Me and Some of My Chevre at My First Retreat
So, some of you are old pros at this Federation thing and don’t need an explanation, but I know some of you have only heard me talk about it in passing, or haven’t heard me mention it at all, so I’ve been getting questions about this “study mission” to Sarajevo and Budapest.
Since moving back to Chicago, I have been very active in the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. JUF is “the largest not-for-profit social welfare institution in Illinois and the central address of Chicago’s Jewish community. JUF provides critical resources that bring food, refuge, health care, education and emergency assistance to 300,000 Chicagoans of all faiths and two million Jews around the world.”
JUF is one of more than 150 local Jewish Federations, which provide similar services in communities across the United States. United Jewish Communities is the national organization that links these independent Federations. UJC provides a lot of services to the local Federations, one of which is its National Young Leadership Cabinet, which is a group of young(ish) adults in North America who are selected by their communities as leaders.
Cabinet has a retreat every year (my Arizona trip last August) and ton of other amazing opportunities. Every year, Cabinet has a study mission (read– trip) to learn about Jewish communities around the world. In the past, Cabinet missions have gone to Ethiopia, Moscow, Argentina, and all over the world. This year, I will be joining the Cabinet Mission to Sarajevo and Budapest.
One other note, Cabinet members also refer to each other as chevre. No, we’re not calling each other goat cheese — in Hebrew chevre means “group of friends.”
Hopefully that provides a little context for this trip, which is not my normal adventure travel . . . though it is an adventure in an entirely different way.
