Who were the Bedouins?

I asked a recent College of Charleston graduate, Hannah Reynolds, to tell me a little bit about her Bedouin experience from her Birthright trip this past summer. 

A Bedouin Moment – Hannah Reynolds

“Close your eyes for a moment—

Feel the grit of the dirt blowing in the wind against your skin, your teeth.

Smell the smoke from the fires in the distance, the smell of the animals and their dung.      

See the simplicity of the night sky; the stars set apart from one another without interference from outside light.

I meditated in the Negev Desert after dinner. I was all there. I opened my eyes to the glorious sky and felt the pull, the rationale of the Bedouins. They were a people surviving on their traditions and community. They kept things simple. The original Israelites.” 

I know little to nothing about who the Bedouins were so I enjoyed reading what Hannah though of them. Want to learn more? Come to the JSC at 5:45 PM before dinner tomorrow night (October 4th) for a discussion on who they  were and formulate your own thoughts with our Shabbat leader, Andrew Spector. I will be there so hope to see many others! 

 

 

Spotlight

I’ve decided to generate a list of people who I knew would be great at guest posting. Chantelle Berman, my first guest blogger, was the  Israel Chair on the JSU Student Board last year and a fellow member of the Senior class. I asked her to write a little about her most recent adventure she went on

during second semester of her Junior year. She studied abroad in South Africa and from the photos I saw on Facebook, it looked as though she had the time of her life! Here’s her story. 

“I spent this past spring semester studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Making the choice to leave College of Charleston (and the US!) for five months was not an easy one by any means, but it is something I am unbelievably grateful I chose to do. I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa but hadn’t had the opportunity to return since leaving in 1994. Part of what made my experience so special was being able to connect with where I was born and to see my family (my grandmother, aunts, uncle, and cousins) for the first time in almost 15 years. I connected with an important piece of my identity I didn’t truly even realize I had been missing. In addition to forming these special connections, I did things I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do in my life: I dove with Great White Sharks, made it to the top of Table Mountain, pet cheetahs and lions, drove along the scenic Garden Route, and immersed myself in authentic African cultures. But besides the experiential things, I took several important things away from my time in Cape Town. The first is that I experienced so much personal growth. I don’t know how to write about it without sounding cliché, but I truly feel so much like an adult since returning home. I know that living in a foreign country virtually on your own is likely to result in such things, but being abroad has forced me to grow up and to realize that I am a completely competent and capable young woman. I no longer feel like a child who needs her parents to do everything.I’ve discovered an inner strength in myself that I never thought I possessed. Secondly, I’ve learned to appreciate simplicity in profound ways. Things that ordinarily would have gotten me all worked up now don’t even feature as a concern. I feel such an inner sense of calm and simplicity. It takes very little for me to be happy: as long as I have my good health, my loving family, and my wonderful friends, I am happy. As long as I can find joy in every single day, I’m happy. If I can laugh, that’s happiness. Something about living in South Africa for five months showed me that.

 

In terms of my Judaism, I never felt disconnected with it while I was away. In fact, there were several instances where I felt incredibly connected to it. I witnessed a lot of anti-semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on the University of Cape Town campus in the form of protests, fairs, etc. It was so unlike our “quiet” campus here at College of Charleston. However, I can’t explain the feeling I got when I saw the UCT Jewish Student Union countering the slander simply by playing the guitar, dancing and singing, and waving Israeli flags just a few feet away. Watching the positive way in which they responded made me burst with pride. Additionally, I met quite a few Jewish students studying on the same program as me with whom I was able to connect with. It’s comforting to know that I can travel 10,000 miles away for five months and still stay in touch with Judaism.

 

Studying abroad was the single greatest time of my life, and it is something I wish all my peers had the opportunity to experience. “

 

This Week

Who can already believe Wednesday is here?! I can’t! Hope everyone is having a good full first week of classes. Here are a couple of announcements for the rest of this week.

Tonight we will be having Meet to Eat at Hyman’s Seafood! Meet at the JSC at 6:15 PM to walk over. We would love to see everyone there. This is our first of many Meet to Eats we will have outside of the JSC. Please remember to bring $2 for tip!

On Friday, we will be having another student led Shabbat Services. Andrew Spector and Marla Topiol will bring in the Sabbath Friday evening beginning at 5:45 PM. Dinner will be served at 6:30 PM. Andrew, Marla, and Carly did a great job last week leading a group of 23 students (new and old) through prayers, songs, and even a spoken word poem performed by Andrew himself. *There will be a sign up sheet for the upcoming High Holiday’s during Shabbat dinner so please make sure to sign up! If you have a car and are willing to drive to Emanu-El, please let Dara know!*

This is a group of students from a couple of years ago enjoying some Hymans!

