USCJ eNews: The United Synagogue Electronic Bulletin

uscj.org/eNews

December 2007

In This Issue:

What's Happening
New Ideas
Bragging Rights

Calendar
Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center
With Just One Click

What's Happening

Meet Us In Orlando! - Our 2007 international biennial convention finally has arrived; from November 29 to December 3 we will be in Orlando, Florida, learning from speakers, workshops, and each other; networking, sharing, and celebrating Shabbat. Next month we’ll report back.

Consultants at the Convention - Our education department’s consultants are on hand at the convention for consultations on religious schools, early childhood programs, Solomon Schechter day schools, and educator placement. Learn more here.

Hekhsher Tzedek - Standards for the hekhsher tzedek, the certification of ethical kashrut that supplements the traditional ritual hekhsher, will be unveiled at our convention; the hekhsher tzedek commission has been given a $50,000 grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

CJ’s In The Mail - The second issue of CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism, the magazine in which we partner with Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, began hitting your mailboxes in mid-November. Keep an eye out for it, and please remember that we welcome manuscript submissions although we cannot promise to print everything we are sent.

Koach Kallah - Registration's open -- college students can register for the Koach Kallah. The kallah, celebrating Israel at 60, brings together college students from across North America, is set for February 28 to March 2 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Here, students at last year’s kallah relax together.

USY Summer Programs - Although winter’s not yet started it’s already time to plan for the summer of 2008, and USY’s all over it. You can register for programs that include Classic USY on Wheels; USY on Wheels, Mission: Mitzvah; USY on Wheels, East; Summer in the City; Israel Adventure; Eastern Europe/Israel Pilgrimage; Israel Pilgrimage/Poland Seminar; Spain/Israel Pilgrimage; and Etgar! Outdoor Adventure, Israel. Our summer programs provide the very best in staff, security, transportation, lodging, and sight seeing, and participants return with a strengthened sense of self and Conservative Jewish identity. Our programs, for high-school students, all provide topnotch staffs, transportation, lodging, sightseeing, and security, and give our participants a strengthened sense of themselves as young Conservative Jews.

USY High - USY High, USY’s program for high-school students in Israel, run jointly with Ramah Israel, is now accepting applications.

Nativ - Nativ, USY’s yearlong program for post-high school students, is now accepting applications. Nativ students spend on semester at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, studying either there or at the Hebrew University, and the other semester in a kibbutz or doing another social action project.

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New Ideas

Two-Minute Torah - Want to know about this week’s Torah portion? Got two minutes? Take advantage of KOACH's new Two-Minute Torah!

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Bragging Rights

Celebrating 100 Years in Lebanon, Pennsylvania - Congregation Beth Israel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, celebrated the start of its second century in early November. The celebration, many years in the planning, lasted all weekend and drew people back to their old shul from all over North America. Here, current and former Beth Israel members model period clothing that once had been worn at the synagogue and has been kept as heirlooms by their families.

Early Childhood Teachers Meet - More than 40 early childhood directors, teachers, professors, and consultants affiliated with United Synagogue met in November at the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s conference in Chicago. Next year, the NAEYC conference will be in Dallas, and the United Synagogue group will meet for dinner on November 5, 2008.

Ethiopian Israelis Meet at Fuchsberg - Rabbi Yafet Alemu, the first Ethiopian-Israeli Conservative/Masorti rabbi, gathered a group of Ethiopian Jews to talk about their problems and brainstorm solutions at United Synagogue’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center recently. Rabbi Alemu heads the Family Education Initiative, which helps Ethiopian Israelis by working with entire families.

Jersey Green Jews - USYers from New Jersey’s Hagalil region, led by a rabbinical student, hiked through Bass River State Forest as they examined its uses and misuses through a Jewish lens.

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Calendar

USY Convention - United Synagogue Youth’s 57th annual international convention, set for December 23 to 27 in Anaheim, California, is selling out quickly. Registration soon will close. Hurry if you want to share in five days of social action projects, summer program reunions, education programs, a Disneyland visit, and more, tied together by the theme of tzedakah. For more information, email usyconvention@uscj.org.

Hazak in Israel - United Synagogue and Hazak, for people 55 and over, join to offer a trip to Israel next winter. Spend February 12 to 24 in Jerusalem; celebrate Shabbat at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, and take day trips around the country. For more information, click here.

Koach Kallah - From February 28 to March 2, Northwestern University in metropolitan Chicago will host the Koach Kallah. College students from more than 60 campuses will gather for a weekend of fun, study, friendship, and worship.

Sulam - United Synagogue’s 2008 program for new synagogue presidents and vice presidents, Sulam, meets in Newark March 6-9 and in Chicago March 27-30. For more information, email Rabbi Moshe Edelman at Edelman@uscj.org.

Imun – United Synagogue’s 2008 intensive 9-day workshop for synagogue skills is set for July 6 to 14 at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires in upstate New York. For more information, email Rabbi Paul Drazen at drazen@uscj.org.

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Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center

On-Line Tehillim From Fuchsberg - The next entry in the Conservative Yeshiva’s virtual hevruta program, On-Line Tehillim, which looks at the Book of Psalms, begins on February 10 and continues for 10 weeks.

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With Just One Click

Take advantage of free Internet hosting services to affiliated synagogues, USY chapters and afternoon/day schools
Get suggestions for building a Jewish home library; great ideas for gift giving as well!

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The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Rapaport House
155 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
212.533.7800, ext. 2601
info@uscj.org