There’s just something about a massive party with Jewish music, food, activities and art that attracts college students and 20-somethings to Long Beach, a diverse city hugging the Pacific Ocean just south of Los Angeles.
Even if it takes all day to get there.
Take 21-year-old Dona Standel, who attended last year’s Jewlicious festival and had an “amazing time.”
“I want others to experience that, too,” said Standal, a San Francisco State University senior. “You meet people from all over California, get up close and personal with celebrities, and I saw friends who I hadn’t seen in years!”
More than 1,000 students and young professionals are expected to attend Jewlicious 5.0 from Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach.
Touted as a “celebration of everything Jewish,” Jewlicious features speakers, artists, musicians and soon-to-be-announced celebrities. This year’s lineup includes an appearance by Chassidic reggae artist Matisyahu, and an eclectic group of Jewish bands including Moshav, Rav Shmuel and Chassidic rapper Y-Love.
Standel expects students from throughout the Bay Area will be heading south for the event. No bus this year; instead, they’ll be carpooling down the coast in an effort to save costs.
Planning to join Standel is Alexa Rubinov, a 19-year-old junior at Sonoma State University. The idea that Jewlicious focuses on the cultural aspects of Judaism, rather than the religious, appealed to her.
“It’s all about the music, dancing, personalized talks and speakers,” Rubinov said. “There’s not a bunch of services you have to attend. It’s very laid back without a jam-packed itinerary. That is crucial.”
Standel, a native of Southern California, was never particularly active in the Jewish community until coming to San Francisco for college. Her mother is Israeli, which gave Standel a familial connection to Judaism, but she was searching for something more.
“In the San Fernando Valley, it’s easy to be Jewish,” she said. “When I came up here, I was lost. I realized there was a lot missing from my life — and then I found Hillel.”
She learned about the Jewish collegiate organization during her first days on campus, when she stopped by an informational table set up by San Francisco Hillel. She joined Hillel’s internship program — helping to organize Shabbat dinner, passing out flyers for events, and assisting with other tasks.
Standel quickly discovered that her campus had female students who were Jewish, but not “out,” as she called it, or ready to explore their Jewish identity.
She solved this problem by starting Lambda Chi Mu, SFSU’s first Jewish sorority, in February 2008. Named after the consonants in the Hebrew word “l’chaim,” the organization welcomed a different demographic of Jewish women — those who didn’t attend Hillel events or gravitate toward sororities.
“I wanted everyone in the Jewish community to be involved somehow,” Standel said. “It’s a very eclectic group of girls. Most are new to the school or to the Jewish community. One girl’s converting, and another is involved in the Jewish community, but isn’t Jewish.”
Standel plans to promote Lambda Chi Mu at Jewlicious, which she said doubles as a valuable place to network “cool Jewish things.”
“It’s a really good excuse to get out and do something Jewish,” she added.
Rubinov, who helped found Omega Sigma Alpha, a Jewish sorority on the Sonoma State campus, assisted Standel in starting Lambda Chi Mu. A native of Canada, Rubinov moved to Palo Alto nine years ago, where she formed a chapter of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization.
Now an active member of Sonoma State’s Hillel, Rubinov is stoked about Jewlicious.
It’s “a great environment to be in,” she said. “The crowds are diverse, the food is exceptional and it’s so incredibly organized. It blows my mind.”
Jewlicious 5.0 will convene at the Alpert JCC, 3801 E. Willow St., Long Beach. Tickets for the three-day festival start at $49 for full-time students, $79 for general admission. For more information, visit www.jewliciousfestival.com.