Roo October 2009 Edition

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The AAUSY ‘Roo October 2009 Edition

Edited By: The 2009-2010 AAUSY Communications VP Drew Lieberman

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The AAUSY ‘Roo September 2009

Table of Contents: Welcome to USY!...............................................................3 Upcoming Events……………………………………………..4 Advisory………………………………………………………..5 A Word from the President ………………………………….5 REC Rules ………………………………………..…………..6 Kadima Krazed…...............................................................6 Israel Update………………………………………………….7 That’s So SATO………………………………………………8 Legend vs. Life…………………………………………....….8 AAUSY word search…………………………………….…...9 Pictures……………………………………………………..10

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Welcome to USY! What is USY? USY stands for United Synagogue Youth. It is the official youth branch of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The Agudas Achim Synagogue chapter, AAUSY, belongs to the Southwest USY Region known as SWUSY, which encompasses all USY chapters in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. What do we do in AAUSY? Our local Austin chapter of USY, AAUSY, usually has events twice a month. Programming ranges anywhere from fun social events, like a Chinese New Year Party or broomball, to religious events, like a Sukkot gathering or USY Shabbat services, to community service projects and exciting Israel programs. In addition, the SWUSY Region hosts 3 regional conventions throughout the school year that bring together Jewish teenagers from all over the Southwestern United States for several days of fun-filled activities, making new friends, and of course, davening (that means praying) SWUSY-style! How can I stay informed about AAUSY? There are several ways to ensure that you are up-to-date on all things USY! Firstly, make sure that both your personal e-mail address and one of your parents’ e-mail addresses are part of the listserve! Listserve is a helpful tool that we use to send e-mails to everyone in AAUSY at once. To have your e-mail added to the listserve, send an e-mail to Sarah Laves at [email protected]. Is AAUSY on Facebook? Absolutely! In fact, one of the very best ways to stay up-to-date on AAUSY is to join both the AAUSY facebook group, and the SWUSY facebook group. Joining both will ensure that you receive online invitations (and can RSVP online) to all chapter and regional events. We also recently have added a facebook page so

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you can become a fan of AAUSY and hear about upcoming events. And AAUSY is on twitter as well. Who is in charge of AAUSY? AAUSY is led by our two advisors, Samantha Tugentman and Maury Jacobs, who are both former students at the University of Texas at Austin. AAUSY is also run by a seven member chapter executive board, which is elected in May of each year. The board positions are President, Religious Education and Culture VP, Israel Affairs VP, Membership/Kadima VP, Social Action/Tikkun Olam VP, Communications VP, and Outreach VP. There is also a chapter general board, which is chosen at the beginning of each school year by the chapter executive board.

Upcoming Events

“AAUSY goes Wild” Overnight- On November 14th, AAUSY will have its first overnight. We Will be playing blazer tag, having a monster scavenger hunt as hang with friends from across the region. In December we will also be having a channukah bash ( December 12th) and AAUSY services ( December 5th)

Kadima Movie night- On November 7th 2009 AAUSY will have a kadima movie night. It is open to all kids in 6th to 8th grade, it is going to be a blast.

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A word from the president

Shalom! AAUSY this month has had some crazy times! We baked and decorated cupcakes for the homeless while watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and having a sweets party in general! We were able to help the homeless, even if only a little, and have fun with each other at the same time. Finding out who the master bakers were in AAUSY was also fun, as each person got to help in some way, be it cracking the eggs or pouring the batter. Our next event was in Ft. Worth with the rest of SWUSY. We tied dyed t-shirts, dressed up as hippies, and got to hang out with friends from around Texas and Oklahoma. It was a blast! I'm so excited for AAUSY's next overnight, AAUSY Gone Wild, on November 14th. The theme is "Where the Wild Things Are," so we're going to be making s'mores out by a bonfire and playing laser tag! I hope to see everyone there! B'ahava, Sarah Laves AAUSY President '09-'10

