YAD Leadership Council sets mission for year: Jews Against Dull Activities

(L-R) Jamie Goland-Smiley, Heather Rosen, Tom Stanton, Danny Menashi, Melanie Marcus, Toby Zarolnick, Chana Rivkin and Jon Koren at brunch prior to the retreat. The Tampa Jewish Federation’s Young Adult Division (YAD) Leadership Council participated in a leadership retreat on Sunday, July 11, to kick-off the 2010-11 year.

The group met at the home of YAD Director, Iris Ruth Pastor, to chart the group’s direction for the year. Danny Menashi, YAD chair, led the group retreat, assisted by Dana Oppenheim, vice-chair, and Toby Zarolnick, social chair.

Other Leadership Council members present were Tom Stanton, Lauren Rosen, Jamie Goland- Smiley, Jon Koren, Marcia Rubin, Megan Atkin, Lisa Goldman and Chana Rivkin. Those not in attendance were Matt Schwartz, Brooke Pillinger, Meredith Lukoff and Kim Mayer.

Guest speaker Assaf Regev, a native of Israel who grew up in the Miami area, discussed his two-year experience serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Lone Soldier program, which provides support to members of the IDF who have no immediate family living in Israel.

(L-R) Guest speaker Assaf Regev, a former IDF Lone Soldier, and YAD President Danny Menashi Regev, currently a University of Florida law student, spoke about how he adapted the fundamentals of football to help him figure out topography maps used on missions — a lesson, he noted, on the effectiveness of thinking out-of-the-box to overcome obstacles.

Leadership Council members took his lesson to heart, adopting a lighthearted theme for the year: JADA— Jews Against Dull Activities.

For more information on the YAD Leadership Council and other activities for young adults ages 21-45 available through the Tampa Jewish Federation, contact Iris Ruth Pastor, YAD director, at 813.769.2813 or iris.pastor@jewishtampa. com.