I, along with many others in the group, spent a fair portion of our last full day of the trip feeling very out of place and at times slightly uncomfortable.  The first instance of this was when we stopped into an Orthodox synagogue to see part of their services.  Men and women were separated (which was new for a lot of us), the Ukrainian/Hebrew prayer book was impossible to follow, and our attire stood out so much that we might as well have been wearing clown suits.  Later on in the day, we went to see a show at the national opera house - an equally difficult thing to follow if you don't speak Italian or Ukrainian.  

Yet, among these foreign environments was one that proved to be far more meaningful than I could have expected.  In the middle of the day, we broke up into several groups to go have Shabbat lunch at the homes of several Jewish families.  Not everyone had an ideal experience - cultural differences and language barriers detracted from the enjoyment of some groups, and one group was essentially socially trapped in their host family's very, very elegant apartment for seven straight hours, and emerged with some truly ridiculous stories.

My group, however, which consisted of three Wahoos and four Ukrainians, had a very normal, enjoyable meal with our hosts, Rabbi Yonatan Malkovic, his wife Mina, and their three children.  We were also joined by some other guests: a young nephew from Israel, an old family friend, a student who'd lived in Israel and the US, and his friend who had never experienced Shabbat before.  The food was great, as was the conversation, and we stayed for close to three hours - the maximum amount we could without missing our next activity.

Despite the relative normality of the meal, I realized in the middle of it all that it was in fact the most incredible Shabbat meal experience I've ever had - topping both the Friday night meal in Israel with my Birthright group, and a Friday night meal I spent in New Orleans with one of my best friends.  What ultimately made this meal stand out so much was how ordinary it all was, because logically it should have been incredibly awkward and uncomfortable.  Complete strangers making themselves at home for three hours in the apartment of a family who speak little to no English, and who come from a different culture?  How does that end up working out?  The answer, I learned, is that commonalities of Jewish culture can trump the culture of the other communities we each belong to.  Yet, for strangers to feel completely comfortable interacting with each other, they need to share not only pieces of culture, but also understandings of how we should interact with each other, and the benefits that can come out of these interactions.  This family that was kind enough to open their home to us definitely embodied those beliefs, as they were exceptionally attentive to and accepting of the differences between us.  I, for instance, had never done the rituals for washing your hands before the meal, but a smiling Mina taught us how to do them repeat-after-me style.

More than all of this, however, there was one aspect of this meal that really stuck with me were the stories and teachings that we got to hear, and of these stories and teachings, there was one in particular that I’ll never forget.  At a certain point during a conversation about the meanings of Jewish holidays, the Rabbi started to talk about going outside of the comfort zones we all have.  He explained that we don’t always have to take such drastic steps to do so, because even the little things can make a big difference.  What was important to remember, he said, was that we grow as people when we take these steps, but that we can’t make these improvements without help.  When I think about our group of UVa students and Ukrainians, and all of the experiences we shared, I think that’s exactly what we’ve been doing this whole time, so despite the looming feeling of sadness of our trip ending, I’ll always find contentment in what we accomplished together.

Jeffrey Kerbel '2015

Throughout the week, we’ve been working with an after-school program for the kids at Woodcrest Elementary School. We usually start by spending some time helping the kids out with their homework. I’ve particularly enjoyed this part of the program because I like to work with young kids helping them to grasp academic concepts. When I help a kid to learn their times tables or to understand how to convert from pounds to ounces, I feel as though I am helping them to do better in the world. Not only does learning the material help them perform better in school and therefore improve their opportunities in the future, but it also expands their cognitive capacity which allows them to better understand and interact with the world.

Yesterday I was tutoring a new girl that I hadn’t worked with the rest of the week. After we finished working on her math homework, the coordinator for our after-school group (Mr. H) told all the students to pack up their stuff and stack their chairs because homework time was over. As soon as Mr. H. announced this, the girl I was tutoring started to get upset. She told me that she had another worksheet to do for homework, and she wanted to do it with a tutor. To help her, I quickly skimmed the worksheet. It was an English assignment in which you had to fill in the blank with simple words like “the” and “it” in order to complete the sentence. I figured that pretty much any adult should have no problem with this worksheet, so I told the girl “I’m sure that when you work on this at home, your parents will be able to help you.”

