News

Building Belonging and Inspiring Leaders at the Florida Student Leadership Gathering

Author

Paige Simunek

Date

February 21, 2025

What happens when you bring together Jewish college students from 10 Florida campuses for a weekend of leadership, bonding, and learning? You get a room full of energy and pride. You get shared moments filled with joy, meaningful connections that spark inspiration, and a renewed sense of purpose for Jewish leadership. Most importantly, you get student leaders who leave feeling deeply connected to their Hillels, confident in their leadership abilities, and ready to shape Jewish life on their campuses.

Recently, 80 Jewish student leaders gathered at the University of Central Florida to build relationships, gain leadership skills, and express their Jewish identities with joy and belonging. These students were each nominated by their campus Hillel to participate in this pilot program from Hillel International that aims to empower student leaders with the skills and relationships to lead effectively, create meaningful experiences for their peers, and foster collaboration across the region. 

With ideas and input from a leadership council that represented eight Florida Hillels, the programming was designed to be interactive and inspired by students. 

One of the most exciting sessions was “Silent Disco Talks” – a new initiative inspired by silent disco parties, but with a leadership twist! Instead of music, when students put on their headphones, they tuned into skill-building workshops featuring experts from across the Hillel community who shared insights into topics like imposter syndrome, leading with strengths, and the power of storytelling and active listening. 

Students then took these lessons into interactive workshops, which gave them a chance to put these new skills to life, feeling empowered and confident. 

In addition to building critical leadership skills, the students learned to strengthen their relationships with each other. And which activity sparks instant collaboration? Escape rooms! 

Students were separated into teams and tasked with getting out of a room within a specific timeframe. Some faced live actors,  some faced challenging puzzles, but every group had to rely on teamwork, communication, and quick thinking to escape. When students returned to the hotel after the escape rooms, laughter and joy echoed throughout the lobby.

Through it all, Jewish learning and leadership values were woven into each of the programs, beginning with a group intention and d’var Torah, or word of Torah, each day. 

One of the student leaders shared a powerful d’var Torah, where he described the challenges that the prophet Moses encountered early in his leadership journey. When Moses voiced insecurity about his leadership abilities due to his speech impediment, God responded by saying that Moses’ brother Aaron would be his spokesperson and partner. The student reflected on how Moses’ story might mirror the experience of leaders today, reminding the group that leadership isn’t about going at it alone, but instead embracing the strengths of those around us. 

“Everyone here in this room today possesses a unique skill set that makes you a leader,” the student said. “But [the Torah] teaches us that true leadership is forged from collaboration. It’s about bringing people together, understanding how working as a team amplifies our individual strengths.”

This gathering of Jewish student leaders was a powerful example of the very idea shared in the d’var Torah:  it came together through the partnership of student leaders, Florida Hillel staff members, and the Hillel International Student Engagement, Experiences, and Leadership team. Participants left with a deep sense of pride in embracing their Jewish identity, and excitement about leadership opportunities on their campuses. Through this weekend together, students built an experience where they each felt empowered and proud to shape Jewish life on campus together.

Paige Simunek is the director of student leadership at Hillel International.

The post Building Belonging and Inspiring Leaders at the Florida Student Leadership Gathering appeared first on Hillel International.

News

BBYO Today, Hillel Tomorrow

Author

Hillel International

Date

February 20, 2025

Over Presidents Day weekend, the Hillel International Student and Alumni Marketing team traveled to Denver, Colorado for BBYO’s International Convention (IC), the largest gathering of Jewish teen leaders worldwide. Over 3,600 high school students from across the country and around the world braved sub-zero temperatures and blizzards to experience several days of learning, leadership training, celebration, and service.

Our favorite moments from the weekend included:

1. Free swag!

Who doesn’t love free Hillel swag?!? We gave out branded tote bags and fanny packs, fuzzy socks, stickers, and more — plus freedom tags to display our continued commitment to bring home the hostages held by Hamas — so students could show off their Jewish and Hillel pride throughout the conference and back home.

2. A Puppy Pawty

We had the joy of partnering with the cutest puppies from Lifeline Puppy Rescue. Students got to spend some quiet time during the conference cuddling with five adorable (and adoptable!) pups. Hillel understands the importance of mental health and wellness, and we hope this was a welcome break for the students and staff who stopped by.

