BLTI

Theme: Your journey, Our legacy

Schedule of events:

5:30- Wait for people to arrive

5:45- Introductory Motivational Program

6:10- Split into 2 groups for Preparation and Execution programs (switch after 30 min. each)

Seniors go get dinner so as to not disturb programming programs.

7:15-Dinner (Pizza from Papa John’s)

7:40- Parliamentary -Procedure Program

8:00- Brandeis through the decades program

9:00- Brotherhood program

  • Intro Program-
  1. 4 distinct Brandeis personalities, “Ghosts of Brandeis Past” that will be played by seniors dispersed throughout neighborhood: a senior who is obsessed with AZA and does not have time for anything else, a senior who faded away from the chapter as a young member, a senior who faded away from the chapter as an older member, and a senior who only comes to athletic programs or programs with girls
  2. Create Pirate map of neighborhood for people to use to find ghosts in neighborhood
  3. Make sure they are with another person (say it’s for safety, but really to show that you are never alone in Brandeis. You’re friends-the people- are what keep you in)
  4. Tell people that if they do not fit with any particular “ghost,” they have to meet back in the basement for their next directions

I give speech

  • Talking points- Why did you not stay with any of the Ghosts of Brandeis Past? Because Brandeis is what YOU make it

This BLTI sleepover is about YOU and YOUR journey in AZA

Reason for why people could not walk alone during previous activity- You share your journey with your peers.

Use BLTI as turning point for AZA career if you think that will help you

Brandeis Ghost 1:

Name: Josh Silverbergstien

Personality: Allowed AZA to get in the way of other passions/important parts of his life

Bio: Hello, my name is Josh Silverbergstein, and I loooooooooove AZA. I mean LOVE it. I have completely devoted the past four years of my life to it, and the day that I became too old for Brandeis was the saddest day of my life. Sure, my grades may have slipped a little as I progressed through high school, and I had to quit the school basketball team midway through my freshman season even though I’d wanted to play high school basketball since I was a little kid, but that never really bothered me since I achieved all the goals I wanted to achieve in Brandeis, such as being godol and planning an awesome BLTI. My parents complain that I gave up everything else I loved in life all for AZA and Brandeis. However, I am happy with my decision.

Brandeis Ghost 2:

Name: Moshe Leibowitz

Personality: Identifies more with the council/international order than Brandeis

Bio: Hey guys, my name is Moshe, and I’m here to tell you about my AZA career. At the beginning, I was a devoted member of Brandeis. I planned a couple of programs my freshman year and went to almost every event every weekend. However, as my high school years went on, I started to hang out more and more with AZA members in chapters outside of Brandeis. In fact, by the end of my high school career, I could not remember the last time I had chilled with guys from my very own chapter. In my senior year it got to the point where I couldn’t even name Brandeis’ godol. However, my distance from the chapter did not mean that my passion for AZA was any less. I was a very productive member on council board, and contributed greatly on an international scale. For me, however, Brandeis was simply never my true home in AZA.

Brandeis Ghost 3:

Name:Aaron Cohen-Levi

Personality: Only comes to sporting events/programs with girls

Bio: Hey guys. My name is Aaron Cohen-Levi. Although some people might tell you differently, I enjoyed AZA when I was in it. The pride I felt when Brandeis won the football championship my sophomore year was a feeling I won’t forget in a very long time. However, it is just that I did not feel that same pride with Brandeis when we were doing programs that dealt with education, Judaism or community service. For me, other than that great sports championship, Brandeis was simply a place to hang out and meet girls. That’s what it was to me when I joined as a freshman, and that’s what it was to me when I left as a senior.

