UCSB, Senior HSJCSC Fellow
2003-2004 home page
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A huge thing that would have helped me this year was to have people designated with certain positions. However, this should be taken care of, as we have officers of this group for next year. The key to this group is follow-up after each program, and really having intimate conversations with one another, in a relaxed, but quick amount of time. It�s hard to accomplish, but instead of always having dinner, perhaps desserts, or something else that�s fun to do. We do have a tradition of lighting candles to share something about ourselves and reflecting on our past month and making goals for the upcoming month. We do this by shredding a piece of paper where we
Key Leaders:
For next year, here are the officers:
Co-Presidents: Dani Korman and Laura Kutner (studying abroad first quarter)
Vice President of Activities: Simcha Gold
Vice President of Publicity/Recruitment: Hannah Laiken
Vice President of Hospitality: Marissa Feinman
Treasurer/Fundraising: Susie Kopecky
WOMEN�S PROGRAMS:
�Spaghetti & Sacred Spaces�: A few days before Rosh Chodesh, we gathered as Jewish women to bond over dinner, and then had a simple, but meaningful activity and candle lighting ceremony where women were able to reflect on their month, make goals for the upcoming month, and share their thoughts and feelings. Many expressed gratitude for helping us to create this sort of open environment for Jewish women.
�Cooking and Caring�
This event was our Rosh Chodesh gathering, and about 50 women attended. We had a nice dinner, then afterwards we were able to share something with the group about ourselves, and together, we baked 17 pumpkin pies for a local battered women�s shelter in the Santa Barbara area! The shelter was very appreciative and I heard many of the women say how much of a fun time they had and they would love to come back!
Ladies� Night:
Our January Ladies� Night of pizza and reflection was followed by a controversial Israeli feminist and lesbian speaker.
�Jewish Valentine?�
We started out with a dinner catered by Silvergreens, and then we broke into small groups, and talked about interfaith dating. We had sections from the Torah that related to interfaith relationships and the women read this and discussed it together, with personal reflections added as well. About 30 women attended.
�Jewish Ladies� Night: Yoga and Smoothies�
A lot of the feedback that we were getting from the women�s group programs included the need for having a night of relaxation. This was a great way to reach out to new women who do not ordinarily come to Rosh Chodesh events. We met at the local Yoga Studio in Isla Vista, where we were lead through a yoga practice and then I lead a brief discussion on how yoga relates to Judaism. We went to Blenders afterwards for smoothies. A great engagement event!
�Feminist Seder�
I worked with Alexis and Tami on this and we hand-crafted our own Haggadah, but took our favorite parts of many different Haggadot. This was held at Hillel on the second night of Passover as an alternative to the larger student-run seder in the social hall. We were in the conference room, and about 20 people attended, both women and men, to honor the special women in our lives!
�Self Defense and Sundaes�
Although only a few people came, this was a great program that we would love to sponsor at the beginning of next year. We invited some students from the Women�s Center to lead a workshop on self-defense. Most of it was talking about what we can do to protect ourselves before something happens to us (what we wear, how we act, what we�re doing, where we are, etc.) but some of it was also how to protect ourselves once someone is attacking us. After this workshop, we had sundaes, which was nice to celebrate the tradition of eating dairy for Shavuot!