A L T E R N A T I V E S P R I N G B R E A K 2 0 1 5
Program Highlights:
Survey of affected areas & storytelling with local community leaders
Speaker Panel of disaster survivors local heroes and long-term recovery specialists
Night out in the Historical town of Conway and downtown Little
Rock!
Day tours to learn about the rich history of the Civil Rights movement in Little Rock
Pluralistic and “local flavor”
Shabbat experience customized by students and staff

THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
What We Find and What We Leave Behind
At 5:30pm yesterday, we all met in the cafeteria in order to have a lengthy discussion about our place as visiting volunteers. We read a poem, “The Tourist,” by an Israeli about people who visit his homeland, as well as an article in The
New York Times about the response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy. Our talks, which were led by two people in our group, boiled down to the importance of solidarity and empathy when it comes to the people whom we are helping.
They are human beings too, so it is paramount to treat them as such.
This message was appropriately timed, as we had guests come in for dinner immediately afterwards. Two of them came from
Christian organizations that are here to help during the entirety of the rebuilding process, while the other three-a middle-aged woman and her two daughters-were survivors from when the tornado struck last year. After a nice meal with them, where I got to learn specifically about the relief efforts around
Mayflower and Villonia, there was a panel with the two social workers and the mother.
Based on the timeline we were given during the panel, most of the homes that are being rebuilt should be completed and in place by this August. Quite frankly, it took a lot of pressure off of our shoulders, now that we know that we are not alone in our efforts. In fact, there are 22 organizations working in the area, many of them have been here since the summer. It will be they who complete this overwhelming project; we are just a piece of it.
What encouraged us even further was the mother’s part in the panel, as she went into detail about the hardships that she and her family have gone through. She kept mentioning God, and how He put many of us in the right place at the right time so that we could do our part. Even the less religious of our group must have respected this viewpoint, and how it is just as important as any charity in restoring the spirits of these people. Some of them were in the midst of the tornado that struck in 2011, while others suffer from PTSD. How could they handle such turbulence alone? How could any of us?
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THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
Most people tend to stop noticing these survivors once the news media ends its coverage of places like Arkansas, where disaster has struck. It hardly means that the survivors are no long struggling everyday just to get by. It feels like my responsibility, my passion, to not forget these people once I return home.
Otherwise, I would be doing myself a disservice to the work that we are doing and the people we are helping. We are not tourists, but fellow human beings who should not take the home of another minutes away, marked my first experience of outdoor work so far during this trip. I was at the warehouse on the day before. The rain had finally stopped earlier in the day, and gray skies with hints of sunlight were over our heads the entire time. I probably could have left my jacket in the van.
With trash bags that covered my shoes and reached up to my knees-the ground was very muddy and wet-I helped in clearing the vast backyard of this farm, handling trash, and moving around logs. The tractor we were using to carry the planks of wood broke down halfway (not my fault), but we pressed on, carrying them by hand from the edge of the back yard to the farmhouse. While we weren't "building houses" as I had expected, the clean up that we were doing was essentially to allow the community to rebuild. You wouldn't be able to tell, but every house I saw, except for maybe two, was less than a year old. The ones that stood beforehand were spirited away by the tornado. Luckily, some of the homeowners had insurance, or "Eenshur-ance," as many of the Arkansas natives call it.
After an hour-long lunch at around noon, we drove off to our next destinations. These "lots" we approached were plots of land that had exceptionally large amounts of debris. Property couldn't be placed there until they were cleaned up.
The lots were deceptively narrow, as much of the small debris took up a majority of the time. It was hard to discern where natural terrain ended and debris began. The second lot took especially long, as muddy hills and thorny bushes greatly obstructed our progress. Still, we stayed in good spirits, taking pictures by the site, one of Penn State students, the other of Syracuse students.
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THE LOREM IPSUMS
Before the last lot, we visited a tornado shelter. It was a small concrete shelter, underground, around 6 feet high and maybe
7 square feet. Some of them cost upwards of thousands of dollars. Beside this particular one was a flat plot of land with what was left of the floor of a completely blown away trailer home. The front tile of the remaining walkway had a crucifix carved in. These shelters include a can or two of food, a bible, and something to entertain-a baseball, maybe. They don't need much, as most people only stay inside for an hour at most. I asked why, and that's when I learned how fast tornadoes blow through these areas. They blow through a single spot in a matter of seconds, and take with it decades worth of property. It is these materials that we are trying to clean up, and no doubt it will take weeks if not months to do it.
