Save a Child's Heart

Save A Child’s Heart is a humanitarian organization that provides free heart surgeries to children in developing countries. People from the organization also travel to these countries to train doctors on how to perform these difficult surgeries.To date SACH has helped for 2500 children since 1995 with a 96% success rate.

On Monday night, March 28^th 2011 at 7pm Hillel co-sponsored an fund-raising event for Save A Child's Heart. Along with Hillel, Penn State Israel Alliance, the Latter-Day Saints Student Association, the Jewish Studies Department, and the Muslim Students’ Association co-sponsored the event. Around 7:30 Sara Glassman spoke briefly about her time volunteering with SACH. Preceding her, Dr. Melina T. Czymoniewicz-Klippel, the Penn State Global Health Minor Coordinator, spoke about the importance and relevance of global health.

Over all, the event was a great success. Approximately 70 people attended, and in total we raised over $450. I am very excited about this, especially because most of the attendees were college students. Everyone I talked with said they really enjoyed the exhibit and the photos were amazing.

Shabbat

I personally love ending my weeks at Penn State Hillel and this past week was no different. After being crazed running from classes to meetings and snacking in between, it is very nice to relax for three hours with all of my friends. At 630, students begin to gather in the lobby, schmoozing and greeting each other, inquiring about the past week and wondering what's for dinner. Introductions begin a bit later. We all wonder down the hall to light the candles and hear how Shabbat at Penn State Hillel works--there are two different services (sometimes an alternative Shabbat discussion makes a third service option) and we all come back together for a communal meal. The attendees break into the two services and welcome in the Sabbath together. I attend the Reform service. I love the community that we create when we introduce ourselves and say a fun fact like the title of our favorite movie. Our chairs are arranged in a circle, making everyone feel included. The prayers are mostly song using "camp versions," tunes I'm familiar with from going to Hebrew School and Jewish summer camp. However, as our leaders announce every week, the tunes are sung in such a way that na-nas or la-las can be substituted for the words. It is our intention, our kavanah, in addition to the actual words that make up a prayer. Students dance and clap along, adding in their own phrases or motions, making the songs personal. This past week we were even privileged with an interpretive dance from a younger participant during the opening tunes :) After we pray, both services and a number of students who join us just for the meal gather in the dining room to bless the wine and the challah before we eat the main course. The dining hall was packed with over 110 students chattering and anxiously waiting the delicious-smelling dinner. New friends were discussing why they came to Hillel and old friends were making plans for the weekend. It is such and amazing way to end the week and I encourage you all to experience it for yourself this Shabbat! Have a wonderful week--Shavuah Tov!!

Spring Break in LA

Here's an email Penn State Hillel received from participants on its Alternative Spring Break to Los Angeles California last week. Enjoy!

Hi friends and family!

Where to begin?! So much has happened here in LA in the past three
days-- I'd tell you every detail but you'll have to fill in the gaps
from the students here on the trip :)

Today was our third day working at Nora Sterry Elementary, and I think
that each day has been more rewarding than the last. The past three
mornings we've helped with a physical project that the school
identified to our City Year partners. On day 1, we painted storage
sheds outside classrooms that were desperately in need of a fresh
look. There were 7 in all, and we had a lot of fun taping and then
painting. They look great.

Yesterday, we built planters that will be used outside the classrooms
as part of planting/gardening lesson plans and will surely liven up
the school grounds with flowers and vegetation. It was fun to see the
project begin with big wooden boards in a pile and end with well-built
planter boxes. We've improved our hammering skills, that's for sure.

Today we painted several murals on the walls inside the school. I've
attached a picture of one of them. The team assigned to the murals
yesterday (the group of boys from AEPi that are here working with us)
had done most of the basic painting already, but we came in and coated
everything again, touched up the edges, and added our own flair :).
The walls went from cold and white to lively, bright, and colorful. So
cool.

And that's just been the mornings!

Each afternoon for the past three days, all of the college students
here have participated with the elementary schoolers in their
after-school programs. We've spent a lot of time tutoring students
(and many of us have been able to tutor the same student all week,
allowing us to form stronger relationships with them), and after they
finish their homework (I should have brushed up on my long
division...I'm rusty!), we all hang out, play outside, play games, and
talk. These past few afternoons have been really meaningful, and it's
been awesome to have so many positive role models providing one-on-one
attention at a school where the student-staff ratio in the
after-school program is sometimes 80-1.

We're excited to learn what our project will be tomorrow morning, and
then we'll get ready to celebrate Shabbat in style here in LA with our
big group of universities as well as many students from the UCLA
Hillel. Hope all is well on your ends, and we'll talk to you soon!

