Join the Women’s Tefila of Great Neck Synagogue for a special symposium as young women from the community share their experiences studying, volunteering and living abroad in places as diverse as India, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Germany and Israel. Exploring different dimensions of their Jewish identity, panelists will share their thoughts on global Jewry, obstacles and affirmations of living abroad, antisemitism or anti-Israel bias, tikkun olam (repairing the world), and how their time abroad has shaped their life choices.

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Moderator: Naomi Barth graduated from Brandeis University in 2009, where she earned a B.A in History with a concentration in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. She has spent considerable time living abroad, and completed portions of her studies in Berlin, Germany and Budapest, Hungary. She has performed non-sectarian volunteer work in rural Thailand, and has completed an academic internship in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. She currently work in the Global Archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), where she supports efforts that relate to Jewish diasporic history.

Panelists:

Lerone Edalati graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern & Islamic studies and Hebrew Language & Literature in 2009. Lerone works as a Project Manager in the non-profit sector, and has most recently served as an associate at Network 20/20 where she coordinated foreign policy briefings for private sector leaders and senior decision-makers. Lerone will discuss how her Jewish education and Iranian roots have influenced her decision to do service with Jewish communities around the world. She has volunteered with Jewish communities in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Haifa and Beit She’an, Israel, and has been exposed to on-the-ground challenges in both countries. Her experiences with the heterogeneous communities in Kazakhstan and Israel were instrumental in shaping her identity as a Jewish individual and a global citizen. Most importantly, Lerone will discuss how negative and positive experiences working locally — at New York University Abu Dhabi and at Network 20/20, an international affairs organization — have shaped her Jewish identity. Lerone speaks Hebrew and Farsi fluently, and is proficient in Modern Standard Arabic.

Elana Hazghia graduated from Skidmore College in May of 2010 with a double major in International Affairs and Spanish, as well as a double minor in Latin American Studies and Government. She is currently a Program Associate for the Public Policy Programs team at the Council of the Americas in New York City. Elana has traveled throughout the Carribean and Central America, where she created a photographic project called “Peace Through My Eyes” in Guatemala. The project aims to promote peace and cross-cultural understanding through the artwork of Guatemalan children from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The proceeds raised enabled the organization to buy necessary water filters in the indigenous village of San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala. Elana will speak about the obligation and compassion she feels towards others, and how that concept of chessed drives her passion for travel, and her desire to develop such international projects. Never seeing Judaism as a limitation or a hindrance to her exploration, Elana sees travel as an opportunity to share her background and draw parallels between herself and others from diverse backgrounds.

Zahava Mandelbaum is in her last year of undergraduate studies at Columbia University and the Jewish Theology Seminary, studying English and Modern Jewish Studies. She spent a post High School gap year studying in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem at Midreshet HaRova. This past semester she studied abroad at Ben Gurion University in the Negev, where she was the only American student living in an Israeli student village called Ashalim. Following her study abroad experience in Israel, she traveled to Little Kanchipuram, India for 7 weeks with American Jewish World Service. There she volunteered with RIDE, a local Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) that strives to to empower the poor, eradicate child labor, promote economic independence for women, and provide essential medical and educational services for the underprivileged. Closer to home, she volunteers with Jewish Heart for Africa, an organization based in NYC and Israel that brings sustainable Israeli Technologies to rural African villages.

Women’s Tefila Mincha following the symposium in the Bet Midrash

Great Neck Synagogue is at 26 Old Mill Road Great Neck, NY

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