3. Traveling to University of Denver and University of Colorado at Boulder

The Denver area is home to the multi-campus Hillel of Colorado and Hillel at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder), which has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the country. The University of Denver Hillel was the perfect location for BBYO to host “The Jewish Kitchen: A Culinary Exploration of Our People,” where students went on a culinary journey through the diverse flavors of the Jewish diaspora with hands-on cooking sessions led by Jewish and Israeli food experts Micah Siva, Skye Estroff, and Jake Goldberg.

And at CU Boulder, Hillel student leaders led campus tours and participated in a panel discussion for nearly 300 BBYO teens where they shared their insights into preparing for college and getting involved with Jewish student life on campus.

4. Connecting seniors to their campus Hillels

As many high school seniors prepare to head off to college in the fall, Hillels on campuses across North America will be ready to welcome them to their Jewish home away from home for the next four years. And as seniors make their college decision, we encourage them to sign up for the Hillel Graduation Giveaway! We also partnered with our friends at the Jewish fraternity AEPi to host a meet and greet for high school seniors with Jewish students from CU Boulder to learn about Jewish life on college campus.

5. Highlighting Hillel’s mission

Two Hillel International Springboard Fellows, Melanie Silver from Hillel at Washington University in St. Louis and Samantha Brody from Boston University Hillel, were invited to speak during a summit on pluralism at the Adult Experience Track of IC. They discussed their work on campus to connect with all kinds of Jewish students by bringing a spirit of genuine openness and inclusivity.

Find your Hillel and learn more about Jewish life on campus at Hillel’s College Decision Hub.

The post BBYO Today, Hillel Tomorrow appeared first on Hillel International.

News

At the Super Bowl Black-Jewish Unity Summit, Connection is the Winner

Author

Hillel International

Date

February 20, 2025

Super Bowl Sunday drew millions of eyes to New Orleans for the biggest football game of the year. That same weekend, at historic Xavier University, well-known athletes gathered with Black, Jewish, and Black and Jewish students for a powerful conversation about their roles in fighting hate. 

This Unity Summit was a continuation of the Black-Jewish Unity Dinner series, created in partnership by Hillel International, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), and Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS). These gatherings, now in their second year, bring together Jewish students and students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), to build on the historical bonds between Black and Jewish communities. In doing so, they create opportunities for a new generation of college students to connect, communicate, and build relationships. 

“We know that antisemitism and racism are very real challenges that the Jewish and Black communities face, and by coming together to learn about how we are all impacted, we can work to build a better future. ,” said Dani Levine, director of social impact at Hillel International. “It is crucial that we acknowledge our histories, learn from one another, and unite in our efforts to fight hate and discrimination.”

With a  dedicated focus on the power of college athletes to serve as campus leaders, the Unity Summit included a panel discussion with notable sports and media figures, including, Dearica Hamby, WNBA Champion, two-time WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year, and forward for the Los Angeles Sparks, Nancy Lieberman, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer and two-time Olympian silver-medalist, Leonard Fournette, professional football running back and Super Bowl champion, Greg Joseph, NFL place kicker and one of the only active Jewish players in the 2024 NFL season, and Jake Retzlaff, the first-ever Jewish quarterback to play at Brigham Young University. Some other special guests stopped by throughout the event, including Malcolm Butler, Meek Mill, and Gayle King.

Attendees spent time together in small-group conversations, while on-site content creators created real-time content to share with their communities. More than 100 Black and Jewish college athletes were in attendance, representing Xavier University, Tulane University, Dillard University, and Loyola University.

“Athletes have to come together across difference everyday to work towards a shared goal. Student athletics are some of the most diverse spaces on college campuses, and we were grateful that so many student athletes were able to share their experiences with each other and apply the lessons they’ve learned from the sports world to the important work of fighting bias. ” Levine said. ”

The event also highlighted the special microgrant opportunity offered from Hillel International that invests in the ongoing connections and collaborations between Black and Jewish students. Students who attended the Summit or any Unity Dinner were eligible to receive up to $1,000 in microgrants to host a follow-up event of any kind — the only requirement being that it is organized by at least one Jewish and one HBCU student. 

As of February 2025, Unity Dinners have engaged hundreds of students throughout Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Houston, and New Orleans. We’re excited to continue the series later this year with students from across the country. Learn more about past Unity Dinners.

