Introducing Ahron Lerman!

March 13, 2009 at 3:59 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

By: Ahron (Fall ’06)

In January Shamu announced the formation of our new TevAdamah Alumni Network. I would like to introduce myself as the coordinator of the network. My name is Ahron Lerman and I am an Adamah alum from Fall ’06. Some of you may know me as the Office Manager (the “voice of Freedman” since I answer the phones); others might know me because I tried to recruit you for a game of ultimate and still more might know me because I tried to swindle you and your friends in a game of Scrabble at the Adamah House. If you don’t know me, hopefully you will soon, and I look forward to representing us all. I’d virtually shake all of your hands except I have a cast on my broken right wrist and also that doesn’t really make any sense.

So now that we’ve got our TevAdamah network off the ground…we’d like to change the name. We realized TevAdamah is a little bit of a mouthful and is, well, really just a combination of “Teva” and “Adamah”. I know, I was surprised when I first realized it too, but really it is. Look closely. The word also doesn’t really mean anything on its own – like Teva (nature) and Adamah (Earth/Ground) both do. Thanks to our local goatherder/cheese maker/Adamah alum/visionary entrepreneur Aitan Mizrahi, we have been invited to draw inspiration from the name of his budding dairy and change our name to the Adva Alumni Network. (Just “Adva Network” for short, if you want.)

The name Adva has the dual advantage of being an even shorter combination of Adamah and Teva, and also means “ripple” in Hebrew. Since the Adva network exists to help radiate far and wide the ripples of Jewish environmental stewardship and responsibility, and the joys of community and learning, this is a pretty perfect fit. Good suggestion Aitan, and thank you to those alumni (Josh Lichtman) who offered, unsolicited, their comments on the name.

This email should be considered the opening of dialogue between all of you and me. The purpose of our network is to help Teva and Adamah alumni develop professional skills, network with mainstream Jewish organizations for jobs, and to build the Teva/Adamah community through a combined alumni reunion. So send along your thoughts, concerns, suggestions and wishes for our network, specifically regarding professional development workshops and the reunion, which brings us to…

Save the date!! The First Ever Adamah and Teva Alumni Reunion will be happening November 19-22, 2009. It’s gonna be an epic weekend and I don’t think anything I could write now will sufficiently encapsulate the scope of that weekend. My prediction? Absolute magnificence. Keep your eyes and ears open for more news!

I look forward to being in touch with you all at adva@isabellafreedman.org, hearing your exciting ideas and meeting as many of you (us) as I can.

Love from melting Falls Village,
Ahron