Donations from alumni and their families have enabled us to award 12 grants this October to innovative alumni-led projects that are helping to shape the Jewish community and the wider world.  In 2009, the BYFI Alumni Venture Fund distributed $24,800 to 24 project.  Support the Venture Fund and contact alumni listed below to get involved in these projects:

1. Artistic Workshops at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue - Rachel Farbiarz ‘94 will lead a series of workshops exploring the interplay between the artistic process and religious practice as a means of invigorating and enriching both. The workshops will incorporate hands-on creative work, investigation and experience of Jewish ritual and practice, and discussion of artworks, scholarly and theoretical writings, and Jewish texts. The workshops will be held at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C., and will later be offered at other community centers, conferences, learn-ins, retreats, Hillels, and synagogues.
2. Bay Area Learning Initiative (BALI) - Early 20's Initiative - BALI makes the study of classical Jewish subjects including the Talmud, Bible, Jewish philosophy and mysticism accessible to small communities through regular text study sessions in small groups. Since receiving an AVF grant in May 2009, BALI has successfully launched 15 small learning groups in the Bay Area, thereby creating a community of young adults who have a regular outlet for social networking and for deepening their Jewish knowledge and connection. This grant will help support a bi-monthly study initiative for young ‘social connectors' primarily in the 22-25 post-college age bracket.  Sara Bamberger (Yozma) is Director of BALI and Rachel Finkelstein ‘03 is the volunteer-lead helping to launch the early 20's initiative.
3. Boulder Stepping Stones - Boulder Stepping Stones, founded by Deb Dusansky ‘87, is a program that provides Jewish education and experiences to interfaith and unaffiliated families, reaching a database of over 1,000 people from across Colorado. Stepping Stones, which also received alumni funding in 2008, focuses on Friday night Shabbat rituals as a time to strengthen Jewish family and community. This grant will help market and create programming for single and GLBT parents, who often feel even more uncomfortable being part of the Jewish community. Two other alumni, Idit Klein ‘89 and Julie Geller ‘91 have been involved with programming and planning.
4. The Capital Good Fund - The Capital Good Fund (CGF) is a non-profit green micro-lender based in Providence, Rhode Island and founded by Brown University students. CGF makes loans to individuals that cannot access affordable capital from traditional financial institutions in the belief that access to this capital can have transformational impact on the lives of borrowers by building good credit and, thus, impacting, their communities, and the environment. CGF recently developed a new green credit builder loan product- one that would reduce the borrower's energy expenditures by financing the installation of a programmable thermostat while improving credit scores.  An AVF grant will support the purchase of materials and training about building credit.   Jonah Fisher ‘06 is the volunteer Fundraising Director of CGF.
5. Darkhei Noam - Darkhei Noam is a lay-led Modern Orthodox independent minyan that comes together for Shabbat and holiday services on the Upper West Side.  An AVF grant funded the printing of a parent-created siddur for young children to be used at weekly children's services.  The minyan plans to create two siddurim; one for very young children (under age five) and then another older children (ages five to seven).  Noam Lockshin '01 and Allie Alperovich ‘93 are members of the Executive Committee.  Allie is also chair of Youth Programming.  She plans to share the siddur with members of the BYFI community and with other independent minyanim.  Shoshie Lockshin '98 is text study coordinator at the minyan.
6. Dimensions of Kigali - Following a study program in Rwanda, Karen Zasloff ‘91 is now creating and directing a multimedia puppet performance relating to the experiences of Rwandan survivors in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, and current tensions between reconciliation and the pursuit of justice. This piece will be performed as part of Labapalooza, a festival of new puppet works at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn.
