Jewish Life at Queens is for everyone. We welcome students from all corners of the world to join us and be a part of our community. Jewish Life at Queens is so fortunate to have two students from Israel. When it comes to Queens, one of the powerhouses it possesses is its Athletics Department. Athletics brings students to Queens from all over the world. Thanks to Athletics, we have our two Israeli students – Lia Federbusch from Tel Aviv and Eden Pescara from Modi’in.
Lia Federbusch was born and raised in the exciting city of Tel Aviv. She is on the Queens triathlon team, and she started participating in triathlon at the age of 11 after her mother read an article about the sport. At the time, it was not a very popular sport, but it has been growing in popularity among young adults. It was triathlon that brought her to Queens. It created the perfect opportunity for her to compete in her sport and earn a degree in Business Administration.
Eden Pescara hails from Modi’in in Central Israel. She just transferred to Queens to be on the swim team. She has been swimming since the age of 7. She transferred to Queens to train under Director of Swimming Operations, Jeff Dugdale. The program’s reputation of producing high quality swimmers and attention given to the swimmers was a big factor in bringing Eden to Queens. She is also a Marketing major.
Jewish Life at Queens works to serve our two Israeli athletes and all Jewish students on campus. Both student-athletes expressed a desire to be a part of Jewish cultural practices at Queens. They want space and time to celebrate the Jewish holidays and rest on Shabbat. Lia’s favorite tradition is lighting Hanukkah candles. As a child, she even fought with her sister over the candle lighting! Eden also enjoys the candle lighting tradition but for Shabbat as well as the Kiddush tradition.
With the obstacle of COVID-19, we are working on creative ways to support our students. Should any need, we have a system in place to get them matzo ball soup and anything they need. We help foster in sacred time for Shabbat and the high holidays. Once a month we will provide Mimi’s Matzo Ball soup and Roz & Marty’s Challah.
We are grateful that Lia and Eden have come to Queens to not just be a part of the community but a contributor to the community. Lia currently serves as President of Hillel and Eden will likely soon hold a leadership position in Hillel as well.