FALL 2016
Within our proximity was the third lot, which we cleaned up in around 15 minutes, picking up items such as floppy disks and toy train tracks. As we left to return home from a hard day’s work, a dog sat by the road, watching us drive away. We had seen many dogs running around, and some of us had taken pictures with them and pet them.
This dog though kept its distance before turning around, presumably to return to its owner, resting in the safety of his home.
Rob Gelb
Class of 2016
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THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
Yesterday we volunteered at a church’s warehouse filled with donated clothes for the tornado survivors. As soon as we stepped out of our white vans, two older women and a 4-year-old girl named Bella greeted us.
We ventured into the center room which was filled with many racks of clothing. The two women assigned us different tasks including folding clothes, packing up the empty hangers, and loading filled boxes into the vans. I was responsible for building cardboard boxes and I enlisted Bella as my helper, whom later became my boss. I folded up the flat cardboard box, Bella taped it from one end to the other, and then, I cut the tape and moved the box over to the pile. Bella wanted to cut the tape so we found her small blue scissors and she eventually was doing every step of building the boxes. We built 4 stacks of boxes and then took pictures in the boxes. In the background, we heard our group cheering every time they finished a full box and Bella clapped her hands and cheered! During our lunch break, Bella and I went to the swing set and picked dandelions to give to everyone.
By the time we left the warehouse, it was empty. The boxes were loaded into the vans, the racks were broken down and stored away, and the hangers were placed in garbage bags lining the room. Bella put a smile on all of our faces and we were able to put smiles on strangers' (who we will never meet) faces through our work.
Rebecca Lerman
Class of 2017
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THE LOREM IPSUMS
The Hebrew word for charity is tzedakah. The word tzedakah comes from the root word tzedek, which means justice. The fact that these two words come intertwined challenges us to think critically and act intentionally when we serve others. The interwoven nature of the words tzedakah and tzedek reminds us that tzedakah means that we cannot serve others without doing justice work. It urges us to be conscious of how we perceive those we serve, because tzedakah is not about handouts given in pity or obligation. It means that in order to truly serve others, we must place ourselves in their shoes and attempt to view the world through their experiences in order to truly empathize with them. It means that at all times we must remember that there is a humane way to help people, while keeping their agency and personhood intact.
Alternative spring break challenged many of my prior assumptions about tzedakah and tzedek. When I went on alternative spring break, I had the expectation that I would be rebuilding houses that were destroyed by tornadoes in Arkansas. Contrary to my previous expectations, we never actually built any houses. Mostly, we picked up debris that had been in peoples’ homes prior to being scattered by the tornadoes. Many of these objects were personal, sentimental, and some were perhaps even private. We picked up dolls, yearbooks, children’s clothes, picture frames, and an odd sex toy. It was a stark reminder of the personal privacy and dignity that is stripped away suddenly and quickly in cases of environmental destruction and natural disaster. Our ability to view personal possessions allowed us a small window into the lives of whom the destruction had affected, permitting us to view the world through their eyes for a moment and empathize with them. It reminded us of their humanity. During alternative spring break, as a group, we read a poem called “Tourists,” by Yehuda Amichai, which challenges us not to come into this place as tourists, viewing the people and our environment as exotic and foreign, as if in a zoo. Our work forced us to implement that philosophy in action. The act of picking up the remnants of peoples’ lives and attempting to piece their lives back together, although we never actually built any houses, inspired in me a new question: how do we build? What does it mean to build?
Alternative spring break gave me a new understanding of tzedakah. The work was long, tiring, and often not easy. We never met the people whose personal belongings we picked up from the earth. It taught me that tzedakah is not supposed to be easy, or quickly accomplished. Meeting the people whose lives we had glimpsed would have been too self-congratulatory, and would have removed the anonymity that allows them to retain their agency and personhood.
Alternative spring break renewed my sense of justice, because justice is always a process, an amalgamation of many smaller acts of tzedakah that restore dignity and personhood when it is taken away.
