M a y a n o t e s A u g u s t 2 010 תלולאNew Yea r, New Beginnings ה בAs we review the past academic ye ar , we are proud oour students and alumni who have taken part in a number ocourageous and meaningul projects, whether it be traveling to Kazakhstan or India to help ellow Jews experience a seder, or nding ways to contribute to local communities, as in the case oour Mayanot alumni group, WOMAN. Our students are passionate individuals, and we are very proud otheir achievements. It is our prayer that the students who study at Mayanot, or even experience a aglit – Birthright trip with Mayanot, will be inspired Jews, inused with the desire to reach out to our ellow Jews and make a difference to our people and to our world. Tank you or your support and partnership as we endeavor to play a role in building the uture oAm Yisrael. Sincerely, Rabbi Shlomo Gestetner Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov1
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7/27/2019 Mayanotes Rosh Hashannah Edition August 2010| Elul 5770
As we review the past academic year, weare proud o our students and alumniwho have taken part in a number o courageous and meaningul projects,whether it be traveling to Kazakhstanor India to help ellow Jews experiencea seder, or fnding ways to contribute tolocal communities, as in the case o our
Mayanot alumni group, WOMAN. Ourstudents are passionate individuals, andwe are very proud o their achievements.
It is our prayer that the students who study at Mayanot, or even experience a aglit
– Birthright trip with Mayanot, will beinspired Jews, inused with the desire toreach out to our ellow Jews and make adierence to our people and to our world.
Tank you or your support andpartnership as we endeavor to play a rolein building the uture o Am Yisrael.
Sincerely,
Rabbi ShlomoGestetner
Rabbi KasrielShemtov
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With 2,000 college students (morethan 50 buses) registered toparticipate in aglit-Birthright’sMayanot program this summer– aer a recruitment o a record-breaking 6,000applicants – Mayanot’sBirthright oce has beenworking around the clock to get the planning processunderway or what they hope will be Mayanot’s
most successul Birthrightsession to date.
Rabbi Shlomo Gestetnermet with Minister orPublic Diplomacy andDiaspora Aairs Mr. YuliEdelstein recently to discussthe upcoming season. Temeeting agenda ocusedprimarily on post-Birthright issues,and in particular, the potential or
Mayanot Birthright participantsto be ambassadors or Israel oncampus across North America.
“Mayanot Birthright is not only a wonderul experience or ourparticipants, but can also impactJewish lie in the Diaspora. We
hope that we are able to leveragethe success o Birthright and createa situation whereby participants
return home, become deenders o Israel on campus and contributeto Jewish lie in their local
communities,” said Rabbi Gestetner.
Mayanot Birthright is one o the leading providers o aglit-
Birthright programs.“Hundreds o Mayanotalumni choose tostudy at the MayanotInstitute o JewishStudies ollowing theprogram,” explainedRabbi Kasriel Shemtov,
Executive Director o Mayanot. “Tey returnto North Americainspired to make adierence withintheir local Jewishcommunities.”
A special thank you toDanny Sack, Director
o Mayanot Birthright and to theMayanot Birthright oce sta:
Ella Ben-Pelech, Natalie Dallal,Deb David, Ariel Diamond,Sarah Prinsky, Ilana Wachs,Karen Weddel and ali Weisberg.
Minister Yuli Edelstein with Rabbi Shlomo Gestetner
New HorizonsSchottensteins Dedicate Holtzberg Administration Center
On the Yarzheit o RabbiGavriel and Mrs. Rivka
Holtzberg z”l this year,more than 100 students andsupporters o the MayanotInstitute o Jewish Studiesgathered on the streets o Jerusalem to dedicate a new acility or Mayanot in theirhonor.
Mayanot’s HoltzbergAdministration Center, builtin response to Mayanot’sexpanding activities, was
made possible due to thegenerous and steadast
support o David and EdaSchottenstein o Columbus,Ohio. Located in theheart o Jerusalem, thecenter serves as Mayanot’sadministrative and fnancialoces, and is abuzz withactivity each and every day.
In a joyous yet movingdedication ceremony, DavidSchottenstein explained tothe crowd that dedicating
the center in the memory o the Holtzbergs was a most
meaningul way to continuetheir legacy, and build on theirholy work.
Rabbi Shmuel Rosenberg,Mrs. Rivka Holtzberg’sbrother, spoke on behal o the amily, and expressed hisdeep appreciation to Davidand Eda Schottenstein and toMayanot or dedicating thenew center in the name o his sister and brother-in-law.
David and Eda Schottenstein
outside Mayanot’s new Holtzberg Administration Center 2
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In January, Mayanot celebratedthe second anniversary o itsWomen’s Program ata dinner or more
than 100 guests at theMayanot Synagogue inRehavia.
At the dinner, Mayanotrecognized its majorsupporters, amongthem: Lead Investor Mr.George Rohr, FoundingChairman Rabbi Jose Gutnick, Chairman o the Board Mr. Yaakov
Cohen, Guest o Honor Mrs.Susan Shapell, Board Member Mr.
Mordechai Haller andMr. Abe Erdynast.
