At the moment we are half way through the festival of Channukah. The name "Channukah" derives from the Hebrew verb "×—× ×š", meaning "to dedicate".
As term draws to an end and many of you will be returning home, it gives us all a chance to reflect back on the first term and the dedication we have all put in. When lighting the Channukah candles last night in the UJS office and looking around the room, I begun to reflect on the term and the dedication the Tzevet and myself have put to UJS and J Soc this term.
It has been a while since I last blogged and I apologise to those who have missed my blogs, reading what I have been up to and talking about Spurs.
I am now back in London after a challenging but enjoyable and fulfilling first term living in Birmingham (for my 4th year) and travelling around the country helping out my J Socs. I will be at Limmud Conference from the 27th to 31st where the whole UJS Tzevet will be there and looking forward to seeing many of you.
The 25th of October was one of my highlights of the term. The Juefa cup was extremely successful with 21 boys' teams and 3 girls' teams, an increase from last year. It was followed that evening by Birmingham's re branded booze for Jews - Ju Rave, capping off what was a great day.
Another highlight of the term was running a 'Lunch and Learn' at Oxford Brookes with a pop up Succah in the middle of campus with smoked salmon and crème cheese bagels.
More recently I visited Keele University, where we had the first social in the new facility provided by the University. I have also been down to Exeter for some committee training where I brought a lot of Bamba which was much appreciated and we planned out some events for the upcoming term.
Last week I went to Cardiff for my second time this term to help out at the pre-Channukah party where we played 'Pin the Shamash of the Channukiah'. The committee has drawn a large picture of a Channukiah and a separate piece of paper with a candle on it. People came forward and were blindfolded, span around and then had to place the Shamash (leading candle) in the right place.
A spin off version of the dreidle game was also played with some light Israeli music in the background. Moshe Baron (Bristol Chaplain) and I lead a discussion on Channukah where we discussed the story of Channukah and how one of the ways we celebrate the festival is by lighting the candles and placing it in the window so people can see. Within the story of Channukah, the Jews were being prevented from practicing their religion in public. Thus as a sign that we can now practice Judaism, we publicise the miracle of Channukah by lighting the candles next a window so people can see.
My final highlight of the half season analysis was the Summit weekend. UJS took away recently elected J Soc committees for a weekend away of training and fun. I was responsible for taking the Birmingham committee whilst also running some sports sessions as well which were all extremely successful.
It was a long weekend but the dedication from all the Tzevet really showed how much we care and invest our time to helping out J Soc and will continue to do so.
As the half time whistle is about to go, I want to say what a pleasure it has been working and helping so many of you and I hope to continue being dedicated and taking this idea from Chanukah for the next 2 terms ahead.
Channukah Sameach and hope you all have a good break and come on you spurs...let's get back on track! xx