Emily Newman
Class of 2016
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THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
I often look back on that week in Arkansas and reflect on the experiences I found there. Meeting Minnie
Jean Brown of the Little Rock Nine; not only learning from, but VOLUNTEERING alongside the everinspirational Scott Fried; planting trees for a woman whose lawn was stripped bare by last year's tornado; setting up a temporary walkway for a family of 7 so their kids don't have to wear plastic bags to cross a muddy path to the bus; that break was certainly rewarding. It recharged my passion for community service; I'm looking forward to doing it again someday. Most of all, I'm glad I got to experience all this with friends old and new.
Sam Viknyansky
Class of 2017
Service is something I was never able to fully understand. For years, service meant donating food to a food bank, raising money for a homeless shelter, or building a house for a family, but after going on
Alternative Spring Break 2015 with Penn State Hillel, service has taken a new form. Originally, service meant doing something or giving something tangible to someone else who I could know or see, but working with the JDRC and Hillel in Arkansas gave me a new perspective. Every day, we would go into lots filled with debris and remove it so that the lots would be cleaner for others to purchase and build homes for. There was never a direct link to those that we were helping. When the week started, I didn’t understand how I could make a difference to a family or someone who I didn’t know or see, but as we departed Arkansas, I realized that the self-fulfillment I was looking for didn’t come from what I could see or feel, but from the happiness that someone else will have one day.
Eric Yoffee
Class of 2016
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THE LOREM IPSUMS
When I first was introduced to the idea of going on an alternative spring break with Hillel I was a bit apprehensive. The idea of giving up my hard earned break didn’t seem so attractive, however
I am so grateful of the decision I did finally make.
It all started on March 8 th
when myself and 12 other Penn
State students took a flight from Pennsylvania to Arkansas.
Arkansas was chosen in particular because it is a state prone to tornados year after year, and the residents desperately needed outside help. When we arrived we were seated into two 15passenger vans along with our luggage. We were told that we would be spending a lot of time in these vans throughout the week and that couldn’t have been more correct.
Once we arrived at the campsite where we would be staying, it seemed to be a nice remote campsite with only a few buildings. Then we met the other 15 students from Syracuse
University. I could tell immediately that it would be a very interesting week and I would enjoy myself.
On the first day of actual work we got into the vans and drove to a valley where it was obvious that there had been massive destruction due to tornados. There was debris everywhere and I could tell that we would have a lot of work ahead of us in the week. We were brought to a lot that was completely empty except for various debris scattered around. Then we went out to pick up debris to make the lots more presentable so that they can be resold or used again for property. This is how most of the week panned out, we mostly picked up debris on various lots, which doesn’t sound that enticing, however it was a very rewarding experience.
I’d say what stood out to me the most was meeting some of the families that we were helping. To actually see the people who are being directly affected by our service was inspiring and definitely caused us to be more productive. Along with the families, the team work that we took part in definitely brought some of the Syracuse and Penn State students together and created friendships.
I would never trade this memory for anything else in the world. It was an amazing heartwarming experience that I will take with me throughout my entire life. I would like to thank everyone who made this trip possible, our coordinators and especially Leah
Chakoff for making everything fun and safe for us. This trip wouldn’t be possible without them.
Lee Gregory-Rosenthal
Class of 2016
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THE LOREM IPSUMS
Alternative spring break was an amazing and rewarding experience. I made great friends and truly enjoyed working with the communities that were affected by the devastating tornado that hit the towns Mayflower and Conway, Arkansas. The work we did made a valuable impact on those people’s lives.
On the spring break prior to this trip, I went to Cancun with a few friends for a typical college spring break experience, but I can honestly say that I made more friends, shared more laughs, and had more incredible experiences to remember on my ASB trip. It was definitely a more fun and fulfilling way to spend spring break!
Ben Plotnick
Class of 2016
FALL 2016
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THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
How Much Difference Can One Week Make?
It is impossible to describe the experience I had during my Alternative Spring Break this year; there are simply no words. Nonetheless, when I look back, I remember things, good and bad, that I will cherish forever:
I remember the fun, crazy, muddy-literally- times we had.
I remember the laughs shared, the memories made, and the lessons learned.
I remember the long days, and the group activities, meals and bonding times during the evening.
