NEW PROGRAM One of the exciting programs that MEOR Emory set up this semester was the Jewish Athletes Fellowship (JAF). The idea was to find the silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic by reaching out to athletes who now had more free time to be involved in Jewish programming. The goal was to recruit fifteen athletes to learn about leadership, Judaism, and create a Jewish community.
WHY JEWISH ATHLETES? Jewish athletes are usually not involved in Jewish life and this was for the majority of them their first Jewish exposure on campus. Athletes tend to be more focused then the average student and many are natural leaders, both on and off the field. Additionally, every campus nationally has a Christian fellowship (the FCA), and this was our opportunity to create that same space for Jewish student athletes.
HOW DID WE RECRUIT? Arielle Williamson is one of our campus ambassadors. She is a junior and a member of the varsity women's soccer team. She took on the responsibility to recruit for the program. She started by recruiting her teammates on the soccer team. Then, she reached out to athletes on the track, baseball, and swimming teams and asked them to join the program and to recruit other athletes from each of their respective teams. Arielle created a GroupMe and invited Jewish athletes to join and invite other friends to join the GroupMe. As a result, fifteen students committed to joining the program from a range of sports and years.
WHY DID THEY JOIN? Jewish athletes wanted to feel part of a community and this program allowed them to be around other Jewish athletes to learn about leadership and Judaism.
WHAT WAS THE PROGRAM? The program occurred weekly for eight weeks. Additionally, students had to meet with me personally or come for a Shabbat meal. We had classes about Yom Kippur, Jewish relationships, pleasure, and how to get your prayers answered.
GUEST SPEAKERS Guest speakers included Derrick Hall, the CEO and president of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Josh Pastner, the head basketball coach of Georgia Tech, Beatie Deutsch who is the fastest woman marathon runner in Israel, and Rabbi Klatzko who he spoke about looking at Judaism as a relationship.
FEEDBACK Michelle Rosenblum (track, class of 2021) remarked; ”It made me really think about my connection with God and the way I communicate with God. I had never really connected Judaism with running before, and hearing the way Beatie described how Judaism fit into her running was really impactful” Ethan Shear, (baseball, class of 2022) added “I learned how to communicate with God through prayer in a better way. Whenever I feel alone or disconnected I have a process to gather my thoughts. I got to learn about different facets of Jewish life and think about how to apply them to my own.” Jessica Barbarosh (track, class of 2022) shared, “I feel like I lost the religious aspect of Judaism after my bat mitzvah and this program reconnected me with it. I also realized that I have been sharing a lot of the messages I’ve learned from this program with my family and friends here.”
HIGHLIGHT For me, the highlight of the program was our final session. After hearing from Derrick Hall, all the students reflected on what they gained from the program. In attendance were the students' parents. Many expressed how touched and inspired they were by the program and the reflections of the students. The cherry on top was hearing how each and every student committed to continue learning next semester. Three athletes already started learning in a fraternity learning program or Shteig.
GOING FORWARD Our next goal is creating a JAF board and to create another learning program next semester for new students. We already have athletes from sports not involved in the first ever JAF program, specifically tennis players, committed for next semester. The one aspect we would like to add is a mentorship component of the program. This would make the program more appealing.