CCC... Creating connected communities... an organization, a goal, a motto. 2 different communities learning about each other. One may be more fortunate than the other, one might be less fortunate than the other, they can be equal. We can choose what community we want to be involved in and connected to. We should be התחבר ( hithaber) with more than our bubble, and as Jews, we need to be connected to a couple communities: the Israeli Community, and the Underprivileged Community.
As I was flipping through my weekly Sports Illustrated magazine, I came across and advertisement for Amar'e Staudimire's Israeli basketball camp. Yes Staudimire is African- American, but he actually is truly Jewish. He wants to teach teenage kids in Israel how to play basketball like a pro. Staudimire has something that I envy. No not his height, but his connection towards Israel. With his camp, he has connected his community with the Israel community. We as Jews need to have a connection to our motherland and stay connected with Israel. Through trips to Israel, raising awareness about Israel, and interacting with Israeli counselors at summer camp, we can make bonds and stay connected. And now onto our second community. Unlike the Israel community, I had the opportunity Sunday at J-serve to be connected with the underprivaleged community. With the help from 6 other manly men and Lehavah, we threw a party for 15-17 year olds who are not as fortunate as we are. It was time for them to celebrate and to be celebrated and it was our job to help them and to connect with them. Through assisting them with activities like customizing a hat or a draw string bag with stickers and air brush, taking green screen pictures, dancing our hearts out, and eating ice cream sundays, we accomplished just that. Watching the teenagers letting go of their struggles and just have a fun time partying really showed me how much we take for granted in our lives. Without them, it was a boring old party, with them, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am so glad I was able to make an impact on these teens and create a connected community. I am התחבר Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel
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Thank you so much to everyone that joined me as we visited and toured the William Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum on Sunday. It was a very emotional, meaningful, and eye opening experience, and there is no one I would have rather gone more with than Hazakah. We listened to a wonderful Holocaust Survivor, Manuela Bornstein, and her encounter and miracles she experienced during the Holocaust. Then, we explored the exhibits on a docent
lead tour and learned many horrifying victim stories as well as some amazing survivor stories. I believe it is very important to increase our understanding and knowledge of this terrible time period for the Jewish people, and that’s what this program did for me. And now in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) which is next Monday, I would like to end with a poem that brings what we learned this Sunday to words: After the Horror Hold fast to the breath of life. Hold fast to the song of life. Hold fast to the soul of life. This is my sacred duty, G-d of old, As survivor, as witness, as a voice of history and truth. Why else did I live when so many died? Why else do I stand when so many were put to rest? Why else do I hope and yearn when so many were silenced? Hold fast to awe and wonder. Hold fast to radiance and light. Hold fast to mystery and majesty. This is my sacred duty, G-d of old, As mourner, as testimony to horror and destruction. What else remains? What else endures? What more can You ask of me, But to choose life in the shadow of death? Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor “Dragonite” Flagel While everyone is enjoying a happy Passover with friends and family, I would like everyone to keep the victims and the people impacted from the Kansas City JCC shooting in your mind and in your prayers.
One of the victims is a 14 year old boy named Reat Griffin Underwood. Reat had a long life ahead of him, and it is a shame and a tragedy that his life had to be cut short. To close, I am sharing an excerpt of Matisyahu's hit single One Day: One day this all will change Treat people the same Stop with the violence Down with the hate One day we'll all be free And proud to be Under the same sun Singing songs of freedom like One day Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel Sportsmanship is defined as being a good winner as will as being a good loser. We can win or lose through sports competitions, academic competitions, and any other hobbies we are involved with. Everyone wants to win every competition they enter, but the harsh reality is that we will win some and we will lose some. When we win, we have to refrain from bragging and show respect to our opponents. When we lose, we need to congratulation our opponents for their win and maintain happiness.
On that note... A very big congratulations to our very own manly men for their elections onto the Atlanta council bound: Michael Cohen for winning council S'gan, Zack Getty for winning council Moreh, and Jordan Lightstone for winning council Shaliach. Mazel Tov to all of you! When we lose our competitions however, we have to always pick ourselves up. We all have to understand that failing is okay and it is how we respond to the loss is how we are viewed, and not everyone succeeds on the first try. All of Michael, Zach, and Jordan have lost BBYO elections before and they did not let one loss define the rest of their BBYO experience in leadership. Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel "Anahnu tomhim beha" (אנחנו תומכים בך). What exactly does this mean? Read on and find out at then end!