 

Today’s The Day!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend with moving in, sorority bid day, and also this rain on again rain off again weather. Today is our Welcome Back Cookout! Hopefully the weather will hold out so we can have dinner outside in the Stern Center Garden (behind Stern Center on George Street). If you want to walk over with a group, meet Elana Malkin and Jordan Roth at CVS on the corner of George Street and St. Phillip Street at 5:45 PM. Dinner is from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM. There will be *kosher* hamburgers, hotdogs, and even vegetarian options. This will give you a good meal before everyone has their first day tomorrow! Scary enough, tomorrow will be my last first day ever. So weird!? 

Tomorrow, there will also be a drop-in free Starbucks period we like to call Java for Jews. It will be from 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM at the Starbucks on King Street (near Beaufain Street). If you are not sure where that is, there will be a walking group leaving from the Jewish Studies Center (on Wentworth Street and Glebe Street) at 3:50 PM and also 4:15 PM. Unfortunately, this event is for Freshmen only so they can mix, mingle, and schmooze! 

Wednesday night at 6:00 PM will be our first Meet to Eat of the year! Come to the Jewish Studies Center for some free food and good company. 

Thursday evening (time TBA) Carly, Naomi, and myself will be taking a nice, long walk to the Battery and Waterfront Park. We will be leaving from the Jewish Studies Center and again, the time is still in the works but probably will be early evening. 

Friday night, our week will conclude with our first Shabbat service and meal. Services are student led and begin at 5:45 PM with dinner to be served at 6:30 PM. 

I am looking forward to seeing everyone hopefully tonight and at other events this week! If you need anything, feel free to check the blog or our Facebook page! 

Rush, Rush, and more Rush

The Bagels Before Bids event on Tuesday morning was very successful! We got to meet and get to know (over bagel and lox, of course) seven lovely incoming freshmen ladies who were anticipating starting rush the very next day. Kayla, Dara, Jodie, Marsha, and myself all gave them great advice on their new school year and listened to the classes they were taking, the adventures they are already having with their dorm rooms, and getting excited about rush! I decided to come up with a list of activities they can do during this week.

– Find your way around campus…look for your classes, get even more familiar with our small, 4 by 4 block campus (hint: if you are still on the brick path, you are still on campus).

– Mosey around King Street.

– Take lower King (in the direction away from campus) all the way down past Broad Street and wander through the Battery and enjoy the scenery including Waterfront Park.

– Plan your meals for the first few weeks and either get ingredients together or write out a little menu so you’re organized before the rush of classes and sorority events start.

– Come chat with us at JSU! We would love to go for coffee, fro yo, or even a walk to hear how things are going.

If you’ve been through rush already in the past, please give some tips to help these ladies out! 

 

Where to Eat?

When I arrived back in Charleston Saturday, I already started to see the flood of new students, their parents, dorm essential, and loads of traffic! Having your parents in town to help with the move in process is extremely helpful for the obvious reasons such as doing the heavy lifting, organizing your closet, and helping you loft your bed. They are also good for treating you to dinner as well! So I have come up with three different list of places to eat ranging from the least expensive ($) to the medium priced ($$) to the most expensive ($$$). A little side note and something I always do, make reservations! Reservations are usually only needed at the more expensive places so it is good to go ahead and make them so you and your family have a certain time, place, and seat for dinner after the long, hot days of traveling and moving in. Anyone else have any recommendations as to where incoming students should eat? *This is not only for incoming students. If your parents come visit for Family Weekend or even just for a couple of days, definitely reference back to my list for some tasty recommendations*

$ 

– Fire Street Food

– Caviar and Bananas

– Verde 

– Jim N Nick’s  

– Sermet’s 

– Andolinis 

– East Bay Deli 

– Tasty Thai 

– Bull Street Gourmet

 

$$

– CO 

– O-Ku

– Monza

– Basil

– 82 Queen

– Leaf

-Hank’s Seafood 

– Hominy Grill

– Muse

– Fish

 

$$$

– Charleston Grill

– Palmetto Cafe (GREAT brunch!)

– Magnolia’s

– The Ordinary

– Husk

– McCrady’s

– Grill 225

– Slightly North of Broad

– Oak Steak House

– Hall’s Chop House

 

 

Connecting Jewish Women

I am thrilled to announce that on this Sunday, August 11th, I will be participating and speaking at Connecting Jewish Women! I will be one of a selected few young, Jewish ladies who will be speaking during the “Growing Up Jewish in the South” workshop during the event. My mom and I are both looking forward to attending the conference and giving a little of my personal background about growing up Jewish in the South, which includes everything from being active in BBYO to attending two years of Catholic high school to my families deep history and roots in the Savannah Jewish community.  If you will be in town, it would be a great event to attend! A CofC and Hillel alum Sarah Roshfeld is organizing the event this year so it will be nice to see at least one familiar face there. Visit their website if interested in learning more or want to register to attend! 

