Tzipiyah.com

Rabbi Gil Student is Founder and Author of Hirhurim and founder of Yashar Books.

1. Describe in around 100 words the way in which you are involved in Jewish Work?
My involvement in the Jewish community is extremely limited. Essentially, I am a regular ballebos (layman) with a normal job in the corporate world. On the side, I run a small publishing company called Yashar Books that specializes in contemporary Orthodox scholarship in English that combines the best in Torah and secular knowledge. Additionally, I write the Hirhurim blog, which is my way of discussing Torah and related concerns with people who share these interests.

2. You were one of the first Jewish Bloggers around. Did you ever think Blogging would become so big?
When I started blogging, it seemed like a new medium that was only for the most intense web surfers. It has now become much more mainstream and seems to be one of the preferred methods of online interaction. However, many of my readers are uncomfortable with the informal nature of blogs and the amount of time someone can spend daily reading blogs. A surprising number of readers tell me that they have given up on most blogs and read only Hirhurim and maybe one or two others. In that sense, I think that Hirhurim’s being early in the game has helped with whatever success it has achieved. Latecomers to the blog world will probably be unable to gain the readers who have decided not to look at any but their favorite blogs. So the new blogs don’t have a chance with these readers. But that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t post their thoughts and insights to a blog with the goal of sharing them. They just have to have realistic expectations.

3. What motivated you to become active in the Jewish World in first place?
The prophet Yirmiyahu speaks about how when he received a prophecy it would shake his body until he would tell others about it. It would practically burst out of him. That is how I sometimes feel about Torah ideas that I want to share. The blog is my way of sharing and teaching those ideas.

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1. Describe in around 100 words the way in which you are involved in Activist Work?

I was the chapter president of University of Maryland’s ZOA during 2007, and this past academic year I have been a CAMERA campus fellow. In addition, I am the Vice President of Kedma, the student board that serves UMD’s over 350 Orthodox students.
2. What has been your most memorable moment while being involved in Jewish Causes?

I do not know about my most memorable moment, but my most difficult moment arose when I had to decide how to respond to the Annapolis Conference. I f I had many issues with the terms of discussion, yet I felt uncomfortable protesting a peace conference and how that image would seem to outsiders. In the end, I decided to go but make it very clear with our signs and behavior why were there.

3. What motivated you to become active in the first place?

My motivation came from a feeling of deep connection with Israel that I built during yeshiva (Lev Hatorah) and a desire to get involved in Maryland’s Jewish community.

4. How did your activist work enhance your “Jewish Experience”?

My work didn’t just enhance my Jewish Experience. For the time that I was President of ZOA, it defined it.

5. Which demographic do your organizations (ZOA and CAMERA) each mostly reach out to?

Although the base of my groups is the Orthodox/Hillel community, I tried reaching out to the entire campus. I had to make sure that the core remained interested and active, and I had to think of creative ways to reach out to everyone.

6. What’s in store in the future for your?

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7. Can we expect you to make Aliyah and bring your great energy to Israel any time soon?

Yes, as soon after I graduate college.

8. How do you manage to balance studies with such activism work? Any tips to a proper balancing of priorities?

I like to work efficiently. If you manage and prioritize your time and only focus on what’s important, you can do far more than you would expect.

9. Did you have any role model which inspired you to dedicate so much time to Jewish Activism?

Not anyone in particular, but there some people from whom I learned what to do and some from whom I learned what not to do.

10. Any final message for the readers of Tzipiyah.com (which are mostly religious zionist)?

Israel needs all the help it can get, so be smart and stay strong.

1. Describe the Uri L’tzedek organization for us in less than 100 words.

Our mission is to serve and inspire the American Orthodox Jewish community towards enacting social justice in our communities. To do so, we aim to develop the new, growing discourse among traditional Jewish communities making the connection between God, Torah, and social issues in America, and to help translate that discourse into action. Through these efforts, we will develop a Jewish community of learners and leaders seeking to improve the world and our religious and ethical lives through the cultivation of positive character traits, leadership skills, and a realization of our moral responsibility.

2. How did you start getting involved in social justice work?

In college and shortly after, I went on volunteer missions to El Salvador, Ghana, Ukraine, India, and Thailand. I entered social justice on the global front.

3. As a Rabbinical Student, can you briefly describe the place you find social justice activism holds within Judaism?

I believe that social justice activism is the most fundamental core of Judaism. G-d loved Avraham (the first Jew) and formed a covenant with him because he and his family were “Shomru Derech Hashem Laasot Tzedakah u’Mishpat” (Genesis 18:18), guarders of the way of G-d to do righteousness and justice. This is the basis of our religion and our relationship with G-d. I intend to build my rabbinate around principles of tzedek, activism, and Jewish leadership to fulfill this Torah mandate.

