USY board includes local teen

In December 2015, six teenagers from around the country were elected to the 2016 International Executive Board of United Synagogue Youth (USY), the North American youth group of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Among the teens who were chosen by hundreds of their peers at USY’s 65th International Convention in Baltimore, MD, two are from Florida, including one from the tri-county South Florida area – Daniela Rojzman of Miami. Rojzman, 18, has served as the Israel Affairs vice president for this International board this year. Along with her fellow board members, she has strived to help impart meaningful Jewish experiences and values to thousands of North American teens so far.

Rojzman, who represents Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus in North Miami Beach on this board and is a college freshman who will study at a joint program between Columbia University and The Jewish Theological Seminary, is pleased with her role so far this year.

“It’s been going really well,” she said. “As the Israel Affairs vice president, I’m in charge of implementing different initiatives that appeal to different types of students all over the U.S. and Canada and strengthen their own connection to the State of Israel.”

Rojzman’s inspirations to vie for this role were individual “USYers,” which they call the people of the group.

“I saw the potential and the influence that we can have on each other and the rest of the world and seeing that in other people and having the ability to do that just further reinforced my desire to make an impact on an even larger scale,” she said.

Rojzman also credits the way her parents, including her father Rabbi Mario Rojzman of Beth Torah, raised her as an influence to her identity as a Conservative Jew.

“They’re both religious Conservative Jews and the community that they brought me into, including the traditions and the close-knit aspect of the community, definitely influenced me as a person and therefore led me to find my Conservative Jewish community in USY,” she explained.

Although Rojzman is happy with the progress so far in the board and thinks she and her fellow board members are right on track, she feels she has a lot left to do and isn’t done with achieving her goals.

“I want to continue this idea of exemplifying diversity,” she said in regards to her goals the rest of the year. “I want to bring in new speakers and at the international convention I want Israel to have a really big presence, so these next couple of months leading to December I want to work on good programming.”

Rojzman called the board a great one.

“We’re all super close friends and I think that makes us not only challenge each other but really work together for the betterment of the organization,” she said.

Hannah Weiss of St. Petersburg, who serves as Social Action/Tikkun Olam vice president on the board, said: “It’s so amazing to work with like-minded teens who are as engaged in Jewish life as I am and who genuinely care about the future of Jewish life.”

Weiss, 17, who will also study in the same joint program as Rojzman, said about her experience serving on the board: “I think it’s definitely given me a new perspective on social action and what it means to provide that experience to other people.”