Here’s a photo of the Congregation Mickve Israel, which is not only the temple that my family is a member of but also the third oldest synagogue in America. 

Chai Holidays

I was looking at the 2013-2014 academic calendar and it is so bizarre to me to see everything so early in the school year! Everything from spring break to Hanukkah overlapping with Thanksgiving break to the High Holidays is pushed up. Speaking of the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah falls this year the evening of Wednesday, September 4th which is right after Labor Day weekend and continues on through Thursday, September 5th. I am sure that there will be a Meet to Eat that Wednesday night and probably three groups going to the different synagogues that evening. The same will happen on Thursday. Do not hesitate to ask your teacher to be excused from class or even the Jewish Studies Center to write you an excused absence for missing class for a religious region. The following Friday, September 6th through September 7th we will all be reflecting and atoning for our sins on Yom Kippur. There will also be some sort of break the fast Saturday after sundown for everyone who will be fasting. Next, I’m going to explain a little on each synagogue.

KKBE – Reform Synagogue 

– Rabbi Stephanie Alexander 

– The synagogue is downtown right off of King street (across from the Charleston Place), but this year it will be in an auditorium, not sure where yet, so it takes away the need for an “overflow” room at the synagogue. 

– I go there during the holidays and I really enjoy it. It is what I am use to at home and it was an easy transition for me celebrating the holidays at home to college.

 

 

BSBI – Orthodox Synagogue

– Rabbi Moshe Davis 

– Another synagogue that is walking distance. A little further from the JSU, but there is always a good amount of students who go there during the holidays. 

 

 

Emanu-El – Conservative Synagogue 

– Rabbi Rosenbaum

– Many students at the JSU have cars so feel free to ask one of them for a ride if you would like to attend services at the conservative synagogue. It is only about 15 minutes away! 

 

Please feel free to contact these Rabbi’s personally with any questions or just wanting to introduce yourself. They are very open,  nice, and would love to hear from you all! Do not worry, we always start early coordinating rides and walking groups for the various synagogues. Also, the student tickets for the high holidays are free with a CofC student ID. 

Fighting the Freshmen 15

This post could not come at a more perfect time. I just received this email from the Dean of Students : 

“Welcome back all and a busy summer it was for us! We have some exceptionally exciting news to share.  Beginning in mid-September, the College of Charleston will unveil its most significant effort on behalf of your fitness needs — a new 15,000 sq. ft. fitness center complete with a large assortment of treadmills, elliptical machines, and bikes as well as a solid array of resistance training equipment.  We are working furiously to get this facility opened as soon as possible and will kick it all off with a splendid grand opening celebration.  News on this and the opening date will come your way shortly.

 The College’s contract with the East Shore Athletic Club will expire August 24.  For the short period of time between August 24 and the grand opening of the new fitness center on George Street, your options for workouts will be limited to the fitness center on the 2^nd floor of the Stern Student Center or the smaller 2^nd floor fitness area open in the Johnson Gymnasium.”

Sooo if that doesn’t motivate you to work out then maybe this will. Everyone, especially  incoming students, needs 15 tips to prepare them to fight either the Freshmen 15 or just to help you stay in shape! 

#1 – Sign up for the gym at ESAC. All CofC students receive a free membership when you present your Cougar card and sign up! ESAC is located on Wentworth Street in walking distance to the dorms and JSU.

#2 – Try to eat balanced meals while dining at one of the on campus dining options and out in restaurants. Most dining places on campus have a salad bar so hey, that’s a start!

#3 – Eating at reasonable hours (or aiming to!) will help avoid leaving food sitting in your stomach when you go to sleep. It is definitely tempting to have that slice of pizza or hot dog from the street after a night out, but try avoid it as much as possible.

#4 – If you are not interested in joining ESAC because you will run into a lot of other students, look into the work out area in the Silcox Gym on George Street, right next to the basketball arena. (And now this new gym will be a motivation booster!) 

#5 – Since most of you are already schedule for your fall semester classes, investigate into Physical Education courses for the spring. They offer sailing, swimming, a weight training course, horseback riding, and the list goes on! Most are two credit hours and usually an easy A, although there is work involved. I took yoga which I enjoyed because it forced me to do some sort of exercise for an hour and fifteen minutes twice a week. I am looking forward to my Tuesday, Thursday morning tennis session..anyone else in that class? 

#6 – Walk down to the Battery and Waterfront Park. No extra transportation needed since it is downtown.

#7 – Play in Marion Square. Bring a football, soccer ball, frisbee, kickball, or whatever to get your sweat on in the park.

