Local Hillel Students Participate in Jewlicious Festival

by Shiela Steinman Wallace

What does it take to draw nearly 1,000 Jewish college students and young professionals from more than 25 states and nine countries to California?

The Jewlicious Festival 5.0, which offered a weekend celebration of Jewish youth culture, packed with workshops, discussions and lots of social, educational and enrichment activities. There was even an hour-long concert by renowned singer Matisyahu.

Seven Hillel students from Louisville colleges and universities traveled to Long Beach and came back excited about the experience.

“Jewlicious, what can one say about such an amazing trip!” said Natalya Dubrovensky. “Imagine rows of tables all set up to occupy Jewish festival goers for a weekend of connecting and sharing of stories and Judaism. It was overwhelming … to be a participant for such a wondrous celebration. Getting the chance to welcome Shabbat with more than 1,000 other participants was a memory I will cherish forever! Lighting the candle meant much more to me that Shabbat; it made me rejoice at being Jewish, it made me be proud!

“Picking from the many events being offered was no easy task,” she continued. “I choose to attend the service, which was led by one of the staff working at Jewlicious. I enjoyed singing and reading from the prayer book with my new Jewish friends.”

Dubrovensky enjoyed “meeting new friends that I am going to keep in touch with until next year, when I hope to have another opportunity to attend Jewlicious.”

Josh Sabes the Jewlicious Festival is “definitely an event I will remember. From the second I arrived until I left to fly back home, I was constantly participating in one of the many activities Jewlicious had to offer.

“These included challah making sessions, group discussions about Israel, to Jewish comedy and even a couple of concerts,” he added. “It was especially nice to see how close the people at this festival became. Hopefully these friendships people made will be lasting ones.”

For Jacob Efman, “getting to meet five hundred other Jews, the wine and food is better than any three day vacation you will ever have. The experience I had partying with others and listening to Jewish music groups was amazing.

“If you liked birthright israel,” he noted, “then this will blow you away. There’s everybody there where you can find some kind of similar background and find your own fling. Rabbi Yonah and others have made this a festival you must not miss.”

“This was my first time visiting Jewlicious festival,” stated Sofya Kuznetsova, “and I hope not the last.”

“One of the most amazing things that I experienced is the friendliness of all the people at Jewlicious,” she observed. “There were close to 1,000 young adults at the festival. Even though everybody was so different, from all over the United States, we all had one thing in common – Jewish heritage and tradition.

“Multiple events over three days gave us opportunity to explore religious, cultural and ethnic issues,” she continued. “Multiple concerts throughout the weekend made the event even better bonding experience for everyone. I met lots of interesting people and made many new friends.”

“This was my second year at Jewlicious and I loved every second of it,” said Larry Forman. “The event that I loved the most … would have to be the Shabbat dinner because that is the one time that we are all gathered together in one place under one roof. “There is no greater religious ecstasy than for a Jew from Israel to be surrounded by a mass of Jews once more.”

Joshua Roberts described Jewlicious as “a great place to meet others and search the depth of your faith from every angle of Judaism. The food is great – and often! – but the experience is untouchable. Music, games, even talks and discussions to better learn about the Judaic world, filled the halls of the Long Beach Jewish Community Center.

“The Saturday night concert is always a blast as everyone comes together to share in the thrill. And no matter what,” he concluded, Jewlicious is something you will always take with you, in the awesome memories and the amazing friendships you’ll make there. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime, and one every student should take every year possible!”

Konstantin Dudorov and Courtney Hughes also attended the conference.

Hillel, a program of the Jewish Community Federation, provided subsidies to enable these students to participate in the Jewlicious Festival.

For more information about Hillel, contact Director Peter Anik at the Federation, 618-5321 or petera@jcfl.com or Tzivia Levin, 618-5308 or tzivial@jcfl.com.

Thanks to Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and the Soref Emerging Campus Initiative, http://www.smallandmighty.org/, if you go to a school listed at their website (and listed below) Hillel will subsidize your Jewlicious ticket. Instead of $48 normal student tickets all you pay is $36. Its an awesome deal. Just send us your name, school, & ID number and we’ll send you the discount code.

ALSO it helps Jewlicious Festival.

So if you are looking for Jewlicious fun –and you go to a small campus — chances are we can get your ticket subsidized.

Adelphi University
Albion College
Albright College
Alfred University
Allegheny College
Appalacian State University
Bard College
Beloit University
Bentley
Boston College Hillel
Bowdoin
Bowling Green State University
Bradley University
Butler University
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
California State University, Chico
Central Connecticut State University
Colby College
College of Charleston
Colorado College
Cornell College
CUNY, City College of New York
Dalhousie University/Kings College
Depauw University
Dickinson College
Drake University
Drew
Earlham College
East Carolina University
East Tennessee State
Elizabethtown
Elmira College
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Emerson College
Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY
Florida Gulf Coast University
Fordham University
Framingham State College
Franklin and Marshall
Gettysburg
Guilford College
Hamilton
Hampshire College
High Point University
Hobart and William Smith
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
James Madison University
Johnson & Wales University
Juaniata College
Kalamazoo College
Kutztown University of PA
Lafayette College
Lehman College
Louisiana State University
Middle Tennessee State University
Middlebury College
Millsaps College
Montclair State University
Mount Holyoke College
New College of Florida
New Jersey Institute of Technology
North Carolina State University
North Dakota State University
Northern Arizona University
Occidental
Ohio Wesleyan
Old Dominion University
Orange Coast College
Oregon State University
Polytechnic University, Brooklyn Campus
Portland State University
Radford
Randolf-Macon Women’s College/ Lynchburg College
Reed
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/Russel Sage
Roanoke College
Roger Williams University
Rollins College
Santa Barbara City College
Shippensberg
Simmons College
Springfield College
Stetson University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Suffolk University
SUNY Fredonia
SUNY New Paltz
SUNY Oneonta
SUNY Oswego
SUNY- Plattsburgh
SUNY-Rockland Community College
Texas State University- San Marcos
Texas Tech
The College Of New Jersey
The College of Wooster
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Truman State University
UNC at Wilmington
University of Alabama
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
University of Dayton
University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Judaism
University of Mary Washington
University of Massachusettes, Dartmouth
University of Michigan, Flint
University of Montana
University of New Hampshire
University of North Carolina- Asheville
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
University of San Diego
University of South Carolina
University of Southern Maine
University of Tampa
University of Tennesse, Knoxville
University of Texas, San Antonio
University of Toledo
University of Tulsa
University of Wyoming
Vassar College
Vermont Law School
Wagner College
Warren Wilson College
Washington and Lee
Washington State University
West Virginia University
Western Michigan University
Western Washington University
Wheaton College
Whitman College
William Patterson
Williams
Wittenberg University
Wright State University
York College of PA