In her address to thestudents, Mrs. SusanShapell encouragedstudents to take whatthey have gainedrom the Mayanotexperience and helpshape the utures o Jewish communitiesworldwide. “I amsure that you will oneday look back at this
experience as being one o themost memorable and excitingtimes in your lives,” Mrs. Shapelltold the students. “But, it doesn’thave to end here,” Mrs. Shapellinsisted. “Te excitement cancontinue. Giving back to yourcommunities is, without a doubt,a priority that surpasses most.”
Changing The Face of Women’s LearningCelebrating Two Years
Guest Speaker Mrs. Susan Shapell
Mayanot students and faculty at the celebration
o see a video o the frst and second anniversary celebrations,
go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=rUVyAvr1mb4
Mayanot was the perfect
trip: it showed me
everything about Israel
I possibly could have
seen in 10 days and left
me wanting more!
Emily Freil ich
University of Michigan, 22
You will all be leaders
and you will be a pillarof strength for the
Jewish people. It is an
honor to be part of this
incredible place of Torah
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Yaakov Cohen in his address
to the Mayanot Women’s Program
What you have taught andgiven us does not – and
cannot – have a price tag
put on it. For me, Mayanot
is the most inspiring,
wholesome and beautiful
environment I have ever
been in.”
Hay l e y Di amo n dfrom the University of Texas
in her Dvar Torah to mark the
occasion
Meet Our StudentsFeaturing: Matthew Tune-Cohen (Leeds, England)
Matthew une-Cohen
grew up in
Leeds, England
and until
recently, has
had very little
connection to
Jewish practices.
His recent
association with Chabad o Leeds inspired
him to come to Mayanot or the summer,
and he had such an eye-wakeningexperience that he will be attending
Mayanot or the entire year. “I am making
up or 27 years o no Jewish education,”
he says. Matthew, who only recently
began to learn the Hebrew alphabet, le
school at the age o 16 and became a che
in the British army. For the last ten years
he has been working in hospitality, and
says that despite growing up with little
connection to Judaism, Jewish cooking
has always been part o his lie. “At the
age o six I started to cook and made achicken soup. No one even showed me
how to do it. I think it’s in the Jewish
blood,” he jokes. Matthew hopes to be able
to help others, either in Israel or the UK,
who want to strengthen their connection
to Judaism. In Leeds he was involved in
Jewish Meantime (JM), an organization
that organizes events or young Jewish
proessionals in England. He has been
approached by a Kosher caterer to come
and work with her when he returns home
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During this Pesach break, studentsrom Mayanot set out to run sedarimin dierent countries throughoutEurope. I was one o our students who journeyed to the only recently amous,thanks to our very own Sasha BaronCohen, country o Kazakhstan.
Aer a rough and long bus journey through snow rom Almaty, where wehad spent Shabbat, we arrived early morning in araz, a city located in thesouth o the country. We immediately
set out to the local market there, to buy the ood and utensils needed to run ourseder. Aer the excitement o the hustleand bustle o the marketplace in araz,and the unny looks the two o us gotrom the locals – we were dressed inour black hats and jackets - we cameback to the Chesed Centre in araz,
and began koshering the kitchen.Exhausted, and still with the taste o sticky tape engraved on my tonguerom covering up hal the kitchen, wedid the ritual search or chametz in ourhotel room and retired or the night.
Early Monday morning we continuedour Pesach preparation. In between thesticky tape and the blowtorching, weound time to burn and sell our chametz,complete a section o almud (as weare both frst-borns) and fnish o what
little ood we had brought with us romthe city o Almaty. As we were doingwell or time, my partner (the only onewho could speak Russian) went with thedriver to drop o matzah to members o the community, most being quite old andhaving lived there since they were exiledrom the Former Soviet Union.
While the two o us held a seder onboth nights or 25-30 adults andkids, our classmates up north alsoaccommodated or such numbers onone night, with a considerably largertable or 70 on the other night. Aerall was said and done we took a deepbreath and thanked G-d or takingus out o exile, and or helping us toaccomplish such a eat!
Seder in Kazakhstan
Pesach in India By Chana Tibor
In April, my husband Yehoshua andI went to a remote village in Indiacalled Kasar Devi; the closest city to it is Almora. Our mission wasto open a Chabad house or theseason, to bring up the shipment o kosher ood that would be neededor the coming year, to run theseder and all o the Pesach-related
activities, and also to coordinateactivities at the Chabad house orthat month.
We shechted (ritually slaughtered)kosher meat or most o the Chabadhouses in India while we were therebecause Yehoshua was the only active shochet in the region at thetime. We shechted or Varanasi,Delhi, all o Uderkhnad, and, wewere told that some o the chickens
were sent to the Philippines as well!During the entire month, travelerso all types and rom across theglobe, stopped by the Chabad houseto relax, get kosher ood, and enjoy the warm, homely atmosphere.
More than fy people came to ourseder, which we held outside onour porch on pillows and low tables
and straw mats. It looked like whata Pesach table must have lookedat during the time o the emple.As the sun started to set, and itsorange-red-crimson embers glowedacross the sky, people started tocome, dressed in the calm o Yomov, each taking a place around theset table. We sang Maariv and Halleltogether under the ull starry sky and then the seder continued into
the night, with an overwhelmingeeling o belonging and amily.
Preparing for the seder
Jamming on the porch
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