SHAL

NEWSPAPER OF THE CENTRAL KENTUCKY JEWISH FEDERATION

SEPTEMBER 2006

 

American teen experiences
Situatlon in Israel

Young Judaea program
provides insights

§§§

By Asher Finkel

On August 1, I returned from six
weeks in Israel, a trip supported in
part by the Gift of Israel Fund, in
which CKJF participates. I chose the
Machon program run by Young
Judaea, a Zionist youth movement
active throughout the US. As a
native of Lexington, Kentucky
(currently'a student at Henry Clay
High School), I have grown up very

much asareligious111111milv'lo

strengthen my Jewish identity, I attended Young Judaea's
summer camps for five years. This summer was my
culminating experience with Young Judaea camps, a
summer in Israel prior to the senior year of high school.

Machon consists of touring Israel, volunteering in
community service projects, taking part in educational
workshops and lectures, and attending cultural events, as
well as making family visits and interacting with people
from different parts and regions of Israeli society. This
year, more than 450 US. teens participated in Machon,
along with another 450 British teens in a sister program.
We were just one contingent of the almost 9,000 American
teens in Israel programs this summer. My particular
touring bus included 40 or so teens from across the US,
along with a couple of lsraeli teens and American and

l'~!‘.xl.‘ll counselors.

— CAMPAIGN NEWS —

 

Pomegranate Society unveiled

Dinner to honor women who support community

By Ricki Rosenberg

The women’s sdivision of CKJF is
proud to announce the unveiling of
our new Pomegranate Society on
Thursday, September 14 at Portofino
Restaurant. We will gather for an
evening of good times, good friends,
and good deeds All w omen who are
Pomegranates have a common
bond—a bond cemented by their
dedication to the Jewish people both
locally and around the world. Each

#00

woman making an annual commitment of $1800 or more
to the CKJF/ UJC,c0mmunity campaign is welcome to join
us for a memorable evening and to be recognized with a
beautiful pomegranate pin.

The Pomegranate Society was established in 1981 to
honor women who in their own right make important
contributions to their communities. By 1984, more than
200 women had joined, and today over 20,000 women
nationwide proudly wear the pomegranate pin. Our goal
is to have 30 more women in the Lexington area become
Pomegranates as well.

see Pomegranate, page 22

ELUL-TISHRI 5766-5767

 

 

Asher Finkel in a moment of repose.

 

 

Central Kentucky Jewish Federation

1050 (hinoe Road 0 Suite 203 0 Lexington, KY 40502

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For the first two and a half weeks, we had a carefree
program. We experienced the arid heat of the desert,
swam among the coral reefs of Eilat, walked the ancient
streets of Jerusalem. Then we headed north to coastal
caves near Nahariyah, just below the border with

r~t’t' Teen in Israel, page 5

A “him” 16 be pond

of: Building community
in Budapest

By Judy Levine

With reluctance Abe and I left Prague and our
introduction to Jewish life in the Czech Republic,
continuing our trip in Budapest where the Jewish
community has had a presence since Roman times.
There we learned that Hungarian Jews have had a
spotted history—periods of benevolence and even
prosperity interspersed with times of great oppression,
expulsion, and death As in Prague, we were shepherded
by knowledgeable, committed Jewish guides: Alec Auer,
a young man planning to attend the rabbinical seminary
to pursue a course of Jewish studies, Agi Antal, who
specializes in working with Jewish organizations, and
several representatives of the Joint Distribution
Committee (JDC).

The greatest contrast between Prague and Budapest is the
size of their Jewish communities Prague has one of the
smallest Jewish populations in Europe, Budapest the
second largest with approximately 100,000 Jews. (About
4, 000 live in seven other cities.) Although ov er 600 000
Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust, about fifteen
percent survived. One reason was that the Nazis did not

 

see Budapest, page 20