Sending so much sunshine (we have more than enough to share),

Your Penn State friends

Our Merchandise

Here is our current inventory of Penn State in Hebrew Gear.

Email Lizzy at eab26@psu.edu for more information.

Penn State Logo Kippah--$10 for students, $20 for non students

Penn State in Hebrew Necktie--$20 for students, $30 for non students
Penn State in Hebrew Embroidered Onesie--$15 for students, $25 for non students
Teddy Bear with Penn State in Hebrew Sweatshirt--$20 for students, $30 for non students
Penn State in Hebrew T-Shirt--$10 for students, $15 for non students
Penn State in Hebrew Sweatpants--$20 for students, $30 for non students
Penn State in Hebrew Embroidered Grey Sweatshirt--$35 for students, $45 for non students
Penn State in Hebrew Blue Sweatshirt--$25 for students, $40 for non students

Small Miracles

"You're not in your office?" he asked in puzzlement.

"No, I'm on an emergency call a few blocks from my home," the doctor answered.

"But I just dialed your regular number," the incredulous rabbi insisted.

Then the doctor looked down at the phone from which he was speaking. The numbers were precisely the same as his office phone except for one, in which the number was one digit off! By inadvertently dialing one of the numbers incorrectly, the rabbi had actually dialed the "right" number!

Later, after having been taken to the hospital, the rabbi was told that his life had been saved only because he had reached the doctor in time.

Wrong number. Right party.

--Rabbi Paysach Krohn

Text from:Halberstam, Yitta and Leventhal, Judith. Small Miracles for the Jewish Heart: Extraordinary Coincidences from Yesterday and Today. Avon: Adams Media Corporations, 2002. 17-18. Print.

This is an excerpt from one of the first stories read during a recent Penn State Hillel event. A small group of students got together one evening to read some of these Small Miracles and to discuss the meaning of fate, destiny, karma, miracles and coincidences.

Adam, the facilitator of this event said, "this event was awesome, thought provoking, awe inspiring, deep and meaningful. I got a lot out of it." Mike, another participant, thought, "I thought this was a great way to delve into deeper meaning than a typical college night would usually entail." We look forward to holding similar events in the future to continue our discussion based programming that this year has been full of.

THON--Together Without LImits

This past weekend was truly incredible. 708 people standing on their feet for 46 hours straight, all to raise an amazing $9,563,016.09 FOR THE KIDS!! An enormous amount of work was done to make this event happen--from the overall committee and all the captains and committee members organizing the logistics of the weekend to the THON chairs working with their organizations to go on canning weekends throughout the year. Words can not describe the emotion felt when a child tells you that he does not want to survive his treatment, but rather he wants to live his life. The tears were streaming when a father was talking about is daughter, who lost her battle not to the brain cancer she originally had but to leukemia, a second cancer she had after she had already conquered the brain cancer. THON is a place where kids suffering from cancer and college students can be kids again. It was a weekend of water gun fights, balloons bouncing and soap bubbles popping. Congratulations to Penn State for raising so much money in the fight against Pediatric Cancer. Congratualations to Penn State Hillel for raising an amazing amount of money through our canning weekends and THONvelope letter campaign. Congratulations to our THON chairs, Brittany Musaffi and Naomi Silverman for doing so much work to make our fundraising efforts so successful. And finally, congratulations to Naomi Silverman and Meredith Devine for dancing their hearts out for 46 straight hours.

Here are some pictures to highlight the weekend:

The total revieled after 46 hours of THON in the BJC

Dancers Meredith and Naomi and I on the floor of the BJC during THON weekend

You Had Me at Hillel

Hillel Goes Speed Dating! and here's what participant Sarah H. said about the event:

Tonight was one of Hillel’s greatest social events of the year! The day after Valentine’s Day celebration was full of rose, balloons, candy and chocolate as the Hillel student board transformed the basement of Irvings bagel shop into a romance filled environment. Over the almost 3 hours of speed dating, I met about 40 different guys for mini-dates. There were a lot of familiar faces but many new people which was really exciting. All in all it was a great night of schmoozing and fun, I’m looking forward to seeing if any new couples start dating that met at tonight’s event.

It really was a fantastic event. The candlelit tables set the mood as 100 students filled the basement at Irvings to meet that nice Jewish boy or girl they've been looking for. As Sarah said, there were many familiar faces, but just as many if not more new faces! It's great to see so many students getting involved with Jewish life in a fun, social way. We're looking forward to making it an even greater success next year. Check out the story about the event in the Daily Collegian