This week's CHUSY Israel Newsy!

February 26th, 2021

Israel Affairs Edition

February 26th, 2021

14 Adar, 5781

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Candle Lighting Times for this coming Shabbat:

Chicago, IL:

Shabbat Candles Friday: 5:18pm

Havdallah Saturday: 6:20pm

Milwaukee, WI:

Shabbat Candles Friday: 5:20pm

Havdallah Saturday: 6:21pm

Madison, WI:

Shabbat Candles Friday: 5:25pm

Havdallah Saturday: 6:27pm

Your monthly update from CHUSY Israel Affairs VP, Stephanie Kallish

Shalom CHUSY! I am super excited to present you with this month’s edition of the CHUSY Israel Newsy. CHUSY has had a fantastic and eventful month pertaining to Israel. At Specialty Convention, USYers enjoyed a super fun Israel Board Game program, in which each spot on the board game led to an Israel related activity or trivia question. USYers from CHUSY and CRUSY were able to learn about various topics including but not limited to early Zionism, Kibbutzim/Moshavim and Israeli organizations working to combat food insecurity.

Later that day, over 20 USYers attended the Chalutzim late night to learn about the Israeli elections that are taking place again on Tuesday, March 23rd. We reviewed how the Israeli parliament operates, examined the ideals and qualities of all of the major political parties, and split people into teams to predict the results of this hectic election. Using the Haaretz official interactive polling graphic, each team was able to formulate their own ideal coalition and face off with another team to pitch why their coalition would be the one that actually forms. It will be interesting to see if a team got it correct!

In addition, I am super thrilled to announce that the Israel Corner has been officially uploaded to the CHUSY website! The Israel corner contains tons of information, and is a great spot to check out to answer any questions you may have about Israel , or to learn more about a specific topic of interest. It contains this year’s past Israel Updates, key terms to know, important Israeli figures, a timeline of Israel’s history, geography, and an overview of Israeli and Palestinain culture. All of this important information is right at your fingertips, using the link http://www.chusy.org/israel. You can also just look up the CHUSY website, click USY, then click Israel corner, and you will see it!

I hope you all had a meaningful and joyus Purim! Did you know that Jerusalem celebrates Purim on a different day than we do? In most of Persia, the struggle between the Jewish people and their enemies took place on the 13th of Adar and then they rested and celebrated on the 14th of Adar. However, in the capital city of Shushan the fighting continued for two days and the celebrations did not take place until the 15th of Adar. When the holiday of Purim was set for the 14th of Adar, the sages decided that Shushan residents would observe Purim on the 15th of Adar, which is now known as “Shushan Purim”. Along with Shushan (modern-day southwestern Iran), all cities that were walled at the time when the Isrealites entered Canaan (Israel) under the leadership of Joshua, observe Purim on the 15th. Today, Jerusalem celebrates Shushan Purim, and cities such as Jaffa and Tiberias celebrate two days of purim (14th and 15th of Adar) because it is unclear whether or not these cities were walled when the Israelites entered Cannan. I think that this is a cool fact, and I hope to one day celebrate Shushan Purim in Jerusalem!

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or topics about Israel that you want to discuss!

Stay Sabbaba,

Stephanie Kallish

CHUSY Israel Affairs Vice President

ia@chusy.org

Coming Up in CHUSY!

Want to be a CHUSY Leader? Run for the 2021-2022 CHUSY Regional Executive Board!

CHUSY, that time of year has arrived! Candidate packets for the 2021-2022 Regional Executive Board are live. If you want to make a difference in CHUSY next year and are truly passionate, send in your application for next year's REB! It is one of the greatest leadership opportunities and one that will give you memories for a lifetime. If you have any questions, we invite you to speak with any of the seven members on the CHUSY REB about anything.

Applications are due Tuesday, March 16th to the CHUSY Region office, or by email to Daniel Warshawsky (dwarshawsky@uscj.org), Marc Sender (msender@uscj.org), and Geoffrey Gitles (president@chusy.org).

No late applications will be accepted.