Dear Friends,
It is a great pleasure to share the recent accomplishments of the Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future. I invite you to share in the transformative programs and experiences that continue to shape the Rabbinic and lay leadership of our community. The achievements of YUConnects, the Experiential Jewish Education program, our Rabbinic and Rebbetzins educational programs, Kollel and Midreshet Yom Rishon, and so much more, are sources of great pride.
The most poignant moments of the past few months were undoubtedly the extraordinary efforts of the Israel Counterpoint student leaders. They creatively reshaped the Counterpoint experience to engage and inspire the southern communities of Israel who found themselves under constant rocket fire throughout the summer. The Counterpoint camps were among the first to be closed by the Israeli government, because the Israeli participants travel by foot to the various locations that host the program. Our incredible YU students, struggling themselves with the trauma and challenge of war, re-engineered the entire camp program to cater to the needs and interests of the participants, in a safe and creative manner. I invite you to read Rabbi Kenneth Brander's blog post regarding the experience. We are deeply grateful to the entire Counterpoint Israel staff who worked with such devotion, under challenging conditions, to shape an incredible summer for the participants and campers. It is to their credit, that while our students certainly participated in a very unique Counterpoint journey – it was one of deep transformation in connecting to the people of Israel during such historic times.
Over the past month, my family was privileged to spend meaningful and uplifting Shabbatot on both the Wilf and Beren campuses. The students of Yeshiva University are the most substantive, engaging, and inspirational college students in the world. Their passion and creativity shape a Torah and academic environment that is producing the future leaders of our community. We invite you to visit the campuses, and experience firsthand, the energy and vitality that is, Yeshiva University.
The professional and lay leadership of CJF wish you and your family a Shanah Tova, and join the entire Jewish people in prayer for a year of growth, health, prosperity, and peace.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Yaakov Glasser
David Mitzner Dean, Center for the Jewish Future, Yeshiva University
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|  | COUNTERPOINT ISRAEL RETOOLS FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT Ninth Annual Service-Learning Program Serves 300 Israeli Campers
Counterpoint Israel, an immersive service-learning initiative that aims to empower the next generation of Israeli youth via an exciting, Jewish values-driven summer camp experience, was retooled this summer to maximize manpower efficiency and its impact on the Israeli communities it serves. Over the last several years, undergraduate students from Yeshiva University ran four separate summer camps in the cities of Arad, Dimona, Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Malachi concurrently. Basing itself on the North American Jewish Camping system, this year’s program offered two separate camp sessions, making it possible for YU students to focus their undivided attention and complete creativity on two cities at a time.
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|  | CJF PRESENTS MONTH-LONG KOLLEL YOM RISHON SERIES “Perspectives on Teshuva And The Yamim Noraim” Throughout September
Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future launched its Kollel Yom Rishon continuing adult education programming on Sunday, September 7, with lectures from Rabbi Meir Goldwicht, Joel and Maria Finkle Visiting Israeli Rosh Yeshiva at YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and Mrs. Chaya Batya Neugroschl, head of school at YU High School for Girls. The lectures were the first offerings of a month-long series titled “Perspectives on Teshuvah and the Yamim Noraim" that saw record crowds for the programs during September.
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|  | TORAH IN TEANECK CJF runs Summer Learning Program in Bergen County
65 men and women participated in the 3-week summer learning program hosted at Congregation Rinat Yisrael (Teaneck, NJ). This program featured shiurim by Rabbi Jeremy Wieder, Rosh Yeshiva, and Gwendolyn and Straus Chair in Talmud, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary who spoke on the topic of “The Ten Martyrs in Liturgy,” and Mrs. Nechama Price, Judaic Studies Faculty, Stern College for Women, who spoke on the topic of “Heroes and Villains in Tanach.” |
|  | DIGITAL TORAH: THE GREAT UNIFIER Chomer Lidrush with Chief Rabbi Lau impacts thousands
I have always been fascinated by large Jewish gatherings and Israel’s national events. Yom Ha’atzmaut ceremonies, the mass Birkat Kohanim (blessing of the priests) at the Kotel, the Celebrate Israel parade in New York, and numerous other such events leave me awestruck. More than the pageantry, I believe it is the sheer number of Jews gathering for a single purpose or delivering a unified message that moves me. Earlier this month, I experienced the same intense feelings from a simple recorded message. Allow me to explain.
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|  | A TIME OF INTROSPECTION Yeshiva University Tisha B'av programming reaches tens of thousands
Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) and the Orthodox Union (OU) once again combined efforts on programs for the Three Weeks and Nine Days leading to Tisha B’Av, which were followed by a variety of shiurim [lectures] on Tisha B’Av itself. “We were proud to partner with the Orthodox Union in providing our community with an inspirational program for Tisha B’Av,” said Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, David Mitzner Dean of the CJF. “This collection of shiurim addressed the meaning and poignancy of Tisha B’Av in the framework of our contemporary Jewish experience.”
