Leading Up North MSU student helps rebuild Israel's war-torn region. Who is 7 • Rabbi Seth Braunstein. YUSSR Educational Director. Facilitated Yachad programs for disabled Jewish youth. Led interdenominational teen missions to Israel and Hungary. Avid hiker and photographer. Rabbinic Associate at Hebrew Institute of White Plains, NY. Yeshivat Chovevei Torah alumnus '06. Ariel Gluckson Special to the Jewish News At Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, we train open and modem Orthodox rabbis for the Jewish community. Our rabbinical school cultivates a love of Torah, a passion for leadership, and a philosophy of inclusiveness. We integrate an intensive four-year Halakha and Jewish Studies curriculum with an unparalleled professional development and pastoral counseling program. Fellowships are awarded to all qualifying students who share in our vision and are willing to make a serious commitment to Klal Yisrael East Lansing W hen most college students arrive back at campus for their second semester, they bring sentiments and good tid- ings from sunny vacation destinations. As I returned to my beloved campus at Michigan State University, I brought a memorable experience that had an irreplaceable impact on my life. I took part in Leading Up North: Winter Israel Mission, the first trip of its kind, allowing about 600 young, active Jewish leaders from through- out the diaspora to travel to Israel to experience a side that is anything but your average mission tour. We went to Israel to work! Leading Up North was funded by a coalition of prominent Jewish agen- cies from throughout the country, primarily led by Hillel: the Foundation of Jewish Life, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and the Israel Campus Coalition. Unlike the Birthright Israel trips, a prerequisite for this program is to be a Jewish leader with an active role in the community, someone who has already been on a trip to Israel. The Leading Up North program gave students the opportunity to make a difference in areas in northern Israel afflicted by the tragic and harsh war only six months ago. The message was to pro- vide insight to students about issues and life specific to residents of north- ern Israel while impacting the region in a way that makes a real statement. With this said, it hardly surprised us as a group of 46 Americans on a tour bus that we had news media, cameras and reporters hovering over us nearly every day. It didn't surprise us that we were welcomed with open arms by the community of Pequiin, a northern city in the Galilee region that offered us joy, tears and some tradi- tional Turkish-coffee hospitality. It also didn't surprise us that we were backed by powerful, wonderful nonprofit organizations that, as usual in our global Jewish community, made Seth is YCT. fi* YCT is a place that fosters a rigorous learning of Torah. At the same time, because of its profound commitment to Klal Yisrael, it has supported me in my pursuit to build Jewish communities around the world, from Belarus to Australia. My mission as a rabbi is to engage people while providing the space for them to seriously explore their own Jewish identity. YCT: Committed individuals changing the world.. . • Ariel Gluckson applies a coat of paint in a bomb shelter in northern YCT 11:i 1 V RABBINICAL 1 23.1 n SCHOOL i 11 in Whele Open OTthorlancy Begins 475 Riverside Drive, S. 244 New York, NY 10115 Rabbi Avi Weiss, Founder & President ! Rabbi Dov Linzer, Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Yamin Levy, Vice President of Yeshiva Affairs Oksana Bellas, Director of Operations Howard Jonas, Chairman of the Board www.yctorah.org office@yctorah.org 212.666.0036 1207670 Israel. "things happen" in big ways. What did surprise us is what impact performing blue-collar laborious tasks such as painting walls, planting trees and clearing debris and brush from forest floors had on our souls and our kesher (connection) to this country and its people. After days of paint- ing bomb shelter walls to make them more pleasant for adults and children should they need to be used again, our hearts and minds ran rampant with thoughts of how war had a dev- astating effect on these Israelis of the north. After seeing the destruction of Jewish National Fund forests and working hand-in-hand with nature to restore damage and prevent future fires, my group was awed. With all the hours of travel, the shlepping of bags, the jet lag and social stresses, I have sparked a neuron connection in my brain to equate the realities of the northern Israel political situation with a realistic and genuine view of the people who live there with an emotional spin of my own. All these aspects combined have given me what I will proclaim a lifelong gift, and for that I thank my ever-strong and supportive Jewish communal roots.: 1 Ariel Gluckson is from West Bloomfield and a student at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Good Faith means GREAT Mortgages! NO Fees. NO Points. NC Closing Costs. Same Day Approvals. 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