Unfortunately, she was not satisfied with this advice. She explained that her dad was somewhere else and her mom wouldn’t be home that night. I didn’t get all the details because it seemed like she didn’t want to talk about the subject, but I could tell that her parents would not be there that night to help her with her homework. This surprised me, because when I was in elementary school I always had my parents, a baby-sitter, or a day-care leader to help me with my homework. I didn’t even consider that this girl’s parents might not be there at all to help her.

Sometimes I think that the success I’ve had in my life is all due to my own individual effort. While I do work hard and always make an effort to take advantage of all the opportunities in front of me, I owe a lot to the environment that I grew up in. Unlike the girl I tutored yesterday, I always had someone to help me with my homework when I was younger. My family was there to support me and push me to do better. I don’t think that it’s necessary to have a supportive family to live a happy and successful life, especially in America. I also don’t think that all of my successes are a result of the environment I grew up in. Nevertheless, I do believe that my parents have helped me to succeed and live a good life and for that I am very grateful.

Daniel Lipson, Class of 2014

Today was our last day at Woodcrest Elementary as well as the beginning of Shabbat. Sadly, we were not to see our after-school classes this time. However, we were able to work hard and complete the
projects we started. The "school" day started with morning exercises. Unsurprisingly, the Hillel group as a whole was more excited and energetic than ever before. We voted on our favorite exercise from previous days, which
led to more excitement.

The majority of our time at the school today was spent working on completing and touching-up the murals and construction projects started on previous days. My group, UVA and UVM, went straight to work
on staining picnic tables and painting rows of stairway entrances to classrooms. Each stairway was painted with a colorful pattern and an inspiring word, such as "greatness." As our work had been so well received by the students, we were encouraged by the principal to paint the stairways on all sides of the building which meant even more painting. In reality, our hard work was only possible because of the time put in by the City Year staff. We were also able to work with fifth-grade volunteers, who were excited to help us paint their school
during their classes and free time.

In the hot sun and cool shade, we worked through the morning and into the early afternoon. Before we knew it, it was all over. We had finished everything, and our physical service with Woodcrest Elementary had reached its conclusion. We wrapped up our time at the school with a sandwich and Bissli lunch and a group discussion with
Hillel, City Year, and some of the staff from Woodcrest. Apparently, one of the long term staff from Woodcrest was so touched by our service that she had generously brought treats for all of us. The City Year staff spoke with us, and together we summarized our new knowledge and understanding of education reform. A City Year speaker talked to us about what it is like to work for City Year and told us his story about how he came to spend this portion of his life helping others instead of furthering his own career. I was particularly interested in what he had to say, because unlike other speakers who came from education backgrounds, this speaker graduated university with a degree in Electrical Engineering, like myself. I believe I speak for all of the Hillel student volunteers when I say that the events of the week and the topics we discussed are just beginning to have an effect on the way we think about education and race issues.

It was clear that all of the staff at the school felt very strongly about what had gone on over the past week, and that they felt that this was the start of a positive change for Woodcrest. Already, parents of students had started organizing a schedule for the community garden. At every interaction, I saw how ecstatic the children were to see their new murals and constructed objects.

After some time relaxing and a UVA ice cream outing, we went to UCLA Hillel to celebrate Shabbat. Our celebration was a lively mix of traditions, songs, and games. I felt entertained, relaxed, and ready
to conclude my week of service with a day of rest.

Michael Kremer, Class of 2013

   Today was another early start, as we prepared to leave the city limits to go to a small town on the “periphery” of Kiev. Today was a particularly special day in the Ukraine as well as the rest of the former Soviet Union, as it was International Women’s Day – a celebration of women that marks the start of a 4-day weekend with many bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolate. Our group was split up into numerous smaller groups as today we were going to make home visits to the elderly members of the Jewish community and some families with children. Every group had a different experience, heard unique stories, and learned new things. Our group went to visit an elderly woman who lives alone and whose children live in Russia. She was a vivacious eighty-seven year old “babushka” who had survived the Holocaust and had ended up in the town of Bila Tserkva where she spent fifty years working in the textile industry, was married and had two children resulting in a long line of healthy grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Her story really struck a note as I think it is sometimes taken for granted that survivors of the Holocaust actually come in all variations, and that surviving the Holocaust means more than just having survived the horrors and atrocities of the camp but also being able to establish a life in a world that has now shown the ability to allow the development of great evil. Our “babushka” was born and raised in Moldova but at the tender age of fifteen with the threat of Nazi encroachment fled to Ural, Russia with her brother, while her parents and other family members, although also escaping to Russia unfortunately not able to survive the wrath of the Nazis. In Ural, she spent five years doing manual labor in below freezing temperatures and worked in conditions unimaginable to us twenty first century students. She moved to the Ukraine where she met her husband and settled in Bila Tserkva where she spent fifty years living and working within the same community. Meeting someone who at the age of fifteen became an adult always amazes me, at fifteen years old my biggest concern was trying to avoid doing homework. The difference between my life and her experiences humbles me and forces me to really take a good long look at my life.

