Yavneh > Meet the Board

• President: Jon Berliner
• VP Education: Ayelet Boussi
• VP Shabbos: Navah Kogen
• VP Social: Yael Steiner
• VP Chessed: Shari Lichter

VP Education: Ayelet Boussi
Hi, I'm Ayelet Boussi and I will be spending 2007 as your vice president of education & initiatives. The board and I have come up with some ideas that I think the community will really enjoy and benefit from - including a program about testing for genetic diseases, the resurrection of think tank, and a panel with representatives from various Jewish denominations, discussing differences in their general ideologies and specific approaches and actions in Judaism. Please enlighten me with any and all ideas that you may have for the upcoming year.

Now, a few important things about myself: I'm dangerously addicted to Blistex, I am a hard-core vegetarian (I don't even buy leather - though I graciously accept donations), I'm afraid of the dark, I love South African accents, I'm probably Targum Onkelos's #1 fan, I killed my class hamster in kindergarten, and I have permanent compression fractures in my lower vertebrae and coccyx (aka I broke my butt) from falling while snowboarding and from jumping off a cliff in Israel.

VP Shabbos: Navah Kogen
Hey guys, I'm Navah Kogen and I will be your vice president of shabbat and chag for the next year. As a board we have come up with many ideas to try and make shabbat and chagim on campus as festive and enjoyable as possible. However more importantly and as always, I think that the best way for this to happen is for you guys to give us feedback on what you like/dislike, what you wish there could be that there isn't, etc. Seriously, I want to know, so tell me. And if there's a program you want to make happen, you can do it. Just let us know what it is and we'd love to give the reins over to you-- it means less work for us. My email is nk2180@barnard.edu, and I'm around campus if you feel more comfortable talking in person... just let me know when and where. (My suite is 804 EC-- it has blue walls and a yellow kitchen... woot.)

So, about me. I enjoy playing the banjo with my toes, while eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I have a collection of curious george paraphernalia in my home in Queens that consists in plates, napkins, a tie, and probably close to if not more than 20 dolls now, including circus george (bugle included,) sleep geroge with p.j.'s and spacesuit george. I hate pop music but can't help harboring a secret love of Kelly Clarkson, and I love baking. No, I will not bake for you. Ok, maybe if you ask very nicely. No, probably not even then, but it couldn't hurt to try your luck. My favorite color is blue, favorite letter is Q, and one time in fourth grade, I ran away from school and asked this random Jewish-looking woman on the street to give me a ride home. (She drove me back to school. Needless to say I was not happy.)

VP Social: Yael Steiner
Hi, my name is Yael Steiner and I will be your diligent social vice president for the next year. I have many social events planned to make everyone in our community feel warmer. For example, there is already a plan in the works for a yavneh sweatshop session where we all knit sweaters, scarves, and mittens so that everyone in our community feels warm. If this does not help make our community warmer, I have been in talks with the chessed department to swap one of our shtenders and a prayer to be named for some coats from the kraft clothing pantry. On a more serious note, we have already planned some great events and more events are sure to unfold as the semester develops. Already in the works are laser tag, basketball games, and some alone time with Zev Weiner in the form of some Q&A.

For those of you who don't know me, I'd like you give you some information about myself. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Merrick, Long Island (yes, it rhymes with my name…get over it), I attended HAFTR for 12 years despite the approximately 45 minute bus-ride twice a day. As the oldest of four I put my 10 years of experience in Jiu-Jitsu to good use. As for what I do in my free time when I'm not getting the circumference of my biceps measured by Daniel Friedman: I like to play ping-pong, listen to hip-hop, get advice about ways to improve Yavneh, imitate people and accents, quote practical scriptural verses, practice emergency medicine, speak four different languages, and be half-sephardi. That was just an appetizer. I look forward to getting to know each of you more closely and I'm always open to suggestions, complaints, and comments.

VP Chessed: Shari Lichter
Hi! My name is Shari Lichter and I'm Yavneh's Vice President of Chesed. Along with the rest of this year's Yavneh board, I hope to institute many new and fun ways for our community to come together. I also hope to create opportunities for every individual who is interested to be involved somehow in Chesed. Finally, while I know this is a really novel idea, I'd like to help make Yavneh a warmer, more cohesive community.

I really hope that throughout the year I'll get to know most of you, but to start things off...I love cookie dough, I danced with the New York City Dancers at my Bat Mitzvah, my family has a pit bull named King and two parakeets named Monica and Chandler, and I got a ticket and fine in Penn Station for going through the handicap entrance to the subway...twice. (ask me about it...there's a perfectly reasonable explanation)