Follow ROC on the URJ Blog!

Here is an excerpt from the initial posting on the URJ Blog: 

For five years--the last two as chair--I have had the privilege and honor of serving on MRJ's Reform On Campus (ROC) committee. Let me start by giving you a little background about MRJ, of which ROC is a part. Now almost 90 years old, MRJ began as the North American Federation of Temple Brotherhoods. In 2007 we became Men of Reform Judaism, a name that reflects the changes that have occurred in the organization during the last 85 years.

Through grant awards totaling more than $500,000, ROC has supported nearly 2000 different college programs on campuses throughout North America and around the world. Working under the assumption that 20 students on average attend each program, 40,000 college students have attended ROC-sponsored events during the last two decades.

Click here for the full text.

“Midrash and a Meal” 

to Increase Interest in Reform Judaism   

HUC-JIR provides Reform Jewish students studying abroad from American and Canadian universities at the Hebrew University Rothberg International School with opportunities to increase their interest, knowledge, and connection to Reform Judaism. “Midrash and a Meal” is a program designed to give students easy access to Reform Judaism on their campus while living in Jerusalem. The program consists of a meal and then discussion on a topic of interest with a rabbi or rabbinical student.  A semester-long film series addressed issues at the heart of Reform Jewish thought through a combination of Jewish text study and film clips from popular movies, which exposed students to elements of Israeli culture  The hope of the program is that by providing exciting, relevant Jewish text study from a Reform perspective, students will continue to deepen their connection to Reform Judaism while in Israel.
Many thanks to Men of Reform Judaism's Reform on Campus Program for sharing this photograph and information.

New ROC Funded Programs for 2011/12, 5771/72 

HUC-JIRs Kibbutz Yahel 

From HUC-JIRs Spirituality Weekend at Kibbutz Yahel: The shabbaton definitely encouraged reflection on the meaning of Jewish identity, particularly what it means for Israelis as opposed to Diaspora Jews, and what the place of community is in Jewish identity. It was also a doorway to understanding Reform Judaism for many who did not previously know who or what we were.

Emory University: 

The Emory Shabbat-to-Go program allows students to celebrate Shabbat with their own friends, in their own space, in their own style. Shabbat-to-Go provides a small food subsidy ($5 per person) to host their friends, and ritual items such as Challah, grape juice, yarmulkes, and candles. The Shabbat-to-Go program allows students to take Shabbat into their own hands. It allows students to create an intimate environment to explore their Judaism and connect with other Jewish students on campus in a comfortable environment.

Hillel’s Around Chicago – Russian Hillel
We are thrilled an excited to host our 9th Annual Midwest Russian Shabbaton this February, 3-5, 2012. Annual Midwest Russian Shabbaton attracts students from more than 20 different college campuses in the U.S and Canada. This one-of-a-kind event in the Midwest brings together more than 100 Russian young adults to further explore their Jewish identity that was once forbidden in the former Soviet Union. Each year, the Shabbaton creates an environment where Russian Jewish young adults are open to meeting one another, having conversations together, sharing their memories, and forming an immediate connection

McGill University
By creating a Reform community, the goal is to provide an alternative prayer group for the university students in Montreal. Currently, this community is providing bi-monthly to monthly Shabbat services on Friday nights with dinner afterwards. We are working to make services more regular, if not weekly. There is not enough funding now to provide every Shabbat meal free of charge, so each student must pay ten dollars for dinner. It is my observation, after speaking with many Jewish students on McGill’s campus, that paying for each Shabbat discourages them from attending when the other Jewish organizations in Montreal, such as Chabbad, always provide a free meal.

 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT  

    My name is Emily Stewart I am a peer network engagement intern at the University of Vermont for the academic year of 2011-2012. My job at UVM is to help Jewish students connect with Jewish culture and Jewish life outside of Hillel or other Jewish organizations. Of the roughly 2,000 Jewish students on campus I believe that more than half had a similar Jewish upbringing to me. I see Jewish life as a cultural one; I connect by the memories I shared with my family such as going to temple and bar and bat mitzvahs. However, the strongest Jewish memories that I have are spending whole days in the kitchen with my grandma, aunt and mom. Since none of them are living now Jewish cooking is my favorite way to bring back the past. As well as create similar memories with my friends and what it means to be Jewish by sharing stories that I learned in Hebrew school or old traditions my grandma taught me. 
    Our bi-monthly challah baking and provides the opportunity for holiday cooking and dinner parties (Shabbat dinner in Nov., Pre-Chanukah dinner in Dec., Purim dinner in March, Passover dinner in April). These dinners and challah baking will help recall memories of cooking in Grandmas kitchen and teach students how to bring their own flair of Jewish culture to their kitchens at home. During the course of this school year I will share stories and family recipes to provide students around campus the opportunity to bond with their Jewish peers and understand their cultural background. 
    Marketing to the student body is quite simple: putting up signs and spreading the word at other Jewish events. Since my job is engaging other Jewish students I will contact my Jewish friends and invite them to bring their other friends to my event, and ask students around campus them if they are interested in Jewish life on campus. My hope for this program is to have bi-monthly challah baking for Shabbat with an attendance of 15 students and larger holiday dinners four to five times throughout the year with an attendance of 20 to 25 students.  The recipes we use will be compiled into a booklet so students will have their little Jewish cookbook at the end of the year.
    This program will bring the un-involved Jewish student community closer together and give these students an ability to form a small tight knit bond with others. My challah baking class and dinner parties provide a way for Jewish students that do not want to get involved in Hillel a way to connect with their Jewish background as well as learn more about Jewish culture.
    With the help of this grant money I will have more effective marketing and obtain larger amount of food therefore having a larger attendance with the capacity to create many different kinds of foods, therefore, bring back and creating more memories. 