After our home visit and some nourishment we returned to the Kindergarten to finish our project. We had two hours to finish what we had started. We worked hard and fast and finished our afternoon feeling proud that not only had we mastered our “wallpapering” skills but we had found a way to help our fellow Jews in the Ukraine.

Our day was not over yet though. Today was Purim and being away from our usual surroundings we marked the festival in a new way. We sat in the dining hall of the Kindergarten, a group of young Jews coming together to celebrate. Of course this involved much laughter and merriment, but also entailed discussing and looking at Purim and its significance. In this aspect, Purim stood out especially in relation to our day’s activities. Purim is a unique Jewish festival in that throughout the reading of the Megilah G-d is not mentioned once. G-d was not given credit for saving the Jews but that it was Man and Woman who came to the rescue of the Jewish people. To me this tied in perfectly with our day, all our activities showed how fellow Jews helped fellow Jews and that although G-d is always present, it was us humans who took the initiative.

Sarah Davis  ‘15

The day started with the normal pastry breakfast and 45ish minute bus ride through the famous LA traffic.  Once we arrived at Woodcrest we began our physical work for the day.  In order for every group to get the chance to work on each project, we were placed on a different job then the day before.  This rotation added the aspect of teamwork overall by allowing us to work with the other groups on each and every project.  Our group was placed on the ‘famous people’ mural and painting bench backs in the sun.  I was put on bench back painting and had the opportunity to chat with students as they walked by or were playing outside for recess.   I was blown away by the amount of students that expressed gratitude to our group for coming to beautify their school.

After our morning work and lunch, we sat in the library to hear a speaker from CFY (computers for you), bringing computers to less fortunate families.  He led a discussion on education and the movie we had watched the day before (Waiting for Superman).  Because he came from an educator’s background, but is now working in technology, his perspective was different then the two previous speakers we had heard from.

Next we went to our afterschool groups.  I was with Mrs. Cruz’s kindergarten class and from the moment we walked in the kids were enthusiastic about the help we were bringing.  For the first half of afterschool groups we colored and did worksheets in the classroom to prepare for the assembly during the second half.  The kindergarteners made a mural to present and each kid decorated one part of the poster.

After another ride through the excellent traffic of LA, we were dropped off at the UCLA Hillel for dinner and a Purim celebration.  What a difference coming to this celebration directly from south central LA.   After the Megilah reading we put on themed skits about the story of Purim and then walked back to the hotel.  Team UVA then proceeded on to California’s famous IN-N-OUT, and pretended to be Californians by ordering off the ‘secret’ menu (protein burger yummm).  

Overall, our second day with the Woodcrest tigers and fourth day in LA was great!

Lauren Hickman, Class of 2013

Dobre Dien! Today we went to start working on the next stage of wall papering at the kindergarten. Although none of us have any skill or knowledge in the area, we somehow managed to do a pretty good job. I might not say we could be professionals, but I’d hire us (for really cheap). One of the reasons why it was so difficult to learn how to wall paper was because of the language barrier. The professional we were working with didn’t speak any English so we had use hand gestures along with smiling and frowning to communicate when there was no translator. It was a bonding experience, however, because the Ukrainian students didn’t know how to wall paper either, so we laughed over our mutual ineptitude at wall papering. We will never underestimate the power of communication again. In order to take a “break”, some of us went to play with the little kids that attend the kindergarten. The kids jumped, screamed, kicked, and tackled us in the snow. We learned that they were surprisingly very resilient to any snowball we threw at them (the snow is very powdery here) and the minute you started picking them up and spinning them around, they never stopped coming back for more. Menya Menya(me me)! It was absolutely adorable. Every time we left them to go back to work, we would say goodbye “Pakah!” and give them huge hugs, but we would always come back less than an hour later and every time their contagious smiles got bigger. Unfortunately, we had to leave for real and the exhaustion hit us. Back to work.