Rec

Advisory We want to take this opportunity to express how thrilled we are about the start of AAUSY's year! We are so proud of the executive board for putting such dedication and hard work into making some of the best events AAUSY has ever seen. The Freshman Kidnap was an unbelievable success with 14 freshmen participating, Iron Chef was a blast making our own gourmet pizzas, and the movie night was a relaxing night in while baking for the hungry. We also want to thank the rest of the AAUSY chapter for being so active this year. We have had about 30+ kids at each event, and we hope to get even more at our overnight on Nov. 14! It is because of each member of AAUSY for spreading the word and participating that we have had so much success this year. Looking forward to the rest of the semester and some more AAwesome events! Best, Samantha and Maury

Rules!!!!

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Parsha of the month Hey you guys, the Torah reading for this week are Noach Genesis 6:19-11:32. “G-d instructs Noah -- the only righteous man in a world consumed by violence and corruption -- to build a large wooden teivah ("ark"), coated within and without with pitch. A great deluge, says G-d, will wipe out all life from the face of the earth; but the ark will float upon the water, sheltering Noah and his family, and two members (male and female) of each animal species.” This is probably one of my favorite torah portions for several reasons, one is that I think that the story is great and you can learn a lot from its meaning. Here are the times for the next three weeks to light candles on Shabbat (In Austin Texas) 10/28/09 6:28 PM 11/6/09 5:22 PM 11/13/09 5:18 PM Sincerely, Ari Dimston 2009-2010 AAUSY Religious Education Culture VP

Kadima Krazed So last month we had our first social action/tikkun olam event! People talked and mad cupcakes for the homeless while watching willie wonka and the chocolate factory. It was a blast!We Will be having our AAUSY Overnight on November 14th! We will be playing Lazer tag, and few other surprises. Also, November 7th, we will have our kadima movie night event Over the weekend of October 23-25 we had Kamp Kadima as a part of Fall Kallah! I co-chaired (helped plan) Kamp Kadima and new first hand that all of the kadimaniks had a blast as we had some awesome super swusytastical ruach sessions and went mud sliding! All my love, Elijah Price 2009-2010 AAUSY MEM/KAD V.P.

Israel Update Last weekend we had SWUSY’s Fall Kallah. And at most conventions there is usually a late night program for one or all of the three clubs USY has to offer. The

7 three clubs are 613 (the Social Action and Tikun Olam club), Heschel Honor Society (the Religious Education club) and finally, my favorite, HeChalutzim (the Israel club). This convention was no different, and on Friday night, put on by the regional IA, Jonathan Lipton, we had a program that made Israel even sweeter than it already is. Attendees were split into two teams and were given a map of Israel, various delectable candies and other sweet treats to illustrate the map even further. My team put green M&M’s and Heresy’s Bars in the north to show the green eucalyptus trees and other greenery in the Golan Heights. We put large stacks of candy on Tel Aviv to represent the city skyscrapers and walls around Jerusalem depicting The Old City. In the Negev we put desert colored candies and then enjoyed our dessert after explaining our recreation of the map of Israel. It was a delicious way to enjoy Israel. B’shalom Aimée Rochelle Kanter AAUSY Israel Affair and Programming Vice President 2009-2010

Want to experience Israel for yourself?

2010 USY Summer Programs Early Bird Registration is now open! Sign up now to go on Pilgrimage as well as other great Summer Programs that USY has to offer and save money. The sooner you sign up, the more you will save! Contact me or the advisors through email, facebook or phone if you have any questions! I’ve had the summers of my life since spending my last 2

That’s So SATO summers

Shalom! October was a great time for AAUSY to help give back to our community and make sure people have extra help in the colder weather! AAUSY's October event, Charlie

