Abbe Center Brochure 2013

Monday, March 25

Passover Seder, sponsored by Hillel and The Abbe Center for Jewish Life

6:30 p.m., Abbe Center

RSVP to shabbat@hws.edu

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

2013 Passover Schedule

Tuesday, March 26

Passover Lunch & Learn

12 p.m., Abbe Center

Community Passover Seder 5:30 p.m., Temple Beth-El RSVP to bwasserlauf@rochester.rr.com

Thursday, March 28

Matzah Pizza Night, sponsored by Hillel

6 p.m., Abbe Center for Jewish Life

Friday, March 29

Kosher Passover Shabbat Dinner

6:30 p.m., Abbe Center

RSVP by Wednesday, March 27

shabbat@hws.edu Monday, April 1 Yizkor Service 11 a.m., Temple Beth-El Tuesday, April 2

Passover Lunch & Learn

12 p.m., Abbe Center

Mark your schedules. All are welcome to attend.

We Invite You to Support the Abbe Center for Jewish Life

Contacts:

he success of the Abbe Center to date is due to the generosity of people like you – alumni and 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.

The Abbe Center provides an environment for people of Jewish faith or with Jewish interests 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!

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

Emily Hamburger ’13 Hillel President Emily.Hamburger@hws.edu

Shabbat Dinner RSVP shabbat@hws.edu

Abbe Center for Jewish Life (315) 679-6924

HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES 764 South Main Street Geneva, NY 14456

T

Talia Azour ’16 recently returned from a 10-day trip to Israel sponsored by the non-profit organization, Taglit-Birthright Israel.

Spring 2013 • Meet Trustee Richard K. Abbe ’92 • Inaugural Farash Lecture • Azour ’16 Returns to Israel • Holocaust Remembrance Week • Supporting the Abbe Center

Abbe Center for Jewish Life

Spring 2013

Meet Trustee Richard K. Abbe ’92 I wanted a space for Jewish and non-Jewish students to gather and socialize, and to celebrate Shabbat and other Jewish holidays.

—Trustee Richard K. Abbe ’92

“I

t’s an honor to be able to give back to a place that helped shape me Merav and Trustee Richard K. Abbe ’92 into the person I am today,” says Trustee Richard K. Abbe ’92. In 2007, a generous gift from Abbe and his wife Merav made it possible to transform 764 South Main Street into the Abbe Center for Jewish Life, which serves as both a residence hall and the center of Jewish life on campus.

“I wanted a space for Jewish and non-Jewish students to gather and socialize, and to celebrate Shabbat and other Jewish holidays,” says Abbe who, as a student celebrated holidays in a lounge in Emerson residence hall.

“We now have our very first permanent home for Jewish life on campus,” says Abbe Center for Jewish Life Director and Hillel Adviser Lorinda Weinstock P’01. The donation from her former Hebrew student “is a significant milestone in the history of Jewish living and education at the Colleges.”

The Abbe Center accommodates nine students with a variety of majors, minors and interests and the home’s spacious dining room, living room, conference room and separate kosher-style and true kosher kitchens make it an ideal space for gatherings.

Situated directly across the street from Temple Beth-El the home’s location is perfect for cultivating relationships between HWS students and the Geneva community.

“With this new space, we’ve created a place for people to go and to feel comfortable,” Abbe recalled in an interview before the dedication. “It’s also one more place we can point to on a college tour to show diversity at HWS.”

In the time since the Abbe Center for Jewish Life has opened, participation in Jewish life on campus has grown steadily, from attendance at Friday night Shabbat dinners to the annual Hanukkah party and nightly Hanukkah menorah lightings.

The Center hosts celebrations that are central to Jewish life, including Rosh Hashanah Eve dinner, the pre-fast dinner before Yom Kippur, Sukkot events in the Abbe Center sukkah, and the Hillel Passover Seder. Planning meetings for the March of Remembrance and Hope have also been held at the Abbe Center, as are special receptions during Reunion, graduation and family weekends. Programming at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life is open to everyone regardless of cultural or religious background.

“It’s an honor to see that the house is being celebrated by both Jewish and nonJewish students,” says Abbe. “The goal was to bring people together, and I think we’ve succeeded.”