After lunch, the whole group gathered in the cafeteria for some good old fashioned bonding. We talked about our expectations for the trip and what surprised us. One of the most popular reactions was that our welcoming into Kiev by our Ukrainian Hillel peers was so warm and it made a powerful impact on our attitudes for the rest of the trip. Another common sentiment among the Americans was how big and flourishing the Jewish community in Ukraine is. Most of us were thrilled by the fact that we were able to go to a party, at the hottest club in Kiev, that consisted of all Jews who all came together in order to celebrate Purim. We were also so fascinated to hear from the Ukrainians how happy and astonished they were of how well we were able to communicate and interact with each other. It had created a great inter-group dynamic. They were also surprised by the fact that we were so enthralled by a huge gathering of Jews in order to celebrate Purim. They saw the United States as a place where the Jewish population flourished and thought this was the norm where we lived. Both groups realized the difference between our Jewish communities, especially between their community based Hillel and our college based Hillel. We finished up the bulk of wall papering that afternoon, and everyone was ready for the evening festivities.

 The whole afternoon consisted of more gluing, cutting, and pasting and by 6pm, we were beat. Happy with our progress, we ventured back to the cafeteria for our own unique megillah storytelling given by our own Jake dressed as a clown. Followed by a lot of booing of the “bad guy’s name”, we gratefully left for dinner. To honor the rules of Purim, we feasted over one of Ukraine’s traditional dishes, Vareniki. We highly recommend it!

 Satisfyingly stuffed, we headed to the bowling alley (which was much nicer than Bowl America) for some evening fun. Some of us got strikes, and some of us gutter balls, but all of us enjoyed letting loose. We also enjoyed watching the classy groups of Ukrainians bowling in suits and short dresses, while getting strikes.

 Exhausted and smiling, we bussed home to the hotel and headed to bed. The lights of the city were so beautiful as they wished us a Happy Women’s Day for tomorrow and a Happy Purim for tonight. Spokoine Noche!

Arielle Effron ’13 and Rachel Schwartz ‘15

Our second full day in L.A. was our first day at Woodcrest Elementary school, where we’ll be working the rest of the week.  We left the hotel around 8:00 and when we hopped off the bus at the school, we were greeted immediately by a friendly group from City Year, some excited students running around the blacktop, and Woodcrest’s new principal, Ms. Jackson.  Ms. Jackson explained to us that she wants Woodcrest to be a place that fosters learning and excitement for education, and she has high hopes for the physical labor we’ll be doing to better the learning environment, as well as the attention 50 plus college students will be able to give to the kids in the after school program.

The morning started out with physical service, consisting of building and painting projects all around the school to beautify the buildings and outdoor hallways (something which most of us from the East coast weren’t used too!).  Our group from UVA and the group from UVM (University of Vermont) were sent to help work on the school’s new community garden.  From laying perimeter stones, to building a bench, and painting a mural, we were able to make a lot of progress on an area of the school visible not only to the students, but also to community members walking by in the neighborhood.  One woman even commented as she walked by that, “It’s about time!” and there was no doubt we felt our morning work was worthwhile.

After lunch (in the school’s library which brought back some fun memories), we heard from Rabbi Adam Greenwald, Revson Rabbinic Fellow of IKAR, an innovative Jewish Community focused on the intersection of spirituality and social justice.  Adam explained to us that the two main narratives in Judaism— the Creation story, and the Exodus story— both lead us directly to the notion that we have a responsibility to repair our world and look out for the rights of others.  Two of the ideas that I found especially important were that (1) “Egypt is everywhere”— everywhere you go there is some sort of suffering and generally, something that can be made better; and (2) We all need to “see Egypt” but work together to reach “the Promise Land” and make a lasting change.

Finally, we transitioned into our groups for the Woodcrest Rangers after school program.  Different students went to different classrooms, but from homework, to crafts, to dance and cheer, and just running around having a great time, we all had a BLAST!  Personally, I was extremely impressed by the dedication level of several students I had the opportunity to interact with in the first grade class I was sent to.  It seems clear to all of us that Woodcrest Elementary is invested in the futures of these kids, and is working extremely hard to instill in them a genuine love for learning.

