During the aftermath of the horrific Hamas terrorist attack in the Negev of Southern Israel on October 7 and the current state of brokenheartedness that we are all deeply in pain from, Yavneh NYC joined many other Jewish organizations in hosting initiatives, events and other programs in order to connect us to Israel and each other in a more uplifting way. We wanted to involve our community in being together for both the good and the bad times, not limiting the extent of how we relate to each other, and combine the grief that we are all experiencing with feelings of hope, unity and empowerment.

Thus, Yavneh NYC, together with OU-JLIC Downtown, hosted a Night of Unity, with over 40 students from a range of universities around the city joining together for programming hosted by NYU to achieve our goal. We began with various chaburahs about different topics, each one being led by a fellow university student. For those who wanted a more hands-on and personal experience, there was an alternative to write letters to Israeli soldiers expressing our indefinite gratitude to those who are risking their lives to keep us and our homeland safe. We concluded with a kumzitz all together and some of the Yavneh NYC board members spoke about connecting to Israel, emunah and how to uplift ourselves and each other during these challenging times. Overall, it was a very successful event and we are thankful to everyone who showed up to our Night of Unity, leaving each and everyone who came inspired and closer together in some way.

Yavneh NYC is a leadership initiative for Jewish students in New York City that is a subgroup of the Yavneh Fellowship and Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus.

Brandon Melamed is a junior at Yeshiva University majoring in psychology who first got involved with Yavneh from the encouragement of older friends. He is now a second-year Yavneh fellow and second-year member of the Yavneh NYC board looking to build connections with students from all around.