H eadlines
Engagement Continued from Page 1
for synagogues and day schools
on topics like democracy and
Zionism, art and culture,
immigration and ethnic groups
and life on the Gaza border.

One of the main priorities is
keeping the programs targeted
at younger kids interactive
and engaging. The curriculum
about Ethiopian aliyah, for
example, typically involves a
visit to an escape room.

“We’re not going to be able
to visit an escape room right
now, but there are other ways in
which the kids can interact and
offer their thoughts and feelings
on the subject we’re talking
about,” Weiss said. Games and
activities will be a main compo-
nent of the virtual lessons.

Greater Philly Hillel Network
is using its grant to support
its Jewish Graduate Student
Network Israel Fellowship.

The fellowship welcomed its
second cohort in 2020, and
fellows have conducted virtual
programming about food in
Israeli culture, Middle Eastern
politics, Jewish identity and the
nonprofit sector in Israel.

Mallory Kovit, program
director of Jewish Graduate
Student Network, said the
virtual format has not changed
the fact that the program is
designed to be student-led.

“It’s not coming from a
staff person saying, ‘This is the
Israel program you’re going to
do,’ but rather, they’re asking
for speakers, they’re asking for
content for whatever they’re
planning,” she said.

Greater Philly
Hillel Network also recently launched
a separately funded partner-
ship between West Chester
University and universities in
Israel that connects students at
both of the schools for learning
sessions about pluralism, Jewish
identity, racial justice and
democracy over six months.

The Israeli Film Festival
of Philadelphia canceled
in-person viewings just after
they started last March. In
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM September, the organiza-
tion used its grant, as well as
support from private donors,
to screen films online for free.

“We actually had a tremen-
dous response because of the
fact that people could watch
it from their home and not
have to go out,” said Mindy
Chriqui, founder and artistic
director. “I would say more
people watched the films, than
would normally have come to
our actual venues.”
Other organizations are
making box kits, which have
proven popular during socially
distanced holiday celebrations.

Leah Thomas, director
of Israel, wellness and civic
engagement, said Hillel at
Drexel University is creating
Israel Subscription Boxes
modeled after brands students
already use, like Blue Apron
and Stitch Fix.

Drexel Hillel has four Israel
Engagement interns that are
responsible for having 10 friends
“subscribe” to their Israel box
each quarter and attend their
virtual event related to the
learning activity for that box.

In October, the interns hosted
a virtual cooking event where
they taught their peers how
to cook shakshuka and had a
conversation about multicul-
turalism and Israeli food.

Lisa Litman, director of
jkidphilly at Jewish Learning
Venture, wants the content of
jkidphilly’s boxes to focus on
the diversity of Israeli culture,
ancient history, spirituality
and scientific discoveries.

“This year, I’m really hoping
that we will focus on the five
senses, and how we experience
Israel physically and emotion-
ally,” she said. “So we may
provide visual art materials for a
live session with an Israeli artist
or an Israeli chef, and maybe
thought-provoking games or
puzzles or some combination
of PJ Library books with those
other things that families do
on their own time to enhance
their relationship with Israel
and with being Jewish.”
Other organizations simply
decided to postpone program-
ming that has to take place in
person. Jack M. Barrack Hebrew
Academy plans to use a grant to
host History of Israel Through
Fashion, a runway show of Israeli
fashion curated by educator
Liraz Cohen Mordechai, in the
spring of 2022.

Meryl Sussman, director of
Israel education, experiences and
special projects, said the runway
show includes clothes that reflect
movements in Israeli culture and
history. Topics such as immigra-
tion, early wars, feminism and
equality on kibbutzim and recent
technology booms are all repre-
sented via their impact on outfits.

Barrack hosted Mordechai
for a virtual assembly in early
December. Her “Fashion
of Resilience” presenta-
tion examined how Israeli
creativity has flourished during
challenging moments in the
country’s history.

Adath Israel in Merion
Station had a wide variety of
programming planned for 2020
using an Israel Engagement
Grant it received during the
last grant cycle, and almost all
of it needed to be modified.

A December mission to Israel
was canceled, and a presenta-
tion from Israeli photographer
Udi Goren scheduled for
Israel Independence Day was
postponed before eventually
taking place virtually.

“I am grateful to the Jewish
Federation for the funding to
support connection to Israel,
and also for the flexibility to
adapt our original plans to
maintain that connection, even
in these difficult times,” Rabbi
Eric Yanoff said.

The synagogue wanted
to bring musician Rabbi
Josh Warshawsky to host
a Koolulam, or Israeli mass
singing event, with Perelman
Jewish Day School, Barrack,
Temple Sinai in Dresher and
other organizations in April
2020. When the pandemic
made group singing impossible,
Warshawsky gave a virtual
concert for the synagogue
to mark the occasion and
returned later in the year for a
virtual Chanukah concert.

Yanoff said he is hopeful the
Koolulam can take place when
it is safe to gather again.

“We say it every year, at the
end of Yom Kippur, we say it
every year at the end of the
Passover seder: Next year in
Jerusalem,” he said. “Even if it’s
not this year, it’s next year, and
we’ll keep the hope and pray
for that even more fervently
this time, because it would
mean that we’ve seen ourselves
through the pandemic to
a point of greater safety and
security.” l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
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