Feelin' Jewlicious

Photo taken from Jewlicious

By Kaley Zeitouni

With a catchy name and an incredible following, Jewlicious Festivals get better every year.

The weekend of February 29^th, young Jews from all over the country carpooled, bussed, and flew to Long Beach for Jewlicious 4.0. The philosophy is simple: bring together as many Jews as possible, from all different backgrounds and all levels of the religious spectrum, and keep them in the same building for an entire weekend.

This idea has been achieved by plenty of organizations and programs though, so what made Jewlicious so incredible?

Jewlicious accomplished this by focusing on the exciting and innovative Jewish culture happening all-around. The creators of Jewish culture today were the speakers and guests throughout the weekend. Jewish identity was explored by the most up and coming Jewish writers, bloggers, DJs, musicians, and intellectuals. Culturally speaking, it was the filet of American Jewry.

The festival definitely had something for everyone, providing ways for individuals to explore their personal connection to Jewish culture. Different services were offered on Shabbat so that individuals could find what connects them spiritually. Amazing speakers were brought in to weigh in on a range of topics facing the Jewish people today. If you weren’t interested in one of the several speakers or discussion topics, there were plenty of people to chill with and jam with.

With almost 500 people in attendance, the energy was bumping. Everyone expressed intense enthusiasm to be joining with their fellow Jews and explore what it means to be a Jew today.

The meals were as diverse as the Jews in the room, Israeli, Mexican, and Italian are just a few examples. The different flavors of Jewish intellects and socialites supplied many options for both fun and serious connection, all options gourmet of course. Trojans and Bruins even sat at the same tables and partied together. Secular and religious sang niggunim together. There were no boundaries.

While there were differences amongst the people, Jewlicious was a place where our differences could be brought out in the most positive light and as people learned about each other and connected, it was very clear that we are one people.

Havdallah was the epitome of this concept of unity that we had been discovering throughout the weekend. The beautiful tunes were soulful; but even more inspiring was how everyone spontaneously burst into song and dance once havdallah was over.

The Saturday night program seemed to bring endless vigor with Smooth-E, Y-Love, Yuri Lane, Kosha Dillz, Rav Shmuel, 12 Tribes, DJ Eric Rosen (a fellow Trojan), and MOSHAV!

On Sunday morning, after Matisyahu and his family spent the entire weekend with us, he gave a very intimate live performance. There was something for everyone, and while it was clear that we each rock out to a different beat, at the end of the night we’re still all rockin’.

Bottom line: a high Shabbat mixed with fabulous people made for a delicious and spicy weekend.