4. Can you briefly describe how this work has enhanced your own personal “Jewish Experience”?

I don’t think that I would be a religious Jew or a rabbinical student if it weren’t for the social justice commitments that our communities have made. In my earlier search for religion, I was looking for a faith that integrated intellect with actions, heart yearning with hand digging, crying to G-d and responding to the cry of our fellow sisters and brothers, and humility with radical activism. This work and spirit not only led me to Jewish life but also makes me proud and excited every day to be a Jew.

5. Is your work limited to the Jewish Community? If so, why?

Chas v’Shalom (G-d forbid). We train Jewish leadership but our partners span the country and globe. It is my belief that every human is created B’tzelem Elokim (in the image of G-d) and that all people have an equal obligation to one another. I train and empower Jews in their leadership since we share a discourse and values but the recipients and partners of our work stretch beyond all parochial boundaries.

6. How was your project received within the different sectors of Judaism?

We primarily educate Orthodox Jews but we work with all Jews. A new generation of halakhic global citizens is being built and we are proud to be at the center of that revolution. We also partner in very significant ways with non-Orthodox social justice leaders and institutions.

7. Do you have any role model in your activism?

My activist role models include Moshe Rebbeinu, Rabbi Avi Weiss, Rosa Parks, Rabbi Saul Berman, Ruth Messinger, Ajan Som Phon (a Thai partner of mine), Martin Luther King, Esther HaMalka, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Ghandi, Rabbi Akiva, Mom and Dad (Sandy and Steve), Brother (Scott), Dr. Klau, Nanny (my grandmother may she be remembered in blessing), chavruta Steven E, Adam Block, Ravs Linzer, Blau, and Klapper, Jeff White, Dela (Ghana leader), Levinas, Obama, Heschel, Golda Meir, Mike S., Chencho (El Salvador leader), Sid, Netziv, Jason K.B, Danny Siegal, Simone de Beauvoir, Rachel Imainu, Danny Ehrlich (Efrat) Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Yedida, Jen Yanklowitz (sister-in-law), Yofiel (young yeshiva bucher from India), Rav Kook, Jean Valjean, Rav Soloveitchik, Spinoza, Rav Moshe, FDR, Richard Joel, Les and Abigail Wexner, Team Uri L’Tzedek (Ari, Tsufit, Aaron, and Ari), R.D. Kessel, Richard Joel, J. Rand, Kwame Appiah, Nussbaum, Or and Elka, Rav Asher m’Chicago, Violet and Walter Powroznik (helped raise me in Canada) and…….

8. Your work is truly great. The State of Israel could use some great pioneers like you :-). Any plans to make aliyah and bring all your energy to Israel any time soon?

I have no plans to make aliyah. I have enough to do here in the states for now. My neshama, nonetheless, resides in my caravan in Efrat where my greatest existential struggles were fought.

9. Is this the start of a lifelong commitment to such social justice work?

This is my calling!

10. What final message would you like to give our readers at Tzipiyah.com?

Don’t just jump on the band wagons of activism. Listen to your soul and to the souls of those in the community that you have chosen to align yourself with to what issues really call to your core. Then be absolutely rigorous and relentless together to fight for absolute justice until there is measurable victory. Maintain the dignity of all the people that you work with and for while pursuing tzedek. Tzedek is about creating systemic change but the encounter with the other and the opportunity to show her or him dignity at every moment must be constitutive of our eternal and transformational identities.

Shmuly Yanklowitz (Shmuly22@yahoo.com)grew up in Toronto, New Jersey, and Chicago and studied at the University of Texas for an undergraduate degree and Harvard University for his Masters degree in Human Development and Psychology. He is now completing a second Masters degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University and beginning his Doctoral Studies at Columbia University in Moral Development and Epistemology. During two different years, he studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel where he also founded the Jerusalem Leadership Institute bringing together students and volunteers in Israel for dialogue, service projects, and leadership training. Shmuly has volunteered, taught, and staffed missions in many countries including Israel, France, Thailand, El Salvador, Ghana, India, and Ukraine. He is currently a Rabbinical School student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. In addition to being an avid reader and active athlete, Shmuly finds most of his passions in social justice and social action leadership. He is currently the Director of Panim Summer JAM in Washington DC and a co-founder of Uri L’Tzedek (The Orthodox Social Justice Beit Midrash and Leadership Training Center).

Starting very soon, I will be starting a new feature here on Tzipiyah.com in which I will be interviewing different Jewish Activists and asking them 10 short relevant questions. This feature should be incredibly interesting to the readers of Tzipiyah.com as it will give us a glimpse into the lives of those Jewish Leaders.

The people we will interview will be very diverse, coming from all types of backgrounds. Some people will be involved in religious activism, others in Jewish Nationalistic activism, others yet in activism of a universal nature. Their point in common will be that they dedicate time and energy to causes they find dear. Hopefully, “meeting” them will inspire us enough to do some of the same.

Look for this feature in a few weeks! To suggest activists which we could interview, email tzipiyah@gmail.com or post a comment. Your suggestions would be very much appreciated.