7. Documentary: How Many Jews in Poland? - This documentary film project, created by Judy Batalion ‘94 will explore contemporary Polish-Jewish relations, focusing on the question: "How many Jews are in Poland today?" -some say 4,000 while others say four. This short film documentary will trace six Polish inhabitants and their varied answers to a straightforward question. The project aims to explore the current perception of Jews and the state of the contemporary Jewish community in Poland, and hopes to ask uncomfortable questions about what it means to be a Jew.  The AVF grant serves to help Judy in securing the support of other Jewish funders.
8. The Jewish Education Workshop (J.E.W.) - The Jewish Education Workshop is an inter-denominational program which aims to democratize Jewish education and access to prayer skills. Founded by Barnard and Columbia Freshman, including Mitzi Steiner ‘06, J.E.W. pairs students who wish to learn how to lead religious services with one-on-one peer teachers. Students from J.E.W. have gone on to become leaders in their respective communities and maintain their cross-denominational ties with other J.E.W. participants. Further funding will help increase programming to include Lunch n' Learns and pot-luck Shabbat meals with text studies on both Jewish leadership and liturgy.
9. Jewish Sex Education for Adults at the Kavod Moishe House - Margie Klein ‘96 and Michelle Sternthal ‘95 were awarded a grant to adapt a sexual health course created by the Unitarian Universalist movement into a Jewish context.  The curriculum, "Our Whole Lives," involves 14 units and focuses on different aspects of sexuality for adults in their 20's and 30's. With the help of Hebrew College students, the curriculum will incorporate Jewish sources to help participants explore their sexual relationships and identities not only as people, but as Jews, and will help the community develop Jewish sexual ethics. The workshops will first take place in Boston at the Kavod Moishe House before rolling-out to other networks.  BYFI alumna Abby Friedman ‘02 will also collaborate on this project.
10. The Network for Young Religion Journalists - The Network for Young Religion Journalists, founded by Michael Pomeranz ‘04, aims to support student journalists of religion. The Network will provide a place and space to foster conversations about religious tension, inter-religious dialogue, and world events through the lens of religion. A primary goal will be to support student journals of religion, which encourage the next generation of scholars and journalists of religion. This grant will help fund a one day seminar in NYC on January 24^th that will gather journalists, students, and professors to discuss best practices and the future of the Network.
11. Tikkun Leil Shabbat (TLS) - Tikkun Leil Shabbat (TLS) is a pluralistic havurah (prayer and learning community) that meets Friday nights in Washington D.C.  The community emphasizes song-filled, egalitarian services, as well as a commitment to social justice.  The group meets every three weeks in Dupont Circle with an average attendance ranging from 90 to 120 members, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s.  Services at TLS include a dvar tikkun (a teaching linking Judaism to a local social justice issue), prayer, and a potluck vegetarian dinner. Past BYFI grants have helped the minyan with costs such as siddurim (prayer books) and with funding to find a larger prayer space. A number of alumni are involved with TLS, including Sarah Beller ‘98, Ariella Kurshan ‘01, and Daniel Greenspahn ‘96.
12. Uri L'Tzedek - Uri L'Tzedek is an Orthodox social justice organization guided by Torah values and dedicated to combating suffering and oppression. They recently launched the Tav HaYosher, a local, grassroots initiative to bring workers, restaurant owners and community members together to create just workplaces in kosher restaurants. The Tav is working to transform the business practices of the kosher food industry into a strict moral code of ethics, more representative of the Jewish community. The Tav HaYosher aims to revitalize and reenergize the practice of kashrut, including accountability of restaurant owners, while educating the Jewish community about the ethics that they should be applying to their eating habits and food consumption. An AVF grant will help expand the Tav Hayosher and will contribute to increased involvement in the Tav by Princeton students under the leadership of Rabbi David Wolkenfeld '97.  In addition, BYFI alumni Rabbi Steven Exler '97, Jodi Meyerowitz '05 and Danny Cohen ‘04, are supporters of this initiative.