We left Woodcrest around 5:30 to the sounds of “Are you coming back tomorrow?!” and our new elementary school friends shouting bye and our names.  It was a great day of service, which our group of six from UVA finished off perfectly by going to Diddy Reis (the BEST you-pick-your-cookies-and-your-ice-cream-for-an-amazing-ice-cream-sandwich place EVER!!!) at 11:00 (despite the unusual winds and cold…) and then rested up for our next day of service.  Day number two = success!

Susie Dixon, Class of 2014

Today we woke up bright and early to begin our first full day in Kiev, and furthermore, to begin our service projects within the Jewish community.  After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and headed towards our two destinations: a kindergarten and an apartment, both of which were in need of repairs.  It took a while to get there because of traffic, but it was great to see more of such an interesting city.  When we finally arrived, we split up into a large group that would be working at the kindergarten, and a small group that would work in the apartment.

I (Jeff) chose to work at the apartment, which I learned was the home of an elderly man and his two grandchildren.  The mother of the children passed away several years ago, and in addition, the father now has a new family, and the grandmother doesn’t communicate with them at all, so the grandfather decided to take on the responsibility of raising these girls himself.  He makes just $370 a month, and upon seeing the building they live in, it became clear that this is barely enough to get by, as the apartment complex makes even the old dorms at UVa seem like luxury hotels.  Although none of the family spoke any English, everyone greeted us with hospitality, and we were told to act as if the apartment was our own (but remember that we were guests).  The room we’re working on belongs to the two children, and our job was to redo the wallpaper that had begun to deteriorate.  We managed to make good progress, stripping off the existing wallpaper spackling the uneven areas of the walls and ceiling, but a lot remains to be done.  It was exhausting work, but the grandfather was kind enough to make us tea during breaks, which helped keep us going.

I (Laura) joined the larger group in the Jewish kindergarten. The building is very small and sparsely decorated, but there are nice touches of Hebrew letters on the walls and Esther dolls for Purim that bring the place to life. We got to work soon after arriving, wetting the walls and tearing down the wallpaper. We also scraped and rolled glue onto the walls to prepare them for the next day. We had a very nice lunch of fish and salad at a restaurant that was definitely too fancy for our dirty clothes! After lunch, we went back to work. At the end of the day, we played with the children who were absolutely adorable bundled up in their winter clothes. Although most of us don’t know more than a few phrases in Russian or Hebrew, we were able to communicate just fine.

At night, we changed into nicer clothes and got ready to go to D’Lux, a high-end club in Kiev, for a Purim party hosted by the Israeli Embassy. The party was so much fun! We walked up the stairs to the third floor only to see a two-story dance party going on with fellow Jews dancing on the bottom floor and two women singing on stage on the top floor. They were framed by flashing videos of Purim scenes. Some were wearing costumes (we met a pirate and a drag queen disco ball), while others came in nice clothes. It was amazing to see such a lively Jewish community here coming together to celebrate our holidays openly after so many years of being unable to do so. We definitely found ourselves dancing the whole night, with several of us on stage. At eleven when we were supposed to go, no one wanted to leave! We actively protested, but we ended up going back to the hotel to hang out and unwind. The day far exceeded my expectations, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!

- Jeff Kerbel ’15 & Laura Schapiro ‘12

We began our day today serving LA's Jewish community for a few hours before we begin our regular project at Woodcrest Elementary School, which of course will not be Jewish service. We visited with the Jewish Home for the Aging and the residents there. Different groups had different experiences, but my group consisted of a somewhat awkward mingling with residents, followed by leading them in exercises and Tai Chi. Most of our time, however, was spent sitting and talking with the residents and listening to their stories. Although not everyone was willing or able to talk, toward the end of the morning, I ended up having an incredibly meaningful and heartwarming experience with a woman who turned out to be from Romania.

The rest of the day consisted of a few hours at Santa Monica Pier, during which Michael and I were enticed to try out a new ride that flipped us around in many different directions and dimensions. Got a free ice cream out of it, though. We then heard a dynamic presentation from former California State Assembly member and Los Angeles School Board president Jackie Goldberg and a juxtaposition of clips from the documentaries "Waiting for Superman" and "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" that gave us some interesting and much needed context regarding the work we will be doing in an LA public school this week.

Conor Farrell, Class of 2013

 Exercising with residents at the Jewish Home for the Aging

Having fun at Santa Monica Pier