Spring Break
Torah Tours 2005
Moshe Goldfeder
Issue date: 10/11/05 Section: News
The 2005 Blanche Schreiber Torah Tours is now in the final stages of preparation for the centerpiece of its annual programs. Now in its third decade, the program sends Yeshiva College, Stern College, and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) students, as well as students from various other metropolitan area universities, to Jewish communities throughout the United States. The goal is to share the knowledge and enthusiasm of the volunteers with the greater Jewish world.
Twice a year, on Simchat Torah and Shavuot, teams of four to six young men and women travel to Jewish communities both near and far. Some of the host groups are less religiously affiliated, and look to the guests for education and spiritual enhancement. Others simply appreciate the warmth and excitement that young blood brings to the holidays, particularly Simchat Torah with its dancing celebrations. All over, participants lead services, teach classes, meet with synagogue youth, and help create a fun and spirited Yom Tov. The host communities pay for travel expenses and provide room and board, while Yeshiva takes care of all administrative costs.
This year, Torah Tours has been administratively subsumed under the Community Initiatives Department of the Center for the Jewish Future. Directed by Ari Rockoff, the program falls under the agenda of the Programming and Development division, headed by Aaron Leibowitz. The itinerary remains roughly the same, with only one major change: for the first time ever, all participants were required to attend a short training session, given by the CJF's own Director of the Department of Student Training, Development, and Recruitment, Rabbi Moshe Bellows. Besides for the free gift of Torah Tour duffel bags, the seminar also presented various scenarios that students could expect to encounter, along with solutions and advice on how to deal with them.
CJF Presidential Fellow Aliza Abrams, who worked closely with Leibowitz in arranging the entire campaign, explained that, "we are sending these people out to communities, and we feel that it is our responsibility to make sure that they know how to handle situations." Leibowitz agreed, noting that according to new CJF policy, any time students are sent out as part of a University initiative, they are required to have had some prior formal training.
With close to four hundred students going to over seventy communities throughout the US, and crossing the border to Canada, Torah Tours is looking to expand the reach of what the Yeshiva community encompasses. In the past, the program has served as a jump-off point for communities which later went on to establish full-time kollels and new shuls. One of the goals of the still young CJF is to harness the unique potential of Yeshiva, and turn it into a wonderful ability to spread the university's ideals.
"I think what we are doing is incredible," Leibowitz summed up. "And it's something only we at Yeshiva could do."
Twice a year, on Simchat Torah and Shavuot, teams of four to six young men and women travel to Jewish communities both near and far. Some of the host groups are less religiously affiliated, and look to the guests for education and spiritual enhancement. Others simply appreciate the warmth and excitement that young blood brings to the holidays, particularly Simchat Torah with its dancing celebrations. All over, participants lead services, teach classes, meet with synagogue youth, and help create a fun and spirited Yom Tov. The host communities pay for travel expenses and provide room and board, while Yeshiva takes care of all administrative costs.
This year, Torah Tours has been administratively subsumed under the Community Initiatives Department of the Center for the Jewish Future. Directed by Ari Rockoff, the program falls under the agenda of the Programming and Development division, headed by Aaron Leibowitz. The itinerary remains roughly the same, with only one major change: for the first time ever, all participants were required to attend a short training session, given by the CJF's own Director of the Department of Student Training, Development, and Recruitment, Rabbi Moshe Bellows. Besides for the free gift of Torah Tour duffel bags, the seminar also presented various scenarios that students could expect to encounter, along with solutions and advice on how to deal with them.
CJF Presidential Fellow Aliza Abrams, who worked closely with Leibowitz in arranging the entire campaign, explained that, "we are sending these people out to communities, and we feel that it is our responsibility to make sure that they know how to handle situations." Leibowitz agreed, noting that according to new CJF policy, any time students are sent out as part of a University initiative, they are required to have had some prior formal training.
With close to four hundred students going to over seventy communities throughout the US, and crossing the border to Canada, Torah Tours is looking to expand the reach of what the Yeshiva community encompasses. In the past, the program has served as a jump-off point for communities which later went on to establish full-time kollels and new shuls. One of the goals of the still young CJF is to harness the unique potential of Yeshiva, and turn it into a wonderful ability to spread the university's ideals.
"I think what we are doing is incredible," Leibowitz summed up. "And it's something only we at Yeshiva could do."
