Roo February 2010 edition

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AAUSY

The AAUSY ‘RooFebruary 2010 Edition

Edited By: The 2009-2010 AAUSY Communications VP Drew Lieberman



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The AAUSY ‘RooFebruary 2010Table of Contents:

Welcome to USY!...............................................................3Upcoming Events……………………………………………..4Advisory………………………………………………………..5A Word from the President ………………………………….5REC Rules ………………………………………..…………..6Kadima Krazed…...............................................................6Israel Update………………………………………………….7That’s So SATO………………………………………………8Legend vs. Life??………………………………………....….8Pictures…………………..…………………………………..9



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Welcome to USY!

What is USY?

USY stands for United Synagogue Youth. It is the official youth branch of the

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The Agudas Achim Synagogue chapter,

AAUSY, belongs to the Southwest USY Region known as SWUSY, which

encompasses all USY chapters in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

What do we do in AAUSY?

Our local Austin chapter of USY, AAUSY, usually has events twice a month.

Programming ranges anywhere from fun social events, like a Chinese New Year

Party or broomball, to religious events, like a Sukkot gathering or USY Shabbat

services, to community service projects and exciting Israel programs. In addition,

the SWUSY Region hosts 3 regional conventions throughout the school year that

bring together Jewish teenagers from all over the Southwestern United States

for several days of fun-filled activities, making new friends, and of course,

davening (that means praying) SWUSY-style!

How can I stay informed about AAUSY?

There are several ways to ensure that you are up-to-date on all things USY!

Firstly, make sure that both your personal e-mail address and one of your parents’

e-mail addresses are part of the listserve! Listserve is a helpful tool that we use

to send e-mails to everyone in AAUSY at once. To have your e-mail added to the

listserve, send an e-mail to Sarah Laves at [email protected].

Is AAUSY on Facebook?

Absolutely! In fact, one of the very best ways to stay up-to-date on AAUSY

is to join both the AAUSY facebook group, and the SWUSY facebook group.

Joining both will ensure that you receive online invitations (and can RSVP online) to

all chapter and regional events. We also recently have added a facebook page so



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you can become a fan of AAUSY and hear about upcoming events. And AAUSY is on

twitter as well.

Who is in charge of AAUSY?

AAUSY is led by our two advisors, Samantha Tugentman and Maury Jacobs,

who are both former students at the University of Texas at Austin. AAUSY is also

run by a seven member chapter executive board, which is elected in May of each

year. The board positions are President, Religious Education and Culture VP, Israel

Affairs VP, Membership/Kadima VP, Social Action/Tikkun Olam VP, Communications

VP, and Outreach VP. There is also a chapter general board, which is chosen at the

beginning of each school year by the chapter executive board.

Upcoming Events

AAUSY SOONER Overnight- March 19th-21st, this will be one event you will

not want to miss, we're going to be camping in tents and doing a bunch of outside

activities, so it'll be a weekend to relax and enjoy the great outdoors! From eating

contests to capture the flag, this is a weekend you WON'T want to miss! Make

sure to get your apps in because there are just more than 40 spots available!

AAUSY President Sarah Laves and interim SATO Maya Hunt are co chairing thecampout with fellow USYERS from Oklahoma city. It’s in Cedar Hills state park,

20 miles southwest of Dallas.

Advisory

Hi AAUSY!

We would like to take this opportunity toelaborate on a subject that was discussed

at Spring Kallah in El Paso at the end of

February. The subject of Super Heroes!Of course, when we hear those words we

instantly think of Batman, Spiderman,

and maybe the Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles. But WE believe that the true

Super Heroes are our own USYers here

in Austin. Little do they know, that theJewish community views Jewish Youthas our very own Super Heroes.

Every USYer shows a deep love anddevotion to Jewish tradition by

participating in USY, which is

something that the Jewish communitywill always value and appreciate.

Because of their excitement towards

Judaism, we can rely on them to carry on

our culture in their adult years.

For this, we thank our AAmazing

AAUSYites and encourage all youth tofollow in their footsteps!

Looking forward to a great rest of theyear, and we hope to see everyone at the

AAUSY/SOONER Red River Campout

Shabbaton on March 19-21!Applications are out now!

Best,

Samantha and MauryAAUSY Advisors



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A word from the president

Shalom!

AAUSY just got back from anamazing time at Spring Kallah inEl Paso! We got to decorateshoes for kids in need, make abunch of friends, and dance thenight away during this super-hero themed convention. Wealso had a great time at ourSouperBowl event as wewatched the big game. Now,we're looking forward to thespring as the Red River

Shabbatone comes closer. We'regoing to be camping in tents anddoing a bunch of outsideactivities, so it'll be a weekend torelax and enjoy the greatoutdoors! From eating conteststo capture the flag, it's going tobe an awesome campout! Afterthat, we're going to beparticipating in J-Serve onSunday, April 25th! It's a day of community service around the

country, so it's not just going tobe USY, but Jewish teenagersacross Austin. Make sure to signup early! Hope everyone has had



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Rec Rules!!!!