The post At the Super Bowl Black-Jewish Unity Summit, Connection is the Winner appeared first on Hillel International.

News

500 Days After October 7, the Hostages are Still in Our Hearts

Author

Hillel International

Date

February 16, 2025

Content Warning: This piece contains reference to the October 7 terrorist attacks, including mentions of kidnapping and murder. Please read with care.

It has been 500 days since October 7, 2023. Hamas still holds 70 hostages in unspeakable conditions. Jewish people and their allies around the world are working for their release, telling their stories, and saying their names. Lidar, a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow based at a university in California, shared this story about his friend Sasha Troufanov, who was a hostage in Gaza for 498  days before being released this past weekend. 

For Lidar, advocacy for his friend Sasha Troufanov, taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and released this past weekend on February 15, 2025, has become an important part of his work with Jewish college students. Sasha’s story also has become an inspiration to Lidar’s students at a time of increased antisemitism and isolation in their classes and on campus.  

Lidar and Sasha became friends as young adults. “I was a little intimidated by him when we first met,” Lidar said. “He’s a big, tall, strong guy, and I was the new guy, and he wasn’t really talking to me. But then we went to an event together, and we started to talk, and I realized he was just the nicest guy. He was always smiling, always funny.”

Sasha’s parents lived on Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was brutally attacked on October 7, 2023. A day earlier, Sasha and his girlfriend, Sapir, had gone to visit his parents for Shabbat. The next morning, Hamas terrorists unleashed terror upon the kibbutz, murdering Sasha’s father, Vitaly, and taking Sasha and Sapir hostage, along with Sasha’s mother, Yelena, and grandmother, Irena. The three women were freed during the first hostage-release deal in November 2023, but Sasha remained in captivity until this weekend, with very little known about his condition.

“There were two videos of him released last year, but we didn’t know anything more, and none of the hostages who came home talked about seeing him,” Lidar said. 

Sasha’s friends and family were given new hope recently when they learned that Sasha was on the list of hostages to be released in the first phase of this current hostage release and ceasefire deal, but  they remained anxious about his condition. “Seeing Sasha come home alive was everything I could have hoped for over the last 16 months,” Lidar said. 

In reflecting on Sasha’s time in captivity, Lidar said that he made sharing stories about his friend part of his daily routine. “One of Sasha’s habits was that every day at three o’clock, no matter what was happening or what he was doing, he’d have a coffee break,” Lidar said. “No matter what, three o’clock is coffee time. After he was kidnapped, some of his friends in Israel started doing ‘coffee for Sasha’ every day at three o’clock, and I started doing it here on campus.  It was  a way of pausing together and bringing some of his personality and his warmth everywhere we went.”

Thinking about how long Sasha was in captivity – and about the many hostages who remain in Gaza today –  is difficult. “I remember the first Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terror) after October 7, we all thought that there was no way we’d get to a year without the hostages coming home,” Lidar said. “And now it’s been 500 days, and it’s just not on people’s minds in the same way anymore.”

Lidar hopes that people around the world will continue to keep the remaining 70 hostages in their hearts and prayers, tell their stories, and work to secure their release.  “While they’re still [in Gaza], we can’t fully breathe,” he said. “We all need to keep talking and remember that they’re still there, and we need to do everything in our power to get them back home.” 

Hear from Israel Fellows across the country about their experiences in the aftermath of October 7 and how they are sharing their stories with Jewish students on college and university campuses. 

The post 500 Days After October 7, the Hostages are Still in Our Hearts appeared first on Hillel International.

News

Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative Gathers for Regional Training on Improving Campus Life for Jewish Students

Author

Dr. Mara Lee Grayson

Date

February 14, 2025

On a sunny, cold day in January, senior administrators from California colleges and universities gathered to participate in a regional summit hosted by Hillels of Silicon Valley and Santa Clara University in partnership with Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative (CCI). The event featured a full day of training on antisemitism, Jewish identities, and practical strategies for supporting Jewish students. 

CCI partners with college and university administrators around the United States to improve the campus climate for Jewish students which has deteriorated rapidly since October 7, 2023 with 83% of Jewish college students reporting that they have experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the last 16 months. Its flagship Campus Cohort Program has engaged more than 100 campuses to participate in a curriculum that combines education, data collection and assessment, and action plan development and implementation. 