KENT STATE 

This year we have decided to change from LatkeFest to Latkepalooza!  It will be a series of events throughout the week, each worth a set number of points culminating in the final event December 1st.  The final event this year will build upon the excitement of last year’s latke eating contest and provide students the opportunity to once again eat as many latke’s as they can and become the latke eating champion of 2011.  We feel this program has specific Reform attributes as it is a way for us to celebrate Chanukah while including more Jewish students who may not feel comfortable participating in more traditionally Jewish programming.  The focus of our programming this year is to provide more social opportunities and ways for our students to get involved in Tzedek or social justice 

HILLELS AROUND CHICAGO 2010
Hillels around Chicago serves multiple campuses and a diverse student population. This year, we are hoping to increase outreach to Jewish students from the Reform movement. One way we would like to reach them is through incorporating an explicitly Reform element into our Erev Rosh Hashana dinner. Our hope is to make our entire program calendar more attractive to Reform students by incorporating an intentional discussion about Reform Judaism, its place in the Jewish world, and its relevance to modern University students. Our program calendar includes regular Shabbat worship and dinner opportunities, Tikkun Olam (service) work throughout the year, Israel Advocacy, Interfaith encounters, and an alternative spring break service immersion trip. Every one of these activities could benefit from a robust Reform voice. Reform students who attend our ‘Dinner and a Drash’ event will be intentionally invited to participate in the planning and execution of these events. 

University of Cincinnati 
Hillel at the University of Cincinnati had a rabbinic student intern from HUC for the academic year of 2010-2011. However, for the 4 previous years the only Jewish educator on campus was the Chabad Rabbi and the Aish Rabbi, and the only Jewish learning was in an Orthodox setting. As such progressive Jewish students on campus did not have a place to talk about Judaism from a liberal mindset.   The years where Chabad and Aish were the only voice left a great impression on many students, some students see Chabad as “Authentic Judaism” this is  due in part because for 4 years Hillel was not offering any educational activities. This program would help to shift that thinking. “Learn a little, Nosh a lot” would be a safe place for students to learn about the varying understandings of Jewish texts, students would be encouraged to struggle, question and grow in their Jewish journeys. This program will also strengthen the bonds between college students and HUC students, encouraging UC students to learn more about this wonderful institution down the road and maybe even introducing students to the idea of them becoming rabbis.  The University of Cincinnati has been awarded a $750.00 grant from Reform On Campus for this series of programs. 

University of Minnesota We are planning for 5 to 10 students to assist Ruvane (Ruvane Kurland, song leader) lead the service along with including singers, guitar players, drummers, and a piano player. We anticipate upwards of 50 students in addition to those who will be leading for the Friday evening service. On Thursday we will conduct a musical session with the older students, we expect to up to 50 students in attendance as well. Because this is the first week of school we really want to take advantage of the momentum our students will have returning from summer vacation.  

Boston University
We are proposing a Havdalah service followed by eating dinner out as a group.  We will hold Havdalah at 5:30 PM and then go to a restaurant. This program will take place monthly four times during the semester.  We will use the grant money to give everyone $5 off their meals.  This program is accessible for Reform Jews because of the Havdalah service.  It brings a sense of familiarity and Reform Jewish pride to students, but is not too long.  In addition, going out to dinner provides a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere to bond and create a community in, without interfering with students’ evening plans.    We expect Reform students in all grades to participate in the program.

Feedback from the students

"We wish to thank MRJ for sponsoring our program which was a resounding success. Our objective was to unite the Jewish community in a pro-active celebration of Jerusalem and Judaism; to create a festival that would attract all of the Jewish students on campus and offer them an atmosphere where they could have fun while learning a great deal about our unique heritage, religion, culture and ethnicity..." - student spokesman for University of Florida, Gainesville, recipient of MRJ-ROC grant.  

Kent State students enjoying their ROC sponsored program
HUC - Midrash program
	University of Georgia, Athens, 2011/5771 Seder sponsored by an MRJ/ROC grant
	We have been able to run this program before, but with the help from the URJ, we were able to make it one of the most successful programs we executed this year. I believe that after this year’s program, Hillel at UGA would like to make this an annual event, so we can sustain a positive program . Next year, we would like to make our introduction presentation into a more interactive lesson to involve our attendees and reflect the larger idea that our struggle for peace commands everyone’s participation.
	We placed Reform students at various tables in order to facilitate a discussion and question / answer session. These discussions reflected Reform values, and this helped the students have an opportunity to broaden their traditional outlook on Passover. Furthermore, the program gave our students their own voice as leaders and spokespeople for the Reform denomination.
	Our budget was adjusted several times throughout the planning process of this particular program. We originally planned for a larger group to attend, but we had to adjust the program logistics for a smaller audience due to higher food costs than we originally planned for, as well as wanting to make the program more intimate so students could discuss and participate in a more serious manner. It can be very challenging to find Kosher food in Athens, especially when it has to be Kosher for Passover; that challenge also took more time and resources than we first thought. However, after these changes, the program was an absolute success, and we would like to turn this in to an annual event!