{"id":10052,"date":"2014-09-08T15:00:46","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jewishaction.com\/?p=10052"},"modified":"2020-07-27T08:16:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T08:16:59","slug":"celebrating-decade-inspiration-ucla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/inside-the-ou\/celebrating-decade-inspiration-ucla\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating a Decade of Inspiration at UCLA"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Orbach<\/em><\/p>\n

Ten years is a lifetime in college, but Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan aren\u2019t going anywhere. The Kaplans, the longest-serving couple at the Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), have been at University of California, Los Angeles, for a decade and their achievement was celebrated at the OU West Coast Annual Awards Banquet this past June.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone once told me that staying in college keeps you sharp\u2014intellectually, socially and physically\u2014and we\u2019re trying to buy into that theory,\u201d laughs Sharona.<\/p>\n

The Kaplans, who arrived back in 2004, are part of the Orthodox Union\u2019s JLIC\u2008program. Founded in 2001, the program places Orthodox couples on secular college campuses to help Orthodox students navigate college life while balancing their Jewish commitments.<\/p>\n

\"Rabbi<\/a>

Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan celebrate ten years as the JLIC couple at UCLA. From left to right: Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, director of OU West Coast; Rabbi Menachem Schrader, founding director of JLIC; Sharona Kaplan; Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, executive director of UCLA-Hillel; Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan; Dr. Steven Tabak, president of OU West Coast; Martin Nachimson, OU president.<\/em>
Photo: Lew Groner Photography<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Aryeh had been studying for semichah<\/em> at Yeshiva University and Sharona had just received her degree in social work when they became the new JLIC couple at UCLA, which has a relatively large Jewish population. The first thing the Kaplans did when they got to UCLA was institute Shabbat and holiday lunches, which allowed them to build a core group of dedicated college students.<\/p>\n

The importance of that small group was something the couple had learned during their time with New Jersey NCSY, where they first met. \u201cWe had a solid group of friends and we were doing worthwhile things,\u201d Sharona explains. \u201cIt shaped us. I credit NCSY and its summer programs. They were a part of our lives and shaped our career choices. They invested in us and empowered us.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Shabbat meals, the couple gradually expanded into other programming, including a dizzying array of lectures and activities for students on campus. (Their most popular activity is still \u201cPizza and Parsha,\u201d which brings in speakers from the larger L.A. Jewish community.) Along the way, Sharona and Aryeh witnessed their first students graduate and marry and a new crop of students take their place.<\/p>\n

The Kaplans have four children: Shalva, nine; Barak, seven; Rivky, five and Yakir, four.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The Kaplans] capture the quintessence of what the program is about, with their passion, sincerity, overwhelming warmth and concern for the students and substantive approach to Jewish ideas and values,\u201d says Rabbi Ilan Haber, national director of JLIC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Modern Orthodox community, the mantra is \u2018I hope they survive\u2019 secular college,\u201d explains Aryeh. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to change that. It\u2019s not about surviving; it\u2019s about thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Orbach is a staff writer at the OU.<\/em><\/p>\n

JLIC Campuses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Binghamton University<\/p>\n

Brandeis University<\/p>\n

Brooklyn College<\/p>\n

Columbia University<\/p>\n

\/Barnard College<\/p>\n

Cornell University<\/p>\n

Drexel University<\/p>\n

Johns Hopkins University<\/p>\n

McGill University<\/p>\n

New York University<\/p>\n

Princeton University<\/p>\n

Queens College<\/p>\n

Rutgers University<\/p>\n

UCLA<\/p>\n

University of Guelph<\/p>\n

University of Illinois<\/p>\n

University of Maryland<\/p>\n

University of Massachusetts<\/p>\n

University of Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

University of Wisconsin<\/p>\n

Yale University<\/p>\n

York\/University of Toronto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Orbach Ten years is a lifetime in college, but Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan aren\u2019t going anywhere. The Kaplans, the longest-serving couple at the Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), have been at University of California, Los Angeles, for a decade and their achievement was celebrated at the OU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":718,"featured_media":10053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-the-ou","issues-fall-2014-5775"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCelebrating a Decade of Inspiration at UCLA - Jewish Action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Michael Orbach Ten years is a lifetime in college, but Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan aren\u2019t going anywhere. 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