This summit included administrators from five local colleges and universities: Santa Clara University (SCU), San Jose State University (SJSU), De Anza College, West Valley College, and Foothill College. Participants included the presidents of SCU, SJSU, and De Anza, as well as senior  administrators and faculty members. 

“We are grateful to our host, Santa Clara University, for partnering with CCI to share the knowledge, strategies, and resources they gained as a participant in CCI’s recently completed fifth cohort with their  colleagues on neighboring campuses,” said Lisa Armony, CCI executive director. While each campus requires unique actions that are aligned with their particular environments, collaborative opportunities enhance this work by bringing administrators together to learn with and from one another.

The day opened with thoughts from Santa Clara University President Julie Sullivan, who emphasized the need to support Jewish students and improve campus life for all students. Hillels of Silicon Valley Executive Director Sarita Bronstein and Santa Clara University Senior Director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion Dr. Raymond Plaza also offered opening remarks.

Dr. Mara Lee Grayson, director of content development for CCI, and Tina Malka, director of antisemitism, research and education for Hillel International and IAP West Coast director, shared recent data on antisemitism on campus, demonstrating the scope of the problem and its impact on Jewish students. Since October 7, 2023, more than 2,800 incidents of antisemitism, including more than 1,000 instances of hate speech, and close to 100 physical assaults, have been reported to Hillel International by college and university students. These numbers reflect the broader increases in antisemitism in the past 16 months.

Then, administrators reflected on their own identities as a starting point for understanding Jewish students’ lived experiences and shared their reactions to the first two videos in Hillel International’s Understanding Antisemitism series. 

Later, Dr. Grayson, a former professor of rhetoric and composition, explored the tropes and codes of contemporary antisemitism, as well as the relationship between how Jews may be perceived or depicted as members of a racial group based on physical or biological characteristics and campus antisemitism. For example, while some students have been targeted because of perceived physical markers of Jewishness, others have been excluded from support initiatives due to the perception that Jews are white. These sessions were designed to provide administrators with the skills to recognize coded antisemitism and communicate productively about it with their colleagues and students.

Together with facilitators, participants then viewed the newest video in Hillel International’s Understanding Antisemitism series. Malka, the co-creator of the three-part series, introduced “Antisemitism Today,” which examines how antisemitism manifests today on college campuses and in broader society following the horrific attacks in Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

This summit was the third in a series of recent collaborative intensive training sessions for administrators at U.S. universities. These additional workshops and trainings  are an important part of CCI’s efforts to provide administrators at colleges and universities across the country with the knowledge and tools needed to improve life on campus for Jewish students and all students

As Bronstein reminded participants in her opening remarks: “Addressing antisemitism is not only about protecting one community; it’s about safeguarding the values of democracy, inclusion, and mutual respect that underpin the health of our society.”

Learn more about Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative and its newest cohort. 

The post Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative Gathers for Regional Training on Improving Campus Life for Jewish Students appeared first on Hillel International.

News

As We Recover from the LA Wildfires, It’s Our Job to Show Up

Author

Dave Cohn

Date

February 13, 2025

Jewish tradition offers us an option of how to respond to moments when words otherwise fail us, one which signals the most essential message at times filled with confusion, pain, or uncertainty — hineini, I am here.

I am here has been a constant refrain among Hillel professionals over the past 16 months, as the Jewish community around the world has experienced tremendous loss, grief, and fear. Yet in an unexpected blessing, the work we’ve done to show up for our students since the devastating attacks of October 7 gave us new insight when we needed to show up for a tragedy much closer to home. 

As the Allen & Ruth Ziegler Executive Director at USC Hillel, I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve said those words, I am here, in the weeks since the outbreak of the Palisades and Eaton fires here in Southern California. We’ve said it to family, neighbors, friends, colleagues, and students — those witnessing the devastation playing out from the fires across Los Angeles, those weathering hours of power outages, those anxiously wondering if they’ll need to leave their homes, and above all, those who have tragically lost their homes to this destructive disaster.

Somehow, it’s been over a month since the wildfires consumed entire neighborhoods of our city of Los Angeles, forever altering it. At a time of upheaval that felt so much bigger than any one of us, we were reminded that it’s the small acts of kindness that stand out as most memorable, and the value of Hillel’s role in offering comfort and connection to Jewish students cannot be overstated. 