8 and the Chocolate Factory Palooza, was centered around baking cupcakes for homeless people. We made over 60 cupcakes that we were able to donate to the University Baptist Church on the UT Campus. Every Thursday they host a "Gods Dinner" for homeless people, and that's when our cupcakes were able to be distributed to people in need. It was also a lot of fun making the cupcakes with a bunch of friends! Then at Fall Kallah, we had toy donations that would be given to children in the Ft. Worth area with cancer. We were also able to raise over $1,000 that will be saved until the end of the year where we decide which donation to allocate the money to. It's been a great month, and our next event will be the AAUSY overnight on November 14th. Hope to see everyone there! Nathan Sorkin AAUSY SA/TO VP '09-'10

Legend vs. Life The One-on-One Clashing of Creatures from Myth and Reality By Louis Lutes, Outreach VP

Series Record Legend : 0 Life :0 Tie:1

This Month’s Matchup: DRAGON VS. DINOSAUR Good day, and welcome to our second issue of Legend VS Life. This month’s matchup is sure to be a great success. From the land of Legend we have the drastically dangerous Dragon! And from real life, straight from prehistory, we have the ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex, the mighty Dinosaur! Both need no formalities said about them. The battlefield: A small island of land surrounded by a massive river of lava! Here’s how I think it would happen: T. Rex lets off a roar, as does the dragon. The dragon, a natural flyer, lifts itself up to the sky and circles around the T. Rex. The T. Rex would follow after its prey with its eyes, waiting anxiously. Then, whoosh! The dragon dives down and breathes fire at its foe! The T. Rex might take a few small burns, though it wouldn’t be out for the count. However, the T. Rex would take a good bite at the dragon, clipping its wing and bringing it down to the same level. Both sides stuck to the ground and with minor injuries, the T. Rex would charge. The dragon would flap its good wing to pull itself over to the side and dodge. The T. Rex’s momentum would be too much, sending it straight into the river of lava! So ends the dinosaur, leaving the DRAGON AS OUR WINNER! Now, some of you may say that if the battlefield had been different, the dinosaur would’ve won, to which I must disagree. Dragons have a sizeable intellect, whereas the T. Rex had a very, very small brain. I’m sure the dragon would’ve found a way.

AAUSY Word Search

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U T L W X A L D R X F X I X F E E I W C K H N T O

N W G C C E R W R C T L S V G A D K O N Q C X C J

Q L L I F F B O S G P K R K V T A G D D X A Z M B

V A A Z U U Z N O A E Y A L H U K J P H C E B H U

A R T W M F V R Y O I D E O G T M U L P C R W Y P

N S Q F E C H N X S I L L R W M E S S V B T Y I I

A Z N M H J A E H M L M A Q Y A M C Q Q Q U U Z Z

Find These Words: blue swusy sato rec

D D X Z S K A K A U N A F S D E H J O R O O C Q I

P H C C S O Y G J H S X F J W R W Y C I W I B S W

C D V O D W N E N P L I A H P E Q K O X M A V X U

K O V M G L O P H A H E I B F F R D P G A F A Z F

Y O P M B H W L C B K Q R K P Q B D V Y S F M G O

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V A T U W X T F A M X H S H U Z A X O R A N G E X

D X F N C E P M U G B F A D E T V E C W T R C O Z

C N P I I K D F R M E N O B S L W U N Q J S A P Z

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E Q A A W L B T J J J V Y W Q N C X Y K H G U A Y

F B I T P T O C P T Y K W X J F S R S B X O G S X

F L U I J C K L E M X Q K C H Z J W J B T B O Z V

D U E O X I Q M F U O B T B O D C E U A A Z G Y E

T E J N Q Z N T F G J K M Z S Q A F S S G Q N A R

Y R I S W B N S Q H U K L P K H O Z H K Y X U C G

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E L A H B X C H M K E E X O Y Q A L Y X D V C X K

H Y T T W D J U H X Z V Q M E E E N H Y M H U O I

C J H S L P K B E G V P M O R O G O A Q D O E H L

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Pictures Fall Kallah

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AAUSY Top Chef