There have been some big announcements over the week, that is important to the sports world as well as our country in general. For the first time in the major sports of the country, a man has come out of the closet and announce his homosexuality. In fact, there were actually 2 men who made the announcement. One veteran basketball player, Jason Collins, and one about to be drafted NFL prospect, Michael Sam. Like Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color barrier, these two men broke a large barrier, the sexual preference barrier. This story is not about the sports that they play and the stats they accumulate on the court and the field. This is about the support they had to make this personal announcement and to clear the way for other players to not be embarrassed about who they like. Both Collins and Sam felt like it was safe to come out because they had the great supports of their family, friends, and teammates. In building that bond and the trust between each other, knew that whatever backlash would come upon them, they had people to fall back on. Everyone has a closet that they will come out one day or another. Being able to admit a bad test score, losing their sports game (shout to Hazakah basketball), a break up with a girlfriend, or even a homosexual preference. In order for everyone to be comfortable, Hazakah has to develop a very tight bond. We need to build relationships with each other and to be able to trust one another with anything. I can already say that I am developing tight bonds with everyone in the chapter, younger members like myself as well as the older members, and I hope that everyone else is developing that bond like me. When one of my brothers has the faith in all of us, we need to give him the respect and the support he needs. Therefore we say "Anahnu tomhim beha" (אנחנו תומכים בך). "We support you." Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel To start off I would like say that I hope all of you have enjoyed this elongated hiatus from school. Everyone had different things to do during this break. 11 of our manly man represented us at the BBYO international convention in Dallas, Texas, others traveled elsewhere and people like me stayed home, played with friends, and watched Olympics. And while I was watching the Olympics, I came up with what I am writing this week. Without even knowing, the Olympics games make people come together and unite. To unite is to bring together so as to form a whole. The hebrew word for unity is אחדות (Ahdut).
We as people living in America are watching athletes that we have never heard off, and we will always pull for the American. I certainly found myself cheering for Americans and it made me so proud when they won medals. The Olympic Games unite Americans because we want our nation to succeed. It is so important as a Jewish fraternity to unite and be a family. I don't come to Hazakah events because of only the events, I come because of the people that I will see there. The ton of freshman as well as some of the older members and especially our advisers Benji and Rob are the reason why I want to come and to keep coming. As a chapter right now, we have a great deal of unity and a sense of family, but we can improve in this area so much and I can't wait for what's to come and the next few years as a part of BBYO. Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel Another week has gone by and another value has risen. This week the value is teamwork (In Hebrew: צוות עבודת, Avodat tsevet). Now even though the Super Bowl just happened and team work is mostly used in a sports context, I am going somewhere else with the word teamwork because after all, teamwork is the cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal. Now the Seattle Seahawks used teamwork to win the Super Bowl but I think the people of Atlanta used team work this past week as well and that's what I am focusing on.
Now people can argue that we should have been prepared for this snow storm, but that fact remains that there were a lot of people out there that needed help. The challenges of people included abandoning their cars in the middle of the road, staying in their school for way too much time and having no food, drink, or heat for a while. How were the people of Atlanta going to get out of this hard time?.... Teamwork! For my family, I am lucky that my older brother was able to drive me home and that my mom got my little brother early and my dad was in Dallas for work. However some people weren't that lucky as stated above. I will share my Aunt's adventure to getting her as well as her son and daughter to safety. She is a teacher at The Lovett School and hit the road home as soon as her school let out. However on Riverside road, her car got stuck going up a hill and she had to abandon her car. As she was walking however, she was also trying to hitch hike a ride to get home and pick up her children. A nice middle aged man named Ryan saw her and politely let her in the car. This here is the first instance of team work. Ryan and my aunt had a common goal: for everyone to be safe. Ryan from New York knew how to drive in this weather and took her all the way to Trader Joes. Even though that was a full 8 miles, the story of teamwork is not done! As my aunt was in the parking lot of Trader Joes, she spots a 70 year old lady come out of the store and put some food items in her car. My aunt decided to ask for a ride to her house. The lady welcomed her because she lived less than a mile away from my aunts house randomly. 2nd instance of teamwork! On the way to my aunts house, she missed the turn on purpose and said, "we are not stopping until we get your daughter." The lady drove all the way to my aunt's daughter's school and picked her up and took both of them to their house. And lastly, the son got picked up by a school friend where he slept over for the night... 3rd instance of teamwork! This rescue story showed that there are still good people out there who are willing to help a person in need. Thank you to those 2 strangers and the friends dad for helping my family get home safe and for using teamwork even though they were complete strangers. You don't have to be a person on a sports team to show team work. You just have to have the willingness to cooperate and help others. צוות עבודת Avodat tsevet Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel This week I am writing about the word passion. The hebrew word for passion is תשוקה (tshuka). As defined in the Google dictionary, passion is an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. We all have things that we are passionate for. For me, I have a great deal of passion for tennis as well as my home, Hazakah AZA #2458, my family and football.
