Programs
Sometimes programs seem like the most important thing you do. In the hustle of planning, publicizing, organizing, and doing logistics, don’t forget your goal: the students. In this section you will find some things which orient you to some engagement programming from the past year. First, my discussion of a few programs. Second, 5 write-ups from the program exchange. Lastly, a sampling of my fliering virtuosity. All of the originals are in the red folder in the file drawer in your desk, in case you get curious. Rhoda will tell you time and again not to reinvent the wheel, and it is excellent advice. But you should also come up with things that are uniquely you and specially designed for the students you know and are trying to meet. It is different every year and on every campus. I suggest using the listserv and the program exchange, both of which are wonderful sources for ideas and inspiration. Take them, however, with a grain of salt. As you will learn when you first post to the exchange, people brag. They wouldn’t have put it up there if it hadn’t turned out to be an excellent program.
One thing to always consider is the
Jewish content in your programming. It
is sometimes challenging to get it in there.
Part of what makes people engagement students is their unformed
knowledge or their vague backgrounds.
So hitting them with a page of Talmud isn’t going to be a huge
seller. It is completely okay to do
programming that doesn’t have overt Jewish content, such as dinners, basketball
tournaments, trips to the beach, and the like.
Especially at SDSU, it is just great that they are making Jewish friends
and seeing the Jewish community as just that—community. These are important things for Jewish people
to learn.
Sometimes fun programming can have a
subtle Jewish twist, such as calling for a movie night, and showing a movie
with a Jewish character. Then you can
start a conversation about the character’s identity and decisions that may lead
to more in depth thinking by the students about their own. Or, taking people up to Julian for apple
picking right before Rosh Hashana, and having informal conversations while
there about why apples on the new year, and by the way, why do we call Rosh
Hashana our new year. In other words,
work it in there. You could even start
conversations over free dinners about Jewish stereotypes of eating and food,
and see where it leads. I found tikkun
olam projects to be good in terms of this subtle Jewish content, since
tzedakah is inherently Jewish, and it isn’t hard to start conversations about
that while playing with kids or delivering meals or whatnot.
There are some opportunities for
overt Jewish content and activities.
Shabbat dinners can be made fun and exciting, and getting people there means
they will be having a Jewish experience.
Many times the Greeks will go for something Jewish, since the whole rest
of their lives are social and organizational (fun stuff, like Shabbat, Chanukah
parties, and Lag B’omer bar-b-cues).
Marla and i taught Hebrew this past year, and got a decent
response. Many more people were
interested, but the time didn’t work out for them. Sometimes certain questions are relevant to certain groups—such
as the questions about homosexuality being relevant to the LGBT group—and you
could offer to bring the texts or information on these topics to your next
event with these groups. A final,
vague, suggestion: if there is something you particularly want to learn, find
some students to sit down and learn it with you. Almost anything you think you could know more about, from birkat
hamazon to the meaning of chametz to head coverings, will be unknown
to some students, and they may be interested in discovering it with you.
For some
examples of programs I did, please find them on Program Exchange
or just click below:
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