#8 – Keep your drinking to a moderation. Whether your drink of choice is a Starbucks venti, double chocolate chip frappuccino, sweet tea, soft drinks, or beer and liquor, just remember you are basically drinking calories. So if you know you are going to have one of these drinks, pace and limit yourself since everything is good in moderation.

#9 – Invest in a Brita water filter. It is less expensive and easier to transport versus continually trying to lug a case of water from Harris Teeter or CVS. This can filter out the tap water in your dorm and be a healthy drink option. Even though eight glasses a day is ideal, try to fill up a water bottle throughout the day and keep it with you at all times!

#10 – Visit Lululemon and the Extra Mile, both on King Street, to purchase some workout gear as one way to motivate yourself.

#11 – Opt for the more healthy food choices from Java City when you’re studying away in the library. Some of what they offer includes carrot and celery sticks, hummus, and already sliced fruit.

#12 – Read the weekly CofC emails that give more information on intramural sports and free yoga and Zumba classes. (Ask anyone in AEPi about their basketball skills!)

#13 – Try to sleep. Yes, there will be be wild weekends and numerous late nights in the library, but your sleep is also very important for a healthy lifestyle.

#14 – Enjoy a homemade and healthy meal twice a week at JSU. Meet to Eat on Wednesdays and Friday night Shabbat dinner are great alternatives to always paying to eat out or eating something at Liberty Dining Hall.

#15 – Grab a buddy early in the year so the two of you can use these tips to manage and avoid the Freshmen 15!

Eating Right

Crazy to think that school starts in less than a month! For Freshmen, this means that you will have to start to cook for yourself in those oh-so-lovely tiny dorm rooms whether fortunate enough to have a tiny kitchen or not. Kayla and I have come up with some easy meals and also cool gadgets you should look into purchasing before move in!

* Microwave Snack Mix : This amped up, homemade Chex Mix does sound pretty delicious. 

* If you can’t make it all the way to Harris Teeter, definitely stop in Caviar and Bananas for some already made tasty food you can store in your fridge and heat up. Be warned though, some of their food can be expensive, but can also last you maybe for two meals like dinner one night and lunch the next day. Freshmen year I also used to buy sliced turkey and cheese from there to make sandwiches or even a turkey and cheese roll up to bring to the library while studying.

*When you can make it to the grocery, pick up some of these ingredients for this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad. 

* Although they may seem expensive, survey those in your room who likes coffee or other warm breakfast time beverages and possibly think about investing in a Kureg coffee maker. I have one now and I love it. I don’t drink much coffee, but I do drink the chi teas, green teas, and hot chocolates that it also makes. Think about even splitting the cost if more than one person will be using it. They can be found at Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. 

* This is a creative idea and having a rice cooker could help you make tasty rice dishes that can be made into meals such as this Lemon-Basil Rissoto with Tomato Topping. (Check to make sure you are allowed to bring a rice cooker!). 

* This might not be the best lunch or dinner, but Lunchables are great. I often eat them when I’m in a rush between classes or don’t have much time to eat. Another great and easy snack is any sort of bar that you can pick up and take to class. Same goes for cereal and milk that you can pour into a cup, grab your spoon, and be on your way! (Individual servings of chips or cereal is also good and not wasteful) 

* I also realized towards the end of my Freshmen year, instead of hand washing all my utensils and being worried if they were really clean or not (since we did not have a dishwasher), I began to invest in some nice looking plastic silverware. Although it is not as visually appealing as having nice, shiny silverware, it will assure you that every fork, knife, and spoon you use are clean. 

Here are Kayla’s ideas!

* An air popper : $20 on Amazon and saves so much money (you buy your popcorn in a bottle at Costco) and you cannot ever burn popcorn. (I also have seen the popcorn kernels at Harris Teeter)

* After you’ve popped your popcorn, mix it with marshmallow Fluff and a tiny bit of butter in a bowl for a fun afternoon snack or even a tasty treat around Halloween time. 

* Macaroni and Cheese : Go to the grocery store, buy shredded cheddar, parmesan, and other bold flavor cheeses. Mix with heavy cream (or milk) and serve over any type of pasta. Feel free to add thyme or oregano to make your mac and cheese more flavorful! It is way healthier than the box macaroni and cheese and this ensures you have meals all week. (Also, think about investing in this cool gadget to help you cook pasta in the microwave) 

* Keep peanut butter or almond butter in your room. It’s a great snack with pretzels, plain, or with celery. Same with humus (but don’t forget humus needs to be refrigerated!) 

* Buy a bread box to keep your food items fresh and away from any potential unwanted visitors. 

Later this week I will be giving fifteen tips how to stay in shape and beat the Freshmen 15!