Taglit Birthright Israel

The Voice - Podcast

Rabbi Dave Siegel: A Passionate Individual

At Hofstra University, I had the opportunity to meet with an individual who is passionate about his job on campus. Rabbi Dave Siegel is the Executive Director of Hofstra Hillel. Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world and is a welcoming and inclusive environment for Jewish college students.

Rabbi Dave got his undergraduate degree from Binghamton University, where he studied politics, philosophy, and law. He continued his education at New York University, where he got a masters degree in public administration. He also went to the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he got a degree in Rabbinic Ordination and a masters in education.

Rabbi Dave enjoys working at Hofstra Hillel because it combines his two loves, Jewish education and administrative work.  Before working at Hofstra, Rabbi Dave was the director of the United Synagogue Youth in the metropolitan area and he used to work for the Foundation for Jewish Camp. 

Working with the students and faculty to try and build up the Jewish community at Hofstra consumes most of Rabbi Dave’s day.  He enjoys this because many students are excited about getting involved and this shows that Hofstra Hillel has the potential to develop into something great. Since September, the amount of students that have been coming to Hillel events have grown. There were over 150 students present at one of their events last week. Rabbi Dave is proud of what Hofstra Hillel is becoming and is always looking to improve the program.

Rabbi Dave is an influential person at Hofstra.  He is a role model to Jewish students who are active in Hillel. He also deals with many administrative situations on a daily basis and speaks with students, donors and the community about opportunities Hillel can offer them or what they can do to help Hillel grow and live up to its full potential. 

Even though Rabbi Dave influences others, there are a couple people in his life that have really influenced him.  His parents play a big role in his love for education because they were both teachers.  By being an educator, you can really have an impact in many people’s lives and that is what his parents were doing for him.  He really respects that and looks up to them. 

“At the end of the day, I always leave happy.” Rabbi Dave enjoys coming to work every day and he said that he is fortunate enough to be working at Hofstra. 

My Photo Project

This past January, I left America for the first time and went halfway across the world to Israel. It was an amazing, culture filled experience and the best trip I have ever been on. There was so much history to explore in Israel and I learned quite a bit for just visiting for ten days.  Five places that I visited and were truly beautiful are pictured below. 

Overlooking the Kotel (Western Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem

The Western Wall was possibly the most eye opening site I went to when I was in Israel. I have heard and seen pictures of people touching, praying, and kissing the wall and I actually I had the chance to do the same.  It was such a beautiful site, full of history and culture, and I finally got to walk in the same footsteps as my ancestors.   

Cliffs of Rosh Hanikra and the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea was gorgeous and it was raining that day, so the water was pretty rough.  The waves were beautiful though.

Amphitheater in the Roman City of Bet Shean

I took a great interest in the Roman City. I learned about many ancient amphitheaters in my theatre classes and only saw pictures of them in books, so it was really neat to sit on the steps and experience it up close.

Camel riding at the Bedouin Tents

When you go to Israel, you must ride a camel!

Waterfall in the Golan Heights

I went on many hikes from Masada to the Golan Heights.  As my group was taking a rest while hiking in the Golan Heights, we stopped by this breathtaking waterfall. It was so calming to just watch the water.

I enjoyed all the beautiful history, nature, and scenery Israel had to offer. 

Two Thumbs Up For "Switched at Birth"

On Tuesday nights, I make sure I am tuned into ABC Family’s Switched at Birth.

 Switched at Birth hit the small screen last summer and came back for a winter premiere in January.  With only three more episodes left in the season, I will be sitting at the edge of my seat taking it all in and wondering if a second season is in the mix. When the show launched, it had the highest original series debut in ABC Family’s history, so hopefully that will be a good reason to keep the series running.

image from hulu.com

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, the title sums up the gist of the show. Two teenage girls find out that they were accidentally switched at birth.  The girls also come from very different backgrounds.  Bay Kennish is an artistic teenager who comes from a wealthy family. In the first episode of the show, she was studying blood types in her biology class and began to wonder why her blood type did not match that of her parents.  To fulfill her curiosity, her parents and her go for a genetic testing.  After the testing was finished, it confirmed that Bay was not biologically related to her parents.  The Kennish family discovered that the hospital mistakenly switched her with another newborn, who they soon find out to be Daphne Vasquez.  Daphne is a deaf girl that lives with her mother and grandmother who are struggling to make ends meet. Doesn’t is sound drama filled already?

What makes this show different from all the other teen dramas is the use of ASL, American Sign Language.  This really draws me to the show.  A few of the main characters are deaf or hard of hearing and some of the ones who are not deaf, are learning to sign.  I think this really shows the target audience, mostly teenagers, that people come from many walks of life and are faced with challenges that they learn to live with.  It also teaches people that there are many different ways to communicate with one another. 

Daphne Vasquez is played by Katie Leclerc. Leclerc is hard of hearing and she suffers from Meniere’s disease, which is an inner ear disorder that affects balance and hearing. In the show, she reads lips, uses her voice, and signs as she is communicating with others. Emmett Bledsoe, played by Sean Berdy, is another deaf character in the show who was born deaf.  In the series, he only signs and does not use his voice; just with the exception of a few words in one of the past shows.      

Before watching Switched at Birth, the only sign language I knew was the alphabet. Now I have picked up multiple signs such as "thank you," and "I love you." Sign language is something that really interests me and I hope to learn more signs in the future.