Donations from alumni and their families have enabled us to award 12 grants this May to innovative alumni-led projects that are helping to shape the Jewish community and the wider world.

1. Bay Area Learning Initiative (BALI) - The goal of BALI is to provide the opportunity for the study of classical Jewish sources to a select group of adults who in turn will share their learning with a broad cross-section of the Jewish community in the San Francisco and Bay Area. The program will combine traditional methods such as hevruta study with academic and pluralistic modes of inquiry. Students will study classical Jewish subjects including the Talmud, Bible, Jewish philosophy and mysticism. They may choose to pursue the common M.A., combining their traditional studies with graduate seminars taught by faculty at the GTU and UC Berkeley. Some students will be expected to function as community educators throughout the Bay Area, thereby creating a community of young adults who have a regular outlet for social networking and for deepening their Jewish knowledge and connection. An AVF grant will help with start-up costs for the program which Sara Bamberger (Yozma) is managing. Update: The Bay Area Learning Initiative was named an Upstarter.
   

2. Challah for Hunger (WashU) - Challah for Hunger is a national organization that operates on 21 college campuses in the United States. Each week, students bake and sell challah. The profits each chapter makes are divided in half: donated to a local charity and an international relief fund in Sudan. Hannah Rabinowitz ’07 founded a chapter at Washington University in St. Louis. Her group raises money and spreads awareness about the Genocide that has displaced millions of people in western Sudan as well as the struggles with hunger faced by people in St. Louis.

3. Du-Siach Holiday Project - a venture of a diverse community collective in Zichron Yaakov, Israel, led by Rabbi Yair Silverman ‘91. The community learning project aims to celebrate the multiple accents, flavors, and influences of Jewish immigrants from across the world. Six holidays throughout the year will be celebrated as opportunities to engage in a ‘du siach’-communal dialogue. Together, the community will highlight the unique places, narratives, and practices from which each has come. The program will focus on memories of and cultural associations of each selected holiday. Holidays celebrated will include: Rosh Hashana, Sukkot, Chanukah, Passover, Shavuot, and Thanksgiving holidays celebrated in the Ethiopian and American traditions.

4. Heart to Heart - a series of Shabbat dinners hosted by UPENN students, including Ariel Fisher ‘05, Sammy Belfer ’07, Danny Cohen ’04, and Elisheva Goldberg ’05 and founded by Hart Levine. The meals develop community connections and empower students who are not currently involved with Hillel to develop their own Jewish experiences. Check out the Heart to Heart wiki

5. Home Front Hearts - a Virtual POC (Point of Contact) that provides support and resources to the families of deployed armed service members, increases public awareness of the struggles and sacrifices of military families, and encourages both individuals and businesses to build a more military-friendly community. Home Front Hearts, founded by Randi Cairns ’87, works with the families of deployed armed service members in New Jersey to assess areas that require support or assistance. This year, a BYFI grant is helping Home Front Hearts with funding for software to increase organizational efficiency. BYFI alum, Elijah Dornstreich ’92 (current President of the Alumni Advisory Board) now serves on the Board of Directors.

6. Israeli Veterans of 1948: War and Memory - an experiential education project about the interplay between collective and individual memory in Israel. Ethan Pack will interview Israeli veterans of the 1948 War of Independence and conduct primary source research, examining how 61 years of conflict impacts memory. Through live-blogging of Ethan’s research, Eli Terry ‘02 will develop an education project for young Jewish high school students about historiography. The online content will support discussion and exploration, humanizing and personalizing Israeli history. The project will culminate in the publication of a book and education curriculum about the experiences of veterans of the 1948 War of Independence

7. Kavana - an independent Jewish community in Seattle, led by Rachel Nussbaum ‘93. It strives to create a supportive communal environment in which individuals and families can use "kavana" - intention - to create a Jewish life that is spiritually fulfilling, intellectually satisfying, fun, and meaningful. This grant will help fund the creation of a curriculum co-designed by Noam Pianko ‘91 to explore ambivalence or confusion about one’s relationship to Israel. The curriculum will present a history of modern Zionism, an analysis of current tensions in American and Israeli discourse, and a discussion of the current relationship that American Jews have with Israel.
   

8. Keshet – led by Idit Klein ’89, Keshet’s mission is to ensure that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews are fully welcomed and included in all parts of the Jewish community. BYFI funding will support the development and expansion of Keshet’s educational and training materials to fully integrate transgender experience. In partnership with Jewish Mosaic, Keshet will also create an educational poster featuring a prominent transgender Jew. Update: Keshet was voted the best medium-sized LGBTQ non-profit in the U.S. in the Great Non Profits’ Pride Choice Award.

