OU NEXTGEN HEART TO HEART PROJECT HOSTS
NATIONAL STUDENT LEADERSHIP SHABBATON, AUGUST 10-12
AT RIVERDALE JEWISH CENTER
As part of the Orthodox Union’s continually expanding emphasis on enhancing Jewish life on college campuses, more than 60 student leaders representing 21 campuses across the United States and Canada will join for a Student Leadership Shabbaton, hosted by The Heart to Heart Project (H2H) – an OU NextGen partnership program. The Shabbaton will take place Friday, August 10-Sunday, August 12 at the Riverdale Jewish Center, 3700 Independence Avenue.
Hart Levine, H2H Founder and Director, described the organization as “an independent grass-roots movement of active Jewish students sharing the beauty of Torah Judaism with non-active Jewish students who are living in their dorms and attending the same classes — friends sharing what they love with their friends.”
“The future of the Jewish people can be found right on the college campus,” declared OU Executive Director Rabbi Steven Burg. “Through programs such as the Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), in which Jewish rabbinic couples serve as Torah Educators in cooperation with Hillel at 15 college campuses in the United States and Canada, thereby combining campus life with Torah life, and now Heart to Heart, the OU has an ever-growing presence on campus.”
“Through NCSY and the Jewish Student Union, we play a major role in the life of Jewish teens,” Rabb Burg said. “Then we see them on campus and continue to reach them as alumni. The contact over the years can be summed up by our increasing commitment to the NextGen pillar of OU priorities,” Rabbi Burg said.
Rabbi Burg is also International Director of NCSY.
Attending the Shabbaton will be Rabbi Dave Felsenthal, Director of the OU NextGen Division; and Rabbi Menachem Schrader, Director of JLIC. “The Heart to Heart Shabbaton allows students to share with others what they’ve been doing in terms of building and expanding Jewish life on their campus, and to hear from peers, professionals and other campus leaders,” explained Hart Levine. “This Shabbaton will provide the means and space to inspire and train student leaders to have a greater impact on their campus’ Jewish life, and to foster the growing network and ideas of Heart to Heart.”
OU | Enhancing Jewish Life