Abbe brochure Fall '13

Sunday, Dec. 1

First-Class Mail US Postage PAID Geneva, NY Permit No. 69

2013 Hanukkah Schedule Hanukkah and Soofganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts), 6 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 2

Hanukkah and Latkes, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 3

Hanukkah and Cookie Decorating, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 4

Hanukkah and Annual Fried Food Fest, 6 p.m.

Mark your schedules. All are welcome to attend.

All events will take place at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life, 764 S. Main Street.

We Invite You to Support the Abbe Center for Jewish Life

Contacts:

Lorinda Weinstock P’01 Director, Abbe Center for Jewish Life/Hillel Adviser lweinstock@hws.edu

Lisa Ditchek ’15 Hillel President lisa.ditchek@hws.edu

Shabbat Dinner RSVP shabbat@hws.edu

Abbe Center for Jewish Life (315) 679-6924

HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES 300 Pulteney Street Geneva, NY 14456

T

he success of the Abbe Center to date is due to the generosity of people like you – alumni/alumnae, families and friends of the Colleges – who value the presence of this special place where students follow their spiritual paths, explore cultural interests and enjoy a sense of community with others.

We are rightfully proud that in Hillel’s Fall 2013 Reform Judaism College Guide, Hobart and William Smith Colleges made the Top 20 among campuses with smaller Jewish populations in the “Small & Mighty Campuses of Excellence” category. This ranking was based on HWS’ innovative Jewish programming, a growing Jewish population, a dedicated professional leader, demonstrated institutional support, and a commitment to serve Jews of all backgrounds.

The Abbe Center provides a place for people to gather and socialize, and to celebrate Shabbat and other Jewish holidays. The programs and activities of the Center provide formative and lasting experiences, as well as a singular framework for exploring values, beliefs and one’s view of the world.

Gifts of any amount to support the Abbe Center for Jewish Life are welcome and appreciated. We invite you to make a gift today, using the envelope enclosed.

We would also be pleased to speak with you about gifts to the Abbe Center Endowment, which will help ensure the Center’s sustainability for generations to come. While all gifts to the endowment are deeply appreciated, gifts of $25,000 or more are acknowledged on a special recognition display inside the Center.

Finally, there are five naming-gift opportunities at the Abbe Center that we would be pleased to talk with you about. For more, see www.hws.edu/studentlife/ abbecenter. For each of these special giving opportunities, donors have the opportunity to place their name or the name of a loved one on a facet of the Center that has special meaning to them.

For more information, contact Ruth Benedict at benedict@hws.edu or (315) 781-3779. Thank you!

Harrison Schutzer ’15 serves Alice Theibault ’14, Sam Solomon ’17, Joshua Remer ’17 and Julia Wasserman ’17 during the HWS Hillel Rosh Hashanah dinner.

Fall 2013 • Meet Rabbi Dr. Ann Landowne • Farash Lecture Explores Genetics • Alternative Spring Break Trips • Supporting the Abbe Center

Abbe Center for Jewish Life

Fall 2013

Welcoming Rabbi Landowne “I love the atmosphere, the diversity of the campus, and the enthusiasm of students embarking on life journeys while I am embarking on one of my own.”

—Rabbi Dr. Ann Landowne

Rabbi Dr. Ann Landowne

The Abbe Center for Jewish Life and HWS Hillel welcomed Rabbi Dr. Ann Landowne to Geneva’s Temple Beth-El this fall.

Landowne’s journey has been a fascinating path, with a career as a psychiatrist, she has worked in college health services and with children at hospitals, and as a chaplain at a medical hospital, staying close to the bedsides of the hospital’s patients.

However, it was not until seeing her son through his bar mitzvah that she began to immerse herself in the study of Judaism. “Growing up I had a traditional upbringing in a modern Orthodox Jewish family but, for a variety of reasons, I didn’t emphasize Jewish practice with my own children,” recalls Landowne. “I began to realize that I didn’t want to fail to transmit that tradition to my children, so I became more involved in my community’s temple.”

Although she had attended yeshiva as a child, her return to the synagogue reawakened a desire to pursue faith in a way she had not before. “I started to feel that I wanted to go deeper.”

During her tenure in rabbinical school, Landowne spent a year learning in Israel, graduating from Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in 2011.

Landowne’s first congregation was a small, tight-knit community in Iowa. Traveling to the Dubuque temple once a month, she continued her work as a psychiatrist at the emergency room and in consultation-liason psychiatry at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, New York.

