UMBC Hillel took several students to Israel on Birthright, joining students from Goucher, Towson, and Loyola.  We had the opportunity to experience 11 days Israel (got an extra day thanks to snow in America). 

As we arrived to Israel, we got our luggage and began to exit the airport.  At that moment, many Israelis were shouting and cheering for our arrival.  In the front of the group, there were several Israeli soldiers.  Unknown to me, the ones in the front cheering us on would be the soldiers that traveled with us for the entire trip.  As we walked to the bus, the soldiers came with us.  At this point, many of us began to talk and immediately started bonding with the soldiers.   

The first several days of the trip were up in the northern part of Israel.  We went hiking in the Golan Heights and also had the opportunity to explore a winery and learn the proper techniques for wine tasting. Read more »

The lovely ladies of SAEPi hosted Cancer Schmancer Carnival.  Cancer Schmacner was started by Fran Drescher, from the TV show The Nanny.  Its main focus is to raise money in order to teach people about cancer and increase early detection.

SAEPi, along with other various organizations, created a carnival on Commons Mainstreet.  Games included duck toss, Root beer pong, and much more.  The University Health Services was there providing information.  SAEPi was able to raise $317   for their philanthropy.

Sukkot--the word means "booths"--is called "the time of our rejoicing."  But its meaning is so much more!

During this seven-day festival, Jews dwell in a temporary structure called a sukkah (booth) whose roof deliberately has holes in it.  It reminds us that life is fragile and always changing.  The door of the sukkah is open to welcome all visitors and to reinforce the ideal of universal brotherhood.  In reflecting both openness and fragility, the sukkah offers an important lesson: Our existence is fragile, but we must be open to all that life has to offer us. 

A sukkah has been set up on the Commons Terrace.  You are invited to come check it out, eat a meal (or many), and spend the night. Additionally, the Jewish Student Union has arranged the following programs in the Sukkah throughout the week.

Wednesday, September 22
6:30pm--Hookah in the Sukkah

Thursday, September 23
12:00pm--Edible Flying Saucers, Pancake Lunch
7:00pm--Explore the Galaxies Game Night

Friday, September 24
6:00pm--Shooting Stars Shabbat followed by Spacetastic Sleepover night

Saturday, September 25 Read more »

The countdown to awesomeness has begun.

Get ready for a UMBC first as we celebrate the Jewish New Year on campus like never before.

Click here to see everything you need to know.

The Jewish Student Union election is now over and the ballots have been counted. I'd like to thank everyone who voted for their participation. We received a total of 55 votes both in person and online. Without further ado here are the results:

President: Lena Salins
Vice President: Morey Rosner
Treasurer: Morgan Russo
Secretary: Sarah Sexton
Marketing Director: Liz Scott
Recruitment Director: David Sivak
Programming Director: Adam Gerber
Shabbat Chair: Sam Khuvis
Commuter Chair: Adina Goldwasser
Israel Chair: Amalia Mark
Philanthropy Chair: Zena Renteria
Policy Chair: Dan Stone

I can’t believe it’s Sunday night—rather Monday morning at 1:20 AM.  This morning we had a relatively leisurely breakfast and then headed out for shopping near the opera.  We learned that bargaining for more than 10% is not the norm; some of us felt challenged to try to go beyond 10% but in general I think we found the Matrioshka dolls, fur hats, alabaster, and Soviet (simulated?) relics to be reasonably priced. Read more »

How refreshing for me to say “good evening” when it is actually still “PM” here and not a few hours after midnight.

This morning we woke up and, following breakfast, divided into three groups to visit clients of Chesed here in Odessa.  Each of them was a single elderly woman without family around, so we were able to help them with cleaning and some other work around their houses. Read more »

Wow!  What a day.  The hour is late (or is it early?) and the day has been full.

This morning we were up eating breakfast of bread, butter, yogurt, eggs, fruit, cereal, blini filled with sweet cheese, and orange juice and then were joined by Inna from JDC Odessa and sat in the hotel’s conference room with Irina Zobroskaya from JDC in the Southern Ukraine region to learn more about how JDC supports the Jewish community of Odessa. 

We learned about the size and trends of the Jewish population as well as the different programs that the Jewish community provides, from Chesed (social welfare, largely for the elderly) and synagogues to the two JCC’s (that stands for “Jewish Cultural Center” here, by the way).  We also began a conversation about Jewish religion vs. Jewish identity that continued to be a theme throughout the day. Read more »

I'm sitting in the basement of the youth center in Ashkelon while our students use the restroom upstairs just before we board our bus back to Tel Aviv.

Yesterday morning we woke up early in the Negev and took a beautiful hike near Kibbutz Sde Boker that involved beautiful scenery--overlooks, waterfalls, and some serious climbing up steep rocks & cliffs, even ladders within rocks. Read more »