“A Hillel cannot change the material reality of impacted families, destroyed property, or a city experiencing collective trauma,” our campus rabbi, Jocee Hudson, shared with me. “What we can continue to do is show up as the community of care that we are, wrap our arms around our students, provide a space of consistent and loving presence, refuse to shy away from asking about and listening to hard stories, and provide chances to give back and care for the larger LA community.”

Rabbi Hudson’s words were particularly relevant for all of us last month. The week the fires broke out, we had planned an immersive off-site professional development day for our team. Instead, we spent the day watching the news, checking on loved ones, and, of course, reaching out to our students across Los Angeles to ensure their physical and emotional safety. We messaged one another constantly with updates from the valley to the city. Students responded in droves — the majority, luckily, were okay, but a few reported that they’d lost their homes. 

We quickly mobilized as a team, sharing updates about resources that students could utilize even before the spring semester officially got underway, such as the Jewish Federation Los Angeles’ resource hub, which offered reliable information on volunteering, food for marginalized communities, mental health services, and more. We made sure our community was aware of important updates about things like air quality alerts, as well as information about transitional housing offerings available through a partnership between AirBnB and 211.

The Welcome Week programs we already had planned for the spring semester took on new importance as we worked to adapt to what our students needed: we offered open office hours with our campus rabbi and wellness director, a cozy hot cocoa drop-in with our executive board, increased marketing of our free therapy opportunities, and began a collaboration with a local buy-sell-trade app to collect fire relief donations.

Reflecting on our first program of the year, our managing director, Rachael Cohen, shared, “Students and parents showed up disoriented, overwhelmed and restless. But as the room buzzed with new conversations and connections, a sense of calm settled in. Even as chaos dominated the outside world, it was all going to be okay.”

Our students had found a sukkat shalom — a safe haven — a place where they could make a new friend, eat a good snack, and have a real conversation. We remain their Jewish home away from home, even when home is something out of reach. 

“We often say that Hillel is not an institution,” Rabbi Hudson recently told our community. “Rather, it is a community of people seeking to draw near and care for one another. Even when times are hard, indeed, especially when times are hard, we know just who we are and how we want to be.” 

And sometimes, that starts with saying, hineini — I am here.

Dave Cohn is the Allen & Ruth Ziegler Executive Director at USC Hillel. To learn more about supporting the Jewish community in LA in the aftermath of the fires, please visit the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles’ Wildfire Crisis Relief resource.

The post As We Recover from the LA Wildfires, It’s Our Job to Show Up appeared first on Hillel International.

News

Sharing Symbols of Jewish Resilience Across California

Author

University of California Israel Leadership Network Cohort

Date

February 11, 2025

How do you introduce Jewish symbols of resilience to 300,000 University of California students spread across eight campuses? You gather a team of 30 Jewish student leaders who, through research, creativity, and social media savvy, bring these ancient Jewish symbols to life.

On January 29, Jewish students across the UC campuses, displayed Symbols of Jewish Resilience exhibits highlighting the meaning, history, and modern relevance of seven powerful Jewish symbols: the hanukkiah/menorah, the Star of David, the mezuzah, a dove and olive branch, chai, a shofar, and the yellow ribbon.

This collaboration of Jewish unity spanning the UC system was the first of its kind, made possible through Hillel International’s Israel Leadership Network (ILN)’s UC Cohort. This pilot cohort identified an outstanding student leader from each of the campuses to spearhead the initiative. 

“It was incredible to create such a powerful collaboration and to work together over the past several months to bring this project to life,” said Shir Diner, student at UC Irvine and the UC Trustee for ILN. “I am so proud of our teamwork, even when spread across California.”

The Symbols of Jewish Resilience program allowed Jewish student leaders to come  together to highlight their strength, proudly defining it based on their own stories. Shani Menna, University of California, San Diego student and chair of ILN, said, “Students approached us with curiosity instead of hostility for discussions about the Jewish people”.

In addition to physical exhibits on each campus, each group of students added to a digital Unity Wall, a collaborative space for the schools to come together.

Students at University of California, Davis and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) also chose to create unity walls on their campuses to further bring the project to life. 