9. Shabbat Remix - is an effort to provide unaffiliated Jewish young adults with a connection to something authentically Jewish by incorporating a Shabbat experience into the urban lifestyle. Currently being created by Danny Greene ’00, the project will involve young adults hosting potluck Shabbat dinners in homes and apartments across San Francisco for friends and other guests. The dinner hosts will facilitate a conversation about the meaning and purpose of Shabbat in order to infuse some Jewish learning into this pluralistic experience and to create a sense of commonality among all of the Shabbat Remix dinners. Then, after the meal, everyone who has attended a Shabbat Remix dinner will come together to participate in large communal, social activity. The main goal is to reach and involve young, urban, unaffiliated Jews living in the San Francisco Bay Area through a Shabbat experience that reflects their interests and lifestyle. Update: Shabbat Remix was featured in the Bay Area J Weekly.

10. Shomer Achi - founded by Jodi Meyerowitz ‘05 & Jamie Zebrak. A yearlong social justice program for Israeli and American Jewish college students designed to unify the Jewish people and strengthen Jewish identity. The program enhances relationships between Jewish American students from the University of Oregon and Israeli students from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa through parallel community service initiatives, dialogue, and leadership training. Students visit one another’s countries and engage in community service sessions and text study. Update: The Israeli Shomrim visited Oregon from September 1-9. The itinerary included volunteer sessions at several organizations in Portland and Eugene, a walking tour of Jewish Portland, and a private reception with AJWS's Ruth Messinger!

11. Street Sights - is a newspaper written by a group of homeless and formerly homeless individuals and by students, advocates, and professionals in the community. The goal of Street Sights is to build a community of individuals who are not defined by what they lack, but by the gifts they bring to the production. Each month, 2,000 copies are distributed throughout the Providence, Rhode Island area to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, as well as to bookstores, libraries, community centers, and other organizations. An AVF grant will help fund the Sights Journalism Training Program, aimed at improving the content of the paper, enhancing staff members’ writing and communication skills, and fostering marketable job skills. Elizabeth Ochs ’01 is the editor of the paper. Update: In August 2009, four staff members attended the North American StreetNewspaper Association Conference in Denver Colorado. The conference brought together staff and leadership of street newspapers from around the United States and Canada.Together, both countries have over 27 street newspapers. Street Sights was honored as “Most Improved Street Newspaper.”

12. Voices of Rwanda - a not-for-profit organization founded by Taylor Krauss ‘97 which records and preserves testimonies of Rwandans, ensuring that their stories inform the world about genocide and inspire a global sense of responsibility to prevent human rights atrocities. This grant will help bring Voices of Rwanda to Israel by assisting with the translation of materials into Hebrew, to be screened in schools and other forums in Israel. Two Amitim, Maxim Fomin ‘08 and Omer Even-Pax ‘08, were inspired to volunteer with translations after hearing Taylor speak at their Amitei Bronfman trip to the US in December 2008. Update: The organization turns 3 years old this October. This year, Voices of Rwanda was featured on national television across Italy, has presented testimonies in places scattered across the globe from Switzerland and Italy to South Africa, Rwanda and England. Taylor Krauss was an invited panelist at the Durban Review Conference in Geneva.

Keshet launched an ecommerce section of their website to sell copies of their acclaimed film Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School and the companion Curriculum Resource Guide for Jewish Educators. Hineini is a documentary film produced by Keshet that chronicle’s one student's courageous fight to establish a Gay-Straight alliance at a Jewish high school in the Boston area and the transformative impact on her entire community. Since the ecommerce portion of the website was launched in late September 2008, Keshet has sold over 150 DVDs and 50 curriculum guides. Selling the DVDs and guides online has enabled Keshet to devote its limited resources to building and sustaining their education project. In the coming months, Keshet will begin a marketing campaign to get the film and curriculum into the hands of day school teachers, youth group leaders, summer camp counselors, rabbis, Hebrew school teachers, and libraries across the country. The film and curriculum can be purchased at www.hinieitheiflm.org/store.

Keshet’s Hineini Education Project - www.keshetonline.org - provides tools and resources to Jewish educators and community leaders to create safe and affirming Jewish institutions for GLBT youth.