Hey you guys. We are about to enter themonth of Nisan in the middle of the month. We

are currently in the month of Adar. This month

has lots of events including Purim at the

beginning of the month and Pesach beginning

towards the end. Also this month there is

going to be a big event on the weekend of

March 19th to the 21st. SWUSY (southwest USY)

is going to have some Torah readings and we only have so many spots. We could

really use the Torah readers and if you can come and help please do not hesitate to

call me at my home phone, (512)-306-0878. Or you can e-mail me at:

[email protected], or even facebook me. Even if you are not sure, just give me a

call, or contact me and I can get you some more information. Sincerely,

Ari Dimston 2009-2010 AAUSY Religious Education Culture VP

Kadima Krazed

This past weekend we had our 2010 Spring Kallah convention in El Paso, Texas. as

soon as we pulled up to the synagogue and saw the beautiful mountains and

scenery we all knew it was going to be an amazing convention. The whole BZUSY (El

Paso) chapter was there to greet us and introduce us to the beautiful B'nai Zionshule. The weekend was extremely fun filled as we had some very interesting

discussions on Jewish super heroes and their impact on Jewish life. The convention

was a huge success and everyone met new people. El Paso brought about 30 people

to the convention, so with all the new people there, everyone who went, met

someone new! On March 19th-21st, we will be having the Sooner-AAUSY Survivor

Campout. It will be an extremely action packed weekend with many activities and of

course, as a traditional campout, we will be staying in tents! There are only 40 spots

left for this amazing region-wide campout, so get your applications in soon!

Hope to see you soon!,

Elijah Price

your 2009-2010 AAUSY MEM/KAD V.P.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



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For all of you guys that weren’t at spring you missed a pretty fantastic

Israel Program.

WE WENT TO ISRAEL!… Well not quite but we did have a similar experience of being in Israel. At

Congregation Bnai Zion in El Paso (which is where the convention was

held) thy have this really cool “Garden of Israel.” Each item in the garden

represented a different part of Israel. During the program “Tour Guides”

(past Pilgrims) took their assigned groups to three places that had

significance to them during their time in Israel. I took my group first to

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem; to represent the week

that I spent in Poland before going to Israel. Secondly I took my group to

the spiritual city of Safat, which is just a magical place. It was where

Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism) was created. The city is beautiful, full of color

and rich history. It is one of the greatest places you go on Pilgrimage.

Lastly I took my group to the fast pace city of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a place

of modern and old. There you can visit the Hall of Independence and then

go to the modern shops and restaurants to get the feel of the city. All of

the places that I visited with my group of SWUSYites are where you can go

with USY. You can still sign up for Pilgrimage and make your own special

places! If you have any questions about USY summer programs feel free to

contact me by email at [email protected]!

B’ahava

Aimée Rochelle Kanter

Israel and Programming Affairs VP 2009-2010



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That’s So SATO

Hey AAUSY Roos!

This past weekend was SWUSY Leagure, our Spring Kallah. We had an awesome time, filled

with seeing old friends, making new ones, learning, and of course, an amazing SA/TO project.Convention go-ers decorated white canvas shoes to donate to a local orphanage. Everyone had

the opportunity to get creative and have fun, while helping out the community. Saturday night

was the "Mask- erade Ball", where everyone dressed up and had anight fit for a superhero. Unintentionally, our night turned into

another SA/TO project. I noticed when I had finished my water

bottle, there wasn't a can for recycling, only for trash, and all of the drinks available were in cans and bottles. Being the

recycling junkie that I am, I ran over to Abby Kitmacher (our

Regional SA/TO VP). We got a recycling bin going and wentthrough what had already been thrown away, to be sure to not

miss anything. By the end of the night, Abby and I had multiplehelpers and we recycled over 2 large trash cans full of cans and bottles. By recycling these, we wasted so much less, and it was really easy to do. So my

challenge to you AAUSYites is this: for one week straight, every time you drink a soda or finish

a bottle of water, recycle it. It will soon become the best habit you can have. You too can be a

hero, one can at a time.

Love,Maya Hunt

AAUSY Interim SA/TO '09-'10

Legend vs Life?Ladies and Gentlemen, on February 23, 2010, a rare Austin Experience occurred:Snow fell from the sky. And not just weak, tiny little flurries. No, this was real snow.Snow snow. School-ending snow. Snow that brought about a beautiful day filled withsnowmen, snowball fights, and other snow shenanigans. Days like that remind meof just how lucky we are in this world. While we may frolic in the snow, others mayfear the snow for lack of warmth and shelter. It's thoughts like that that remind meof the importance of donating to tzedaka. Remember: Even a little is a lot tosomeone else.Peace to All

Louie Lutes, Outreach VP



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Pictures

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Roo February 2010 edition