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|  | TEACHING THE TEACHERS CJF runs Kallah Teachers Training Course this summer
The Kallah Teacher Training Course, taught by Rebbetzin Peshi Neuburger, a renowned Kallah teacher, took place this summer during the Nine Days for the third year in a row, at the Teaneck Mikvah. Seventeen women attended the seminar in person, and several via Skype from distant states and Canada. The intensive two and half day course provides a clear model of how to teach a Kallah and offers time to answer many questions that arise.
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|  | A THREEPEAT FOR EJE YU Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education graduates 3rd cohort
In July of 2014 the YU Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education graduated its third cohort of educators, Cohort III, and welcomed Cohort IV. At their moving graduation ceremony, each of the twenty-one members of Cohort III presented their personal statements explaining what it means to them to be an experiential Jewish educator.
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|  | HOW DANIELLA MET TANI YUConnects celebrates 172 matches
"We were in the same crowds, but I didn’t see her,” says Tani Guterman. “It’s like Daniella was under the radar screen.” In the spring of 2012, Daniella Stein was a senior at Yeshiva University (YU) Stern College for Women, and Tani was a YU alum. They both came from Young Israel backgrounds – she, from Lawrence, New York, and he from Staten Island; and they both worked with children with special needs. There was a lot of buzz in their circles about YUConnects, a matchmaking program sponsored by YU’s Center for the Jewish Future. "But at first, I thought it was the weirdest thing in the world to go through a matchmaker,” admits Daniella.
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| THE IMAGE AND THE IDEA Interdisciplinary Seminar on Art History and Jewish Thought to be Offered at YU Museum in October
Yeshiva University will present a Community Beit Midrash program at the Yeshiva University Museum in the fall. The Image and the Idea is a six-week interdisciplinary seminar on art history and Jewish thought taught collaboratively by Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, and Dr. Jacob Wisse, director of the Yeshiva University Museum and associate professor of art history at Stern College for Women.
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|  | TEACHING LEADERSHIP The Community Leadership Initiative
The Center for the Jewish Future recently graduated the newest cohort of CLI (The Community Leadership Initiative). Sixteen emerging lay leaders gathered at YU for a six-month program designed to strengthen and inspire community leadership. Participants came from multiple Midwestern communities, including, Kansas City, Detroit, Columbus, Denver, Des Moines, Omaha, Milwaukee, and Chicago. The program, run by Rabbi Ari Sytner, Director of Community Initiatives, introduced participants to many of YU’s renowned figures, which included President Richard M. Joel, Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Rabbi Josh Joseph, Dr. Rona Novick, and Rabbi Dr. JJ Schacter, among others. The cohort met in person and then continued their training through an online collaborative where they analyzed and discussed case-studies and learned to navigate the complex terrain of Jewish communal leadership, governance, politics, fundraising and personal balance. The program culminated with a two-day completion ceremony at Yeshiva University in May.
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|  | BUILDING THE FUTURE The Build Fellowship
In May, Rabbi Ari Sytner was proud to graduate the inaugural cohort of The BUILD Fellowship, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of New York. The program is a semester long experience that brought together a diverse cohort of Jewish college students in the New York area from YU, NYU and Baruch College to explore the intersection of Jewish values and entrepreneurship. A cohort of talented and aspiring Jewish leaders were convened to witness, study and discuss Jewish values in a corporate culture. Along the way, they met and networked with iconic Jewish business leaders, deepened their Jewish and social connections, explored their own sense of Jewish Peoplehood and enhanced their future careers by developing an entrepreneurial spirit that combines sharp business sense with Jewish values. |
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Jewish soldiers at Bagram Army Base in Afghanistan enjoy copies of the Benjamin and Rose Berger To-Go. | | 
PUAH and Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future present a conference on Fertility Medicine and Halacha on November 16 in NYC. For more information please click on the flyer above.
 Students share their experiences from Summer 2014 CJF programs
"Bliss, Loss, Under Fire, Peace? My Summer in Israel"
Rivka Hia, Jewish Press
"What I Saw in Israel during the War"
Chaim Goldberg, Intermountain Jewish News
"From Olney to South Bend: The Hidden Jewish Jewel"
Paul Creeger,
Baltimore Jewish Life
 yu.edu/CJF Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future home page
YUTorah The Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah, with over 60,000 shiurim
Resources for shidduchim and relationships
The Yeshiva University
Speakers Bureau
The Abraham Arbesfeld Kollel Yom Rishon Sunday Morning Learning Program for Men
The Millie Arbesfeld Midreshet Yom Rishon Sunday Morning Learning Program for Women
Certificate Program in Jewish Experiential Education
Torah Tours registration for synagogues and YU students
Championsgate Leadership Conference
The Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Chicago Community Kollel
The Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Zichron Dov Community Beit Midrash of Toronto
Rabbinic resources, drasha materials and more
Watch videos from all our programs and events |
