Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

Building Kehillah (Community) at Kallah

To understand the following blog post about my Jewish weekend at the University of Pennsylvania, there are some basic things I must first define:

• KOACH
  Within Judaism, there are many different denominations. These separations go from Re-Constructionist Judaism to ultra-Orthodox. KOACH is the college outreach program of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. In a way, it is an extension of Camp Ramah and USY programs designed for elementary through high school aged students. Problems with funding and organization make it hard to truly define what KOACH is as compared to Ramah and USY both of which are known and well established. As of now, KOACH has only eight college-campus interns throughout the U.S. (I am one of them), and KOACH hosts one yearly convention…
• KALLAH
  It came to my attention that kallah is not specifically related to KOACH in general, but is a term that has been used since the Babylonian captivity (thank you Wikipedia!). Though traditionally referring to a convention of teachers, the word kallah is thought to be derived from the Aramaic word meaning “totality.” My interpretation of this translation means that a kallah is a convention bringing an entirety of a community, of people, together for some higher purpose. In the case of KOACH Kallah, we were all brought together to strengthen the present and future foundations of Conservative Judaism.

From February 14 to 17, a group of approximately 125 college-aged Conservative Jews gathered at the University of Pennsylvania campus to celebrate our common bond. This year’s theme was “Building Healthy Jewish Relationships,” cleverly chosen to go along with the Valentine’s Day date. In terms of relationships, however, the conversation was broad and included intimate, familial, communal, and personal topics. The programs offered over the three days helped to solidify what Jewish texts consider healthy and “kosher” relationships. At the same time, we dissected these texts to see if we agreed with the restrictions applied on couples, platonic and intimate, in biblical as well as the medieval times. There were numerous thought-provoking seminars and workshops to attend. Those in which I participated were:

Creating a Modern (and Traditional) Sexual Ethic – Rabbi Joel Seltzer, Camp Ramah in the Poconos

Jewish Ritual Art – Jonathan Kremer, Jewish Theological Seminary

Many Waters: Mikveh and Love – Rabbi Elyse Winick, KOACH

Building Healthy Jewish Relationships (3 sessions) – Rabbi Aaron Alexander, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies

My Heart is in the East…Understanding our Relationship with Israel – Maggie Weinreb, Union College

We were also given time to foster our own relationships with likeminded students representing 41 campuses from around the country (mostly the East Coast)! We bonded over prayer services, free time, meals, and a Mask and Wig show. Many of us stayed up late into the night, hanging out in each other’s hotel rooms and singing Hebrew songs learned on Nativ (gap year in Israel), USY, and in Camp Ramah. Having never participated in any of these programs I was a bit clueless but felt the spirit nonetheless and joined in where I could.

This weekend taught me that Conservative Judaism is a spectrum in itself. Denominational Judaism can be tricky, because though I consider myself a Conservative Jew, I met many young people a lot more religious than I am. This strengthened my idea of “indivi-Jew-alism” even more; making me believe that there are no two Jews who are the same. I was really glad to have participated in this program. For that reason I would like to make it known that KOACH is having difficulty with regards to funding and staff, and because of this, a future kallah is not assured. This year’s convention was made possible by the generosity of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, in partnership with The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. All I can ask is to please support these organizations so that this program can continue to help foster a strong Conservative Jewish movement for the future!

KOACH INTERNS:
Gregory Segal (UPenn), Courtney Pilnick (Hofstra), Tammy Bronstein (University of Maryland), Marina Nebro (Queens College), Kayla Reisman (Dickinson), Sam Hollander (Rutgers), Rebecca Kossman (Brandeis), Robyn Klitzky (BU)

Marina B. Nebro