By Jacqueline Chase
Staff writer
@Mitzpeh
Kedma, the Orthodox Jewish community on campus, elected executive board members and officers for five of its eleven positions this week.
Liana Chesir was elected vice president of Kedma, taking over for Aryeh Roberts, the new president. Miriam Charnoff was elected to join the executive board as treasurer. Three officers were elected with Nicole Wohlberg taking over as social chair, Alex Ghman as Shabbat chair and Karen Shapiro as technical chair.
Prior to this election, Chesir, a sophomore marketing and studio art major, served as the social chair of Kedma.
“I really loved being on the board and being able to have sort of a hand in the direction that the community goes in,” Chesir said. “I wasn’t really ready to give up having a leadership role in Kedma, and I also have a lot more ideas I want to have implemented.”
The Facebook group for Kedma is a place for community members to talk about anything including teacher recommendations and where to buy textbooks. One of Chesir’s ideas is to add sub-groups based on people’s majors. She is also looking into creating a new logo that could be printed on apparel and setting up meetings for the community to talk to board members.
Roberts, a sophomore philosophy major, said he joined the Kedma board to be a part of creating an accessible community.
“I think it’s very important that people can actualize their Jewish energy in ways that they find meaningful,” Roberts said. “Some people connect to Judaism through the social aspect; some people connect to it through Torah; some people connect to it through prayer; some people connect to it through acts of kindness. All of those things kind of fall under the umbrella of Kedma.”
Roberts said Kedma has taken up a lot of his time and it is always on his mind, but he enjoys having the community be a strong part of his college experience. He was the education chair of Kedma in the spring and fall of 2018.
Kedma hosts many types of events, whether they are educational, collaborative or social. Social events include movie nights and an annual dodgeball tournament, which are organized by the social chair.
Sophomore Wohlberg plans to form events such as an outdoor movie night, a stand up comedy night with professional comedians and members of Kedma and an event similar to Chopped, a competitive cooking show.
Wohlberg said she joined Kedma because she enjoys planning events and wants to help the community.
“If I could do something that I like and give back to the community and make fun events for all my friends and new people at the same time, it just seemed like a good fit,” Wohlberg said.
Through Kedma’s different events the group works to provide students with a community.
“Because the whole university is so big, it’s nice to have a smaller group where you can really extend yourself and make more connections,” Chesir said. “Everyone has a bunch of different skills and interests and being able to learn from them and learn from other people is just something that I wouldn’t have gotten necessarily if I wasn’t involved in Kedma.”
