Hillel activities and the larger UIUC campus.

Some of our other programs have included mezuzah making (we made cases for either the new building or our own doors), Hanukkah candle lighting and our next event of hamantashen baking (for Purim Katan). These programs have not only created a strong Conservative community but also a strong Jewish community — members from all walks of Judaism come to our events. We look forward to continuing to serve as an organization which can provide UIUC students with the religious, social and educational opportunities that they seek.

[Posted 3/6/08]