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for college students by college students

Wherever
You Roam

Jewish
communities
offer a home

.

/ VOLUME 1, NO. 3

By Zachary Colman

My genera-
flan is bad
with reli-
gion.
That's
what my
father told
me when I
asked him
which synagogue I should
go to in my new home of
Springfield, Ill.
With only two synagogues
in this city of 117,000 people
— one Conservative, one
Reform — there weren't many
options. On Rosh Hashanah, I
chose the Conservative syna-
gogue, where the average age
was somewhere between octo-
genarian and six feet under.
So I called my dad, wonder-
ing whether I should stick
it out at the Conservative
synagogue. And that's when he
told me about my generation,
and that's why he said I should
go to the Reform synagogue
for Yom Kippur.
I've had to start over two
times in the past five months.
I moved to Omaha, Neb., for
an internship right after gradu-
ating from Michigan State
University in East Lansing, and
now I'm in Springfield; I didn't
know a single person in either
city. But my natural instinct
was to seek out the Jewish
community.
Through my early post-grad-
uation travels, I've learned one
important thing — you may
be far from home, but you're
never far from the Jewish com-
munity. And, in a way, that is
home.
I joined the Jewish
Community Center in Omaha
the first week I was there, and
that's how I met my Omaha
friends. The Jewish community
there put me in touch with
more people than I even had
time to meet; and it did the
same for a few area newcom-

ROAM on page 28

NOVEMBER 11, 2010 / 4 ICESLEV 5771

edu

Israel Fest

MSU celebrates
the Holy Land.

By Casey Weiss

East Lansing

More than 450 Michigan State

Agriculture And Judaism

Spring break farm program leads to digging new roots.

University students gathered Oct.
27 at Union Ballroom for the 6th

Annual Israel Fest: Global Israel to
celebrate Israel's culture and con-
tributions to global society.

By Sam Plotkin

Sponsored by ASMSU,
MSU's undergraduate stu-

East Lansing

dent government, and orga-
nized by the Jewish Student
Union (JSU), MSU Hillel and

S

now and ice caked the win-
dows as I sat on my couch in
Huntington Woods, captivated
by the picturesque landscape of
Mendocino County in northern California.
It was December 2008, the winter break
of my sophomore year at Michigan State
University. I had been grazing the alternative
spring break opportunities on MSU Hillel's
website, longing for warmer months and the
golden northern California sunshine.
The program that grabbed my atten-
tion was run by the Jewish Farm School
(JFS); it offered students a chance to spend
spring break at Oz Farm, an organic farm in
Mendocino County. Students would spend
the week doing general farm labor — plant-
ing and composting detail — as well as
cooking, singing, eating, practicing yoga
and learning about the relationship between
Judaism and agriculture. We would be
affirming our Jewish roots and digging for
new ones.
At the time, I was growing disillusioned
with my major — social relations and policy
— and food was an afterthought. I ate when
I was hungry, of course, and I ate what was
palatable. Moreover, farming was foreign to
a kid who grew up in Metro Detroit.
IVIEU student Sam Plotkin of Huntington Woods
Yet my week at Oz that spring changed
works in the corcirn.unity gardern in Lansing.
my worldview and prompted me to become
involved in community farming and food
education in East Lansing.
world with sustainable agriculture and by demanding social
At Oz, two extraordinary IFS staff members led our
justice in our food system. I left Oz enlightened and eager
group of Jewish students from schools across the country.
to put my knowledge to use on campus.
During that week, my understanding of food, farming and
Judaism transformed. I came to see food and agriculture
Green Thumb
as fundamental elements that connect humans to nature, to
Since my time at Oz, I have volunteered at MSU's Student
our ancestors and to our Jewish forbearers.
Organic Farm and at the Gardenhouse, a greenhouse oper-
I learned of the vast industrial food production system
ated by Lansing's Allen Neighborhood Center (ANC), a
that decimates the environment and plagues our world
nonprofit that services low-income residents on Lansing's
today. I came to understand the intricate physical and spiii-
eastside. This spring, I began working actively with ANC's
Mal connection between Judaism and the natural world.
farmers market, organizing a booth called Food Chatter, a
We ruminated on the meaning of tzedekah as well as
food education initiative. I also have worked on an exer-
tikkun olam, and talked of how we can work to repair our
AGRICULTURE AND JUDAISM on page 28

Team Israel Programming

Committee, Israel Fest's goal
was education.

Attendees enjoyed Israeli
food and visited educational
and cultural booths showcas-
ing Israel's diversity.

Students visited information
booths from MSU's study-

abroad program in Israel, the
David Project and MASA, a
program enabling young Jews

worldwide to spend a semes-
ter or year in Israel.

"We wanted to inform stu-
dents of the cultural diversity

in Israel, while also showcas-
ing the many contributions

Israel offers," said Sam Appel,
JSU president and a junior in

the Residential College in the
Arts and Humanities.

Israel Fest also featured
giveaways, including T-shirts

and Dead Sea products from
Jericho. Each attendee got a

free raffle ticket and received
more by visiting booths. Prizes

included a flat-screen TV,

Dead Sea products, an iPod

and a Nintendo Wii. The raffle
was generously sponsored by
ZOA, StandWithUs and Jericho.

For information on upcom-
ing Israel programs at MSU,

contact Nimrod Kozo!, MSU
Hillel Israel Fellow, at israelfel-
low@msuhillel.org .

Casey Weiss of West

Bloomfield is a senior at MSU

in East Lansing. Look for an

Israel Fest photo on page 29.

November 11

2010

27