Brandeis Ghost 4:

Name:Samson Worthington III

Personality: Burnt out as a senior

Bio: Hello people. My name is Samson Worthington III, and I am here to tell you about my short AZA career. When I started out as a young freshman in AZA, there was nothing I enjoyed more than hanging out and going to programs with Brandeis. The people were awesome. The programming was awesome. It made me so happy that I always had something to do, and older kids wanted to hang out with me! The trouble started when I got older in the chapter. When this happened, I noticed that more and more of the older kids I hung out with as a freshman and sophomore were graduating and leaving the chapter. Who was I supposed to hang out with now? Younger kids? I don’t think so! Hanging out with younger kids would mean taking on a leadership role, and that was something I was never comfortable with. Brandeis was great to me when I was younger, but as I grew up, I guess I also grew out of the Brandeis experience.

Execution Program (Jonah)-

20 Minutes- Duck-duck-goose:

Sit in circle, have one person lead activity.

Give out a role to one person.

Roles:

A senior who does not want to take part in the activity because he thinks it is below him.

A younger member who is too shy to take part in the activity

The entire chapter is disrespectful, everybody is talking

A chapter is making inappropriate comments, being mean to others

10 minutes- Discussion:

What does a program leader need to do in order to run a program effectively? (On chart paper)

Program Planning Program (Ira)

First five minutes- Introduce the importance of planning your program out ahead of time so that you know exactly what you are doing. Explain the standard format for outlines. Split into pairs.

Next fifteen minutes- Give each pair a magazine and have them come up with a program from the magazine and outline the program

Last ten minutes- Present programs and critique potential problems, good ideas, and things that could be done differently. Then go over some final tips for programming- have your outline done a week and half ahead of time, plan out what you want to say, gather all materials early, challenge yourself to come up with a newer, more creative way to convey your message or do your activity because stale programming leads to a stale chapter.

Parliamentary Procedure Program (Ira)

Introduce what parliamentary procedure is and how it is important to know when running meetings or participating in meetings. Then introduce fake Brandeis motion and go through: Moderated Caucus, Pro-Con, Questions of Intent, Point of Order, Point of Information, Point of Clarification, Point of Personal Preference, How to properly make a motion, how to second a motion, Call to Order, Call for Acclimation, Dissensions, Motion to Previous Question, Hand Votes, Secret Ballot Vote, Voice vote, number of votes to pass a motion, The amendment process, number of votes to pass an amendment to the constitution.

Nationals Game Motion

Motion: Aleph Ira Rickman

Second: Aleph Jonah Potasznik

Whereas Brandeis does not go to Washington Nationals games on an annual basis.

Whereas Nationals games are cheap and give the Aleph S’gan a break from programming.

Whereas all those who go to Nationals games have a great time.

Whereas Nationals games are close by.

Whereas it covers multiple programming folds.

Be it resolved that Brandeis AZA #1519 must go to one Washington Nationals game during the spring of each programming year.

Decades Program (Jonah and Ira)

8:00-8:10- Introduce program- Not many in our chapter know the real history of Brandeis or the reasons why they are remembered. There have been four decades of Brandeis lore full of great programs, people, and times. We will split into four groups and each group will get a decade, either the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s.

8:10- 8:15- each group plans what they think a program from that time was like and how a meeting was run during that time period.

8:15-8:25- Act out programs and meetings.

8:25- 8:30- Hand out information slips with the main points each decade was remembered for

8:30-8:45- Groups re-plan a program from the slip and plan out a meeting based on the personalities given.

8:45- 9:15- Act out programs and meetings. Each group also tells the rest of the chapter about some of the significant events of the decade.

9:15- 9:20- Motivational Wrap-Up- This is what they are remembered for. What do we want to be remembered for? In 40 years when Brandeis kids look back on the 2000-2010 years what will they say? How are we going to make sure this happens? It will happen because we make it happen and because each member steps up to the challenge and makes himself and his chapter the best they can be.