The Urban Next Summit brought together young leaders from around the country to discuss best practices for retaining and attracting talent to cities. In many cities across the country, leaders are facing a major brain drain. The conference highlighted creative practices implemented in other cities that help combat this problem. The conference also explored developments in New Orleans since Katrina while providing attendees with the opportunity to network and share ideas that will lead to partnerships in the future. Since the conference, a website has been created to continue the dialogue. In addition, the local press took notice and reported several stories about the conference.  For more information contact Ariela Rothstein ’05.

Urban Next Summit - www.nolayurp.org – was a conference held in New Orleans this past July hosted by The New Orleans Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals Initiative (NOLA YURP). 

Street Sights was recently featured on Providence Channel 10 news. Check out Elizabeth Ochs ’01, editor of Street Sights: www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/article/street_sights_aiming_to_make_a_difference/11092/

Street Sights - www.streetsights.org - is the street newspaper written by and for homeless and formerly homeless individuals.

The NHC has made significant progress in the creation of a website that will be a resource for havurot across the country.  Volunteer “curators” are gathering information about various topics including leading services, governance of havurah committees, legal issues in forming new communities, organizing and networking to form new groups or expand existing ones, non-davening programming ideas, and more.  They are planning a kickoff for the website this August at the National Havurah Committee Summer Institute.  For more information about the NHC contact Marisa Harford ’96 (marisahardford@gmail.com).

National Havurah Committee (NHC) – www.havurah.org - For nearly 30 years, the NHC has helped Jews across North America envision a joyful grassroots Judaism, and has provided the tools to help people create empowered Jewish lives and communities. 

Recently, Jodi Meyerowitz ‘05 and Jamie Zebrak traveled to Haifa, Israel with six American Shomrim (participants) from the University of Oregon and met the Israeli Shomrim from Haifa University and the Technion. Together they spent a week volunteering in Haifa with children at an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants, helping an Ethiopian family paint their apartment, packing and delivering Passover packages to families in need, and engaging in dialogue about Jewish peoplehood. In September, they will continue building connections when the Israeli Shomrim visit Eugene, Oregon.

Shomer Achi - www.shomerachi.weebly.com - fosters sustainable and community based connections between American and Israeli college students through parallel community service initiatives, dialogue, and leadership training.

In addition to publishing the second issue of the journal (it will be accessible at www.yale.edu/fiatlux ), Fiat Lux has also organized weekly dinners and discussions with prominent scholars of journalism and religion/religious issues on and around campus.  The journal’s members hope to expand their web presence and to develop a network of similarly-minded student-edited journals of religion in order to grow the next generation of religion scholars and journalists. If you are involved in similar publications and would like to connect, contact Michael.Pomeranz@Yale.edu or Jacob.Albert@Yale.edu.

Fiat Lux - www.yale.edu/fiatlux - is Yale's undergraduate, non-sectarian journal of religion.  

The Step Into Shabbat CD produced by Julie Geller '91 and Deb Dusansky ‘87 was released in December to much acclaim. The CD takes the listener through a Friday night of Jewish music, stories, brief meditations to focus the listener and celebration.  With traditional Shabbat tunes, such as Eishet Chayil, Shalom Aleichem and the Grace after Meals, alongside new Julie Geller favorites that are destined to become classics! The CD was named one of the top five new Shabbat CDs by the JUF News, which said, "Geller has a folksy, listenable voice and the piano-based arrangements encourage singing along... A very accessible way to learn - or relearn - the steps into Shabbat." (Paul Wieder, JUF News).  Over $1200 was raised for Boulder Stepping Stones through the sale of the CD.

Boulder Stepping Stones - www.steppingstonesfamily.com - is a program that provides Jewish education and experiences to interfaith and unaffiliated families with a database of over 1,000 people from across Colorado. Stepping Stones focuses on Friday night Shabbat rituals as a time to strengthen Jewish family and community.

A profile on BYFI alumni Randi Cairns ('87) & her Alumni Venture Fund backed project: Homefront Hearts was printed in yesterday's New Jersey Star Ledger.  READ MORE »

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Shavuot in the Rockies – what can I say? Minyan Na’aleh, an independent minyan in Denver, just held our third annual Shavuot retreat in the mountains. As always, the setting was breathtaking, the davening inspiring, the singing transcendent, the participants laid-back, and the atmosphere inclusive.  READ MORE »