The UCLA ILN representative Eli Sánchez said, “We saw a tremendous amount of connection from students who stopped by to draw what resilience means to them and learn about resilience in Judaism.” 

An incredible mural had a special double meaning at UCLA, where  students have shown resilience on a daily basis following the recent Los Angeles fires. To show their support for UCLA’s Jewish students,  each campus also displayed a resource that connected how the Jewish symbols highlighted relate to the ways these students are staying strong in the aftermath of the fires.  

The resource also included donation links to the Los Angeles Jewish community, the broader LA community, and the UCLA community. 

This collaboration across the University of California campuses brought together dozens of Jewish and Israeli student groups as they created a united network of students coming together with the goal of spreading Jewish pride across the state. “It was so powerful, having friends show up and celebrate our culture, then opening up my phone and seeing so many have the exact same experience across the UC campuses”, said Nadiv Meltzer, University of California, Santa Barbara’s ILN representative. 

“Jewish students continue to amaze me with their strength and resilience,” said Jon Falk, Hillel International’s vice president of Israel engagement and confronting antisemitism. “This display of unity, creativity, and Jewish connection from the Jewish students in the University of California system is an incredible example of those qualities in action.” 

To learn more about Symbols of Jewish Unity, visit the @uc_jewish_unity on Instagram.

The post Sharing Symbols of Jewish Resilience Across California appeared first on Hillel International.

News

From the Desk of Adam Lehman: Building on Record Engagement and Increasing Jewish Belonging on Campus

Author

Adam Lehman

Date

February 4, 2025

Friends,

With the new semester underway, our Hillel teams are building on momentum from the fall term to advance our core work in creating thriving Jewish life on campus, while continuing to forcefully address the issues of antisemitism and hostile campus environments that can undermine the ability of Jewish students to fully express their identities.

On the “joy before oy” side of the equation, we are on pace for yet another new record in overall student engagement and participation through Hillel this school year. Here are just a few examples of the incredibly diverse array of programs, experiences, and relationships fueling this growth:

• Students from different faith and religious groups, including Hillel Davis & Sacramento, came together for the Interfaith Moveable Feast event at the University of California, Davis. In addition to sharing meals together at the home of each religious group on campus, students learned more about the different cultures and faiths of fellow students.
• Hillels in Ontario, Florida, and Texas have organized and supported regional student leadership convenings to connect and empower hundreds of Jewish student leaders seeking ways to strengthen their leadership on campus.
• As the Jewish community marked one year since the October 7 attack on Israel, campus Hillels around the world gathered to mark the solemn anniversary with programs and vigils, called for the return of the hostages, and provided opportunities to engage the full campus community in remembrance.
• In November, Hillel International organized the Yallapalooza Concert Seriesat premier venues in NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia. More than 3,500 students from 300 different Hillel communities enjoyed live performances from Israeli and Jewish artists headlined by Grammy-nominated musician Matisyahu, 2018 Eurovision winner Netta, 2023 Eurovision finalist Noa Kirel, and artists who performed at the Nova Music Festival on October 7.
• Two student leaders at Ohio State University Hillel launched a newsletter called “Bridges of Support” to help the university’s Jewish community learn about how Hillel is providing support to Jewish Buckeyes. “It’s a way for us as Hillel board members to tell the rest of the Jewish community what’s going on and add a little bit of good news to people’s days,” said OSU Hillel Co-President Abby Mehr.
• Over winter break, students from Hillels in the state of Florida traveled to Poland on a life-changing Hillel-led trip to learn about the history of the Holocaust and how it continues to impact antisemitism today. The group also visited local Jewish communities and Hillel Warsaw to learn about contemporary Jewish life in Poland.
• And this coming March, Hillel International will host the nation’s largest annual gathering of pro-Israel student leaders at our Israel Summit.

Even as we continue to invest in the talented professionals, unique Jewish experiences, and leadership development opportunities that engage, inspire, and empower Jewish students through Hillel, we also remain focused on improving the underlying conditions required for Jewish students to safely and fully engage in Jewish life and learning.

As a broader Jewish community, we can be proud of the progress we’ve made during the past year in catalyzing meaningful change in the ways universities address antisemitism. Many university partners are responding more quickly, aggressively, and effectively to address issues as they arise, including through more active enforcement of university policies and codes of conduct.