Share the

Good News

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

Azour ’16 Returns to Israel Talia Azour ’16 recently returned from a 10-day trip to Israel sponsored by the non-profit organization, Taglit-Birthright Israel.

The trip was an invaluable steppingstone allowing her to connect to a land and people that define her global identity.

This summer, Azour will return to Israel to take part in the Collegiate Leadership Internship Program, CLIP: Onward Israel based out of Tel Aviv. The competitive program, which offers experiences in New York and Israel, allows applicants to work toward fostering and developing Talia Azour ’16 professional leadership within the Jewish community while gaining a broader global perspective.

“Birthright was a truly formative experience,” says Azour. “I knew from the moment I got back that I wanted to return to Israel so when the opportunity with the Collegiate Leadership Internship Program came up I knew that it was exactly what I was looking for.”

Housed at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University, the program matches undergraduate students with internships at a variety of for-profit, non-profit and Jewish communal organizations. The CLIP: Onward Israel program, which accepts only students or permanent residents of New York City, Long Island and Westchester, provides the opportunity for interns to work in the Tel Aviv area four days each week with the fifth day spent participating in seminars.

On campus, Azour is a member of the Relay for Life committee and the HWS leadership certificate program. She also volunteers for Days of Service and works for the Office of Student Activities.

James Carroll Launches First Farash Community Lecture Drawing hundreds to his lecture at the Colleges, distinguished scholar and bestselling author James Carroll was the guest speaker of the inaugural Max and Marian Farash Community Lecture. Titled “No War is Holy: Saying No to God-sanctioned Violence,” Carroll’s lecture underscored the multifarious relationships among the world’s three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Carroll’s participation was made possible by the generous support of the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Rochester, N.Y., that values the importance of education and entrepreneurship and has deep consideration for religious and civic communities.

The foundation provides grants to nonprofits in Monroe and Ontario counties, half of which are for projects and programs with ties to Jewish life. Visit www.hws. edu/news/podcasts for audio of Carroll’s lecture.

Recent Photos and Events

On Saturday, December 8, the weeklong Hanukkah celebrations began with a Menorah Lighting and Fried Food Fest in the Abbe Center.

Leah Segal ’16, Alice Theibault ’16, Lisa Ditchek ’15 and Max Feldman ’15 enjoy Purim festivities at Temple Beth-El with a costumed Rabbi David Reiner.

Leah Segal ’16 tutors Temple Beth-El Religious School student LeighAnna Millerd at the Abbe Center.

On Friday, March 1, more than 250 faculty, staff and community members gathered to share Jewish culture and cuisine at the Shabbat 250 dinner in the Vandervort Room of the Scandling Campus Center.

Upcoming Events Tzedakah: HWS Hillel is sponsoring a team for Relay for Life on campus. Students are selling Hobart and William Smith (Hebrew on the front; English on the back) T-shirts to raise money in support of the Hillel team.

Festival of Nations: Members of HWS Hillel will represent Jewish culture during this community-wide festival at Geneva High School on Saturday, April 20 from 1-3 p.m.

Passover: The HWS community will observe Passover. For more details, read the Passover schedule in this newsletter.

Yom Ha’atzma’ut: The Abbe Center and Hillel will host a Kosher Schwarma and Falafel Night in celebration of Israeli Independence Day. Farash Visiting Scholar: Novelist and professor of philosophy Rebecca Newberger Goldstein will visit campus for a reading and question and answer session on Thursday, April 4 and a morning discussion with students on Friday, April 5. Goldstein’s visit is made possible by the support of the Max and Marian Farash Foundation and is sponsored by the Abbe Center.

Holocaust Remembrance Days Sunday, April 7 Meet in the Medbery Parking Lot at 2:30 p.m. for transportation to Rochester for the Community Yom HaShoa Observance, starting at 4 p.m. Three HWS students who participated in The March: Bearing Witness to Hope trip to Poland and Germany last May will speak at the ceremony.

Sunday, April 7 9 p.m. Candlelight Vigil, Coxe steps.

Monday, April 8 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Reading of the names, Scandling Center steps.

Tuesday, April 9 12 p.m. Lunch & Learn at the Abbe Center with guest speaker, Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski, “70 Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.”

Wednesday, April 10 Screening “Song of the Lodz Ghetto,” Time and place TBA.