It was the positive experience of a close congregation that led Landowne to Geneva and Temple Beth-El. “It just seemed like the perfect fit. An added bonus was the Abbe Center. I always enjoyed working with college students– and I was happily surprised to find the Abbe Center right across the street from TBE,” explains Landowne, who looks forward to combining congregational work with involvement at the Colleges.

“I love the atmosphere, the diversity of the campus, and the enthusiasm of students embarking on life journeys while I am embarking on one of my own,” says Landowne.

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If you know anyone who might like to be included on the Abbe Center mailing list, please contact Ruth Benedict at benedict@hws.edu

HWS Hillel Ranked “Small, Mighty”

Alternative Spring Break Opportunities

Hobart and William Smith Colleges have been included among the “Top 20 Small and Mighty Campuses of Excellence.” The list is collaboratively published in Reform Judaism magazine’s “7th Annual RJ Insider’s Guide to College Life,” in partnership with Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

The publishers note that Hillel selected the 20 campuses based on “Innovative Jewish programming, a growing Jewish population, a dedicated professional leader, demonstrated university support, and a commitment to serve Jews of all backgrounds.”

Among the factors noted in the Colleges’ profile on the Hillel website are the facts that HWS have an affiliated Hillel organization on campus, available Kosher food and religious services, a Jewish studies minor, a Jewish educator on campus, and that students participate in Taglit-Birthright Israel.

“We are happy to have been recognized among our peer institutions that actively support Jewish life,” says Lorinda Weinstock, director of the Abbe Center and HWS Hillel adviser. “Our inclusion on this list is a testament to the efforts of students, faculty, staff and alums who have worked to build a strong Jewish community on campus and sense of place among our Jewish students.”

The Abbe Center for Jewish Life is currently recruiting students for two opportunities over the March 2014 Spring Break.

For students who have been on Taglit-Birthright Israel, or who have been to Israel and are not qualified for a Taglit trip, we are offering the chance to return to Israel.

Through the Jewish National Fund’s Alternative Spring Break program, our students will engage in a community service project that seeks to enhance the quality of life for Israel’s residents.

For more information on the program, visit www.jnf.org/break.

We will also embark on a new venture with The Jewish Farm School. The Alternative Break Program immerses students in the world of organic farming and urban sustainable agriculture, while connecting students to their Jewish roots.

Running March 16 - 23, this all-expense paid opportunity will include ground transportation from Geneva to Baltimore. Please visit www.jewishfarmschool.org/servicelearning/ for more information.

Spaces for both opportunities are limited. An information session will be held for interested students on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Abbe Center.

Final applications are due by Monday, Jan. 27.

Recent Photos and Events

Ellen T. Matloff Joins Farash Lecture Series Warmly welcomed by members of the HWS and Geneva communities, Yale research scientist Ellen T. Matloff, a Geneva High School graduate, made a special return visit to her hometown as the distinguished guest lecturer of the Max and Marian Farash Community Lecture series held at Hobart and William Smith.

Matloff’s talk, “The Angelina Jolie Effect: Genetic Testing in 2013,” drew a standing-room only audience to the Geneva Room, where she discussed her work in genetic counseling at Yale and presented comprehensive information about cancer genetic testing, the options for patient care, as well as career opportunities for students interested in the field.

HWS Hillel sponsored the first ever “Barn” Mitzvah. On Nov. 9, members of Hillel joined their classmates for a Bar and Bat Mitzvah themed dance party in the Barn. With glow sticks and favors provided by Hillel, students played the favorite party game “Coke and Pepsi,” handed out socks – and even danced the Hora.

Members of the HWS and Geneva communities meet Temple BethEl’s new rabbi, Dr. Ann Landowne, at a “Welcome the New Rabbi” reception held at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life.

Director of the Abbe Center for Jewish Life Lorinda Weinstock, HWS Hillel Treasurer Harrison Schutzer ’15, and HWS Hillel President Lisa Ditchek ’15, welcome first year students to campus during Orientation.

Hazzan Robert Micha’el Esformes performs Ladino (JudeoSpanish) Music in a concert at St. John’s Chapel sponsored by the Abbe Center for Jewish Life.

Lisa Ditchek ’15, Leah Segal ’16 and Joshua KreegerSmith ’16 join in a prayer for the New Year during Rosh Hashanah observances at the Abbe Center.