Good morning everyone,
In my three years as an officer of SAJE - one as Treasurer, and two as President - I've been fortunate to see us go from a nascent RSO to a community with weekly programming, enthusiasm for Jewish life and learning, and a reach of scores (if not hundreds) of students.
It's been an honor to oversee this, but this must be seen in context of a broader change in campus Jewish community. The past few years have seen unprecedented support from Hillel, the Office of Spiritual Life, and the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies; and a reciprocal explosion in Jewish student life. Almost all of our programming has been cosponsored with one of the above institutions and/or other student Jewish groups, such as the campus minyanim and JewSA.
It became clear during the SAJE leadership transition process that This expansion in organized Jewish life makes the current structure of SAJE both untenable and redundant. Almost all of the members of the board are associated with other Jewish student groups, so no one has the time required to lead SAJE as an independent RSO. Furthermore, most of the programming we do could be organized identically by our many partners without SAJE's intermediary role.
Deciding what (if any) roles SAJE has to play, and how other roles will be assumed by the campus community, is a decision too large for the board to make alone. As such, we invite and ask all of you to come to SAJE's meeting tomorrow 6:00 PM at Hillel. There will be snacks (suggestions welcome). There will still be elections, though none of the offices are contested. But most importantly, we need to draw up a plan for SAJE so that its community, its stakeholders, and the whole campus community will be best served for years to come.
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As this is my last message as President, I would like to give thanks to the board, who dedicated time to make SAJE grow; and to past president and founder Bin Dauber, who taught me the technical details of running an RSO. I am especially grateful that I had Tova Reiter as my Vice President. Not only did she repeatedly step up to serve when I was unavailable (most notably, for a whole quarter last winter); SAJE would have been effectively leaderless without her understanding of the campus community, passion for Jewish life, and readily available counsel.
But most of all, I'd like to thank all of you for participating in our community and trusting in its leadership. May our community, no matter what organizational umbrella it's under, go from strength to strength, and continue to be "a tree of life to those who hold fast to it, [where] all who cling to it find happiness."
Avi Levin
President
Student Alliance for Jewish Enrichment
In my three years as an officer of SAJE - one as Treasurer, and two as President - I've been fortunate to see us go from a nascent RSO to a community with weekly programming, enthusiasm for Jewish life and learning, and a reach of scores (if not hundreds) of students.
It's been an honor to oversee this, but this must be seen in context of a broader change in campus Jewish community. The past few years have seen unprecedented support from Hillel, the Office of Spiritual Life, and the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies; and a reciprocal explosion in Jewish student life. Almost all of our programming has been cosponsored with one of the above institutions and/or other student Jewish groups, such as the campus minyanim and JewSA.
It became clear during the SAJE leadership transition process that This expansion in organized Jewish life makes the current structure of SAJE both untenable and redundant. Almost all of the members of the board are associated with other Jewish student groups, so no one has the time required to lead SAJE as an independent RSO. Furthermore, most of the programming we do could be organized identically by our many partners without SAJE's intermediary role.
Deciding what (if any) roles SAJE has to play, and how other roles will be assumed by the campus community, is a decision too large for the board to make alone. As such, we invite and ask all of you to come to SAJE's meeting tomorrow 6:00 PM at Hillel. There will be snacks (suggestions welcome). There will still be elections, though none of the offices are contested. But most importantly, we need to draw up a plan for SAJE so that its community, its stakeholders, and the whole campus community will be best served for years to come.
-----
As this is my last message as President, I would like to give thanks to the board, who dedicated time to make SAJE grow; and to past president and founder Bin Dauber, who taught me the technical details of running an RSO. I am especially grateful that I had Tova Reiter as my Vice President. Not only did she repeatedly step up to serve when I was unavailable (most notably, for a whole quarter last winter); SAJE would have been effectively leaderless without her understanding of the campus community, passion for Jewish life, and readily available counsel.
But most of all, I'd like to thank all of you for participating in our community and trusting in its leadership. May our community, no matter what organizational umbrella it's under, go from strength to strength, and continue to be "a tree of life to those who hold fast to it, [where] all who cling to it find happiness."
Avi Levin
President
Student Alliance for Jewish Enrichment