In the upcoming week, the great American event, the Superbowl, is going to be played (who's going to the Soup or Bowl event?), and in the news recently is a player for the Seahawks who exhibits a great amount of passion for the sport/job he plays, but also has a habit of show boating. His name is Richard Sherman. People view Richard Sherman as a thug and a sore winner, and even think he is a disgrace to the game, but I argue that he's a man with an intense love of football... Passion! But before you decide to judge this man, we have to dig a little deeper through his life up to this point. Born in Compton, Sherman had a very rough upbringing with gang activity and poverty all around him. Nonetheless, he avoided all of it by using football as a distraction and got good grades at school with a 4.2 GPA. He ran straight out of Compton and got a scholarship to the university of Stanford to play football where he eventually completed his master degree and got drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. Sure Richard Sherman was blessed with great size and speed, but what really got him through life is the passion of football. He loved football more than anything else. He has tshuka. He wasn't going to join a gang or become involved with drugs because that would have ruined the only thing he intensely cared about. So when he got to the top level, he still has his fire burning and uses his passion against people who disrespect him and who are an obstacle to him. Sometimes his passion is delivered in a bad way but without passion at all, he would not be where he is today. While Sherman's passion is an extreme example, we should all exemplify passion in the activities we choose because this makes you and everyone around you enjoy life more. Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor Flagel As many of you know, Martin Luther King Jr. day was yesterday, January 20th. MLK day is a federal holiday that celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. While not a Jew, MLK was an influential American civil rights leader known for his campaigns to end racial segregation and for racial equality in the United States while accomplishing this through non violent protests.
What makes Martin Luther King special is that he had a dream and he worked towards his goal as hard as he could until his dream was achieved. Just this month, Aaron Liberman accomplished his dream to be the first NCAA basketball player in the Big 10 conference to play in a game wearing a kippah. He is an observant Orthodox Jew and he wanted to show his faith no matter what the backlash from the fans would be. As a walk-on freshman, he had to work hard to get on his Northwestern team and to get in the game. To get to practices on Shabbat, he would walk miles and miles to the stadium. Liberman had the determination that is necessary to achieve his goal. Like Martin Luther King Jr and Aaron Liberman, we can all have a dream that makes us stand up for what we believe in. These men acted on their dreams and accomplished what they set out to do. This takes perseverance and a relentless work ethic. We can all take a page out of their books by taking a stance and accomplishing that goal whether it is manning up to cancer or something else. Your scholarly Shaliach, Connor "Dragonite" Flagel Tomorrow is Tu B'shevat the holiday to commemorate the birth of trees. Like we have a new year on Jan 1, trees have a new year on Jan 15. The 15 of Shevat.
While not a religious holiday officially, jewish people have associating it with jewish environmentalism. Common practices are eating fruit and raising money for trees to be planted in Israel. We can learn a lot from trees. One thing is patience. A tree, which starts from a tiny seedling, takes many years before it grows tall and produces its delicious fruit. So too, we should try to be patient and know that all good things will eventually 'bear fruit' if we're willing to wait. Blessing on fruit: Baruch Atah A-donay, Elo-heinu Melech ha'Olam borei pri ha-etz. Your sexy shaliach, Connor Flagel |
Connor Flagel
I write these Shaliach Spiels to inspire my fellow manly men. In each spiel, there is a lesson that everyone can use to improve as a person as a Jew. Archives
April 2014
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