I also remember the sadness dawning on us as we realized just how much damage tornados have done in the little towns of Conway, Mayflower, and Vilonia, in Arkansas, and the lives that were destroyed as a result, one way or another.
I remember picking up people’s belonging; people whose state of being (and whether or not they are even alive), still to this day, remains unknown.
I remember turning 22, and celebrating with about 25 people, most of whom I had met barely a week prior, and some of whom have been friends for years.
I remember singing Aladdin’s “A Whole New World” at karaoke night, only later realizing the ironic symbolism of the title of the song to our work in Arkansas.
I remember being cold, wet, extremely out of my comfort zone, sore, tired, complaining….
But then…
I also remember the people of Arkansas; the tornado victims. I remember their courage, their hope, their motivation, and their desire to survive, and not just to survive but also to LIVE.
I remember how inspiring, hopeful and happy they were.
I remember the lessons I learned:
About life.
About making each moment count.
About not taking things for granted, and most importantly…
About helping others.
I remember…making a difference.
At the end of one week, we were only 25 people, 5 staff members, 2 big white vans, and one camp-Camp Beaverfork, which became home for that one week.
At the end of one week, we were trying to help 3 towns destroyed by tornados, and all of its countless victims and survivors.
At the end of one week, we cleared fields from debris (where once had stood homes, and in them had lived families…people who had a story, a purpose, a life filled with hope and dreams that were instantaneously crushed by a merciless, tremendous volcano).
At the end of one week, we cut out and painted “Stars of Hope” and some tires to donate to local schools and homes.
At the end of one week, we had created bonds and relationships that will last a lifetime.
At the end of one week, we had realized the brittleness of life, the simplicity of being happy and making the most of unfortunate circumstances, and how lucky we all are to even be alive and be fortunate enough to help others.
At the end of one week, we saw the beauty and kindness of humankind and the potential of humanity to do good in the world.
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THE LOREM IPSUMS
At the end of one week, we had made a difference.
At the end of one week, there are two ways to look at my Alternative Spring Break:
One way is to assume that all we had done was tediously clear fields, paint some pieces of wood, and hear some stories from tornado victims and survivors.
The other way, the one I personally choose, is to realize that clearing all those fields was a base and the beginning steps for later on laying down foundations, building houses, relocating homeless families into those newly build houses, making those houses homes, and giving someone the ultimate gift of a better life. Realizing, that instead of painting pieces of wood, we painted “Stars of Hope”, which would boost up morale and create hope, show compassion, demonstrate never-ending support, promote insane courage, and provide humanitarian aid and endless love to all the past, present and future tornado victims. And lastly, to realize that by hearing stories from tornado victims and survivors, not only can we learn lessons that we should cherish for the rest of our lives, but to realize that those victims and survivors lost everything, and despite that, never gave up hope and always looked out for each other. We should realize that such inspiration and motivation to do good deeds in the world, simply because we can, can move mountains, and it is our duty to pass that on to others.
And so, I remember, that at the end of one week, all of our little seemingly useless acts at the time, have made a difference in many lives (including our own).
At the end of one week, we left Arkansas having made a miniscule difference in the world, but a huge difference for those who needed it.
And isn’t that the whole point? To make the world a better place, one little act of kindness at a time? I believe that it is…and I consider all those little acts of kindness, all those tiny little differences made, and all those lessons learned, to be the little wonders of the world.
Spring Break is all about having fun (some might even say the time of their lives), while making unforgettable memories and having breathtaking experiences. And
I had the privilege of experiencing just that, this past Spring Break.
On this incredible, educational, inspirational, life-changing, emotional, memorable, and laughter-filled Alternative Spring Break trip, we put the sass in Arkansas, while helping out the citizens of Conway,
Mayflower and Vilonia with Tornado relief work.
Never underestimate how much difference one little act of kindness can make. Never underestimate how much difference YOU can make. We
CAN make the world a better place, and someday we will…so why not make someday, TODAY?
All it takes is a single, simple act of kindness, to make all the difference in the world.
Ilana Shtivelman
Class of 2018
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FALL 2016

There are many opportunities to go on an alternative break with
Hillel. They are wonderful opportunities and we hope you will consider joining us on an upcoming trip!