Decade Description

60s-

  • March 17, 1963- first chapter meeting
  • won most improved chapter 1965
  • all around chapter award 1966
  • First Monsky in 1969
  • very active chapter with lots of member
  • A Community Service Program from the time- collecting clothes to be sent to Vietnam
  • Irvin Benz-wrote chapter song, and another song to tune of UM fight song
  • Randy Posin (First Godol)
  • Held a conclave with Chicago

70s-

  • First Walk-A-Thon in 1970
  • won 13 straight Monskys in 70s and 80s
  • chapter was in great shape and the most successful chapter in Washington Council
  • Held Conclaves with- Pittsburgh, New Jersey
  • Community service programs included- Clothing drives, book drives, Trick Or Can
  • Brandeis held first Shul of the Month and was the first in Washington council. Idea started by David Shub- contemporary Advisor Jeff

80s

  • Advisor Jeff and Dan were in the chapter
  • Dan ran for chapter godol and lost by one vote as one person abstained
  • Advisor Jeff was chapter godol and watched from the sidelines as Brandeis won a DC council football championship
  • Dan went on to be council Godol anyways
  • Advisor jeff with his hatred of the council became council Mazkir
  • Brandeis was living large in the middle of a string of 13 consecutive Monsky awards, holding great programs, and leading all chapters in the council in all aspects
  • They held great programs such as Cult night during which they had a cult member come in a talk to them about joining cults and how dangerous they are.
  • Helping Soviet Jews was hugely important to them and it was the theme of some programs

90s

  • Advisor Dan became an advisor in 1991 and Advisor Jeff soon followed
  • The chapter was starting to fade from its hey days
  • Many older members burned out during their senior years
  • Respect in the chapter went down and the chapter lost some members
  • Things were heading downhill and hit the lowest point in 1994 during the infamous Graveyard program in which 14 AITs were forced to drink tomato juice and left in a graveyard for 3 hours alone
  • Of the 14, 11 kids were pulled and never returned leaving an abysmal 3 member AIT class
  • One remnant from the class was current advisor Uncle Mark Cowan.
  • He became a two term Godol during his sophomore year and with the help of the other two kids from his class led the chapter back from the depths of folding
  • The chapter song became “It’s the end of the world as we know it” in remembrance of the near death experience for the chapter
  • In 1995 the long time Brandeis meeting place of Beth El congregation closed its doors on the chapter and meetings started being held at the JCC

Brotherhood Program:

First part:

Using paintbrushes and paint, create chapter momento on a giant sheet of cloth. Everyone in the chapter helps to make it. The sheet is kept in the Godol Files. It symbolized how you can be remembered for the physical things you leave behind, like winning an award or in your Godol gavel.

Second part:

We started out this BLTI with a talk about how these 4 years in Brandeis are a very personal journey. I want everyone now to take time and answer some questions about their Brandeis journey so far and what they hope to achieve in the future.

  1. Who gave you your first ride to an AZA program?
  2. Name the Aleph who took you under his wing and looked out for you.

How did this Aleph look out for you?

  1. Why do you believe in AZA?
  2. What makes you want to return to AZA every weekend?
  3. How do YOU want to be remembered?

Now that you have answered these 4 questions, let’s go back once again to the first program of BLTI. When explaining the directions, I said that everyone has to be walking around with at least one other person. Although I said this was for safety reasons, this was not entirely true. Rather, the fact that no one was supposed to be walking alone was meant to symbolize the fact that no one is ever alone in their journey through Brandeis. Who was thinking of maybe staying with a particular ghost, but had their walking partner pull them away? Who pulled away someone who was thinking of staying with a particular ghost? We have said that the journey is a personal one, yet, in many ways, the journey through Brandeis is one of the most shared experiences anyone can have. It is not a journey one takes alone, but rather a journey shared with your chapter members. Your friends. Your brothers. It is with these people that we take all of our collective journeys and create OUR LEGACY. You can be remembered for the principles and ideals which you worked towards here and they can all live on collectively in the memories of younger members. I want to go back to the 5th question I asked at the beginning of the program. This time, however, I want to replace “you” with “Brandeis.” How do you want Brandeis to be remembered?