Israelpalooza embraces the diversity of Israeli culture
Brightly adorned blue and white tables lined the open area of Alumni Park early Wednesday morning, creating a large space for passersby to explore.
Presented annually by pro-Israel organizations and SC Students for Israel, Israelpalooza celebrates Israeli culture through booths showcasing music, innovative technology and foods. SCSI is a cultural student organization that aims to educate the USC community about aspects of Israeli culture to increase understanding and awareness. Israelpalooza was designed to achieve that goal.
“We wanted to make a booth-like structure where people would enter in an open space,” said Chase Nathan, the primary student organizer who worked with SC Students for Israel. “We wanted people to be able to walk around and see [everything].”
Tables were covered in blue and white decor — the colors of the Israeli flag — creating an inviting atmosphere for the food, drinks and prizes for visitors. Each table offered a unique aspect of Israeli culture to visitors.
Three booths primarily showcased traditional Israeli food for visitors to sample. Others covered a variety of gadgets: One booth featured virtual reality glasses designed in Israel, and visitors were encouraged to examine technological advances. The final booths featured Israeli music, contributing to the lively cultural environment.
Many of USC’s pro-Israel clubs came out to support the event and set up booths in Alumni Park. SCSI had representatives at the event and posted various pictures on Facebook with the hashtag #Israelpalooza2017. Trojans For Israel, a secular and political organization that advocates for the vitality of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and Mishelanu, a club for Israeli-American students to enjoy Israeli cultural events and bonding activities, participated in the event as well.
Some of the other organizations not affiliated with USC also made an appearance. One such organization was Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a national group with chapters across the United States. It hopes to address the various needs of Israel defense force soldiers, in addition to aiding the families of fallen soldiers.
FDIF’s L.A. chapter came with a poster featuring an Israeli soldier and answered student questions about its mission.
Nathan first received the idea of organizing this event from USC Hillel.
“I would explain Hillel as the home of most of the Jewish activity on campus,” Nathan said. “SCSI, TFI, Mishelanu are all run through Hillel, but they are their own clubs.”
Through the support of USC Hillel, Nathan was put in contact with Tal Segal, USC Hillel’s Jewish Agency Israel Fellow. Israel Fellows are young Israelis who come to work at universities to help educate Jewish and non-Jewish students on Israeli culture. Segal serves this role in USC’s Hillel and was the first to reach out to Nathan about putting together Israelpalooza.
Segal and Nathan were able to recruit organizations and volunteers. Even USC Hillel joined in, hosting a booth with a Israel trivia game where visitors could win prizes based on their knowledge.
Israelpalooza is not a new event at USC. But this was Nathan and Segal’s first year organizing it, and for the last two months, they have endeavored to make this year’s event the best it could be.
“We sat down and decided what we wanted to have, what worked last year, what didn’t work and what we wanted to change,” Nathan said.
Though the event featured fun music and delicious food, the hosts of the event hoped it captured more than that.
“Israelpalooza is meant to be tied to Israel’s Independence Day,” Nathan said. “But we didn’t put that much focus on Israel Independence Day. We just wanted people to come and ask questions, take a picture. We mostly just tried to show Israel in a positive light.”