These changes have translated into a significant drop in the number of mass campus disruptions that sparked many issues of harassment and intimidation during the prior academic year. Even so, we continue to see a historically high level of problematic incidents targeting Jewish students, Jewish student organizations like Hillel, and Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff. In our just-released survey we conducted with ADL and College Pulse , more than 83% of Jewish students said they have witnessed or experienced antisemitism on campus since Oct. 7, 2023. In this challenged campus environment, more than 40% feel the need to hide their Jewish identity, an enormously problematic indicator of the breadth of issues Jewish students are reporting.

These numbers are more than statistics. They reflect the lived experiences of a large number of Jewish students who are being marginalized, excluded, and subjected to other forms of bias and discrimination. You can read more about the study and how we’re responding in this op-ed I co-authored with the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt.

In the face of these issues, we are continuing to invest in a multitude of resources and strategies to better equip Jewish students to confront these challenges, to promote their resilience, and to change the underlying campus conditions. In the fall, we launched Campus4All.org , a resource to educate and empower students to respond when faced with harassment or discrimination. More than 160,000 people have already taken advantage of Campus for All, and we’ll be continuing to add to the content and resources it offers students. Our Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), operated in partnership with ADL, The Brandeis Center, and law firm Gibson Dunn, provides free legal support from some of the nation’s top law firms to ensure that every Jewish student facing unlawful discrimination has legal recourse.

We’ve grown our Campus Climate Initiative to 100 participating universities, educating and training their administrators on the nature of contemporary antisemitism, facilitating policy-level changes to improve the way they respond to Jewish student issues, and ensuring their accountability in delivering on these improvements. We’re also adding new “Community Impact” professionals to Hillel teams at select campuses to serve as dedicated advocates for Jewish students and channel the efforts of aligned partners, faculty, alumni, and administrators in driving positive change. Finally, we continue to invest in the core Jewish education, engagement, and community building experiences that motivate and equip students to express their Jewish identities with joy, pride and confidence.

This past week’s Torah portion, Parshat Bo, bridges from the tragedy of our people’s enslavement in Egypt to the triumph of the Exodus. We too are living through times of tragedy and triumph, including the miracle of the growing group of hostages finally being released from their captivity over the past two weeks. Through it all, at Hillel we remain resolute in our mission, and confident in our capacity to inspire the next generation of Jewish leaders who will bring light to the Jewish people and broader world. Thanks for everything each of you does in support of our work and mission.

B’shalom,
Adam

The post From the Desk of Adam Lehman: Building on Record Engagement and Increasing Jewish Belonging on Campus appeared first on Hillel International.

News

Notes from Springboard Fellows: Thinking Outside the Box

Author

Hillel International

Date

January 30, 2025

Notes from Springboard Fellows is a series of deep dives into the work of first and second year Springboard Fellows who play transformative roles in their Hillel communities. Read on to learn more about Craig Carroll, the Springboard Fellow at American University. 

Interested in becoming a Springboard Fellow? Apply today.

Craig Carroll, a first-year Springboard Fellow at American University, started thinking about working for Hillel early in his college career. “I was what you might call a pipeline kid,” he joked. “Hillel was like my second major — I spent all my time at the Hillel building.”

By the time he was a senior, Craig knew he wanted to pursue a career where building relationships was key. “I really wanted something that was people-focused,” he said. “And where the main work is in connecting with people. Because that is what I love doing, and I’m very good at it.”

The Springboard Fellowship brings recent college graduates with raw talent, passion, and skills needed to reimagine and redesign Jewish student life to college campuses across North America. This was the perfect opportunity for Craig to combine his love for the Jewish world with his desire to work in an environment where every day would be different, where he’d get to focus on connection and community-building, and where he’d find great mentoring and professional development.

For Craig, having the support and structure of the Springboard environment has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the fellowship. “Springboard really puts such an emphasis on the growth process,” he said. “It’s made clear what you need to work on and where you need to do better, but it’s not expected that you’ll have all the answers immediately.”

One area where Craig invested a lot of professional development work has been building creative problem-solving skills and learning to facilitate brainstorming sessions with students. He recalled a moment earlier in his fellowship when he and his supervisor were working with students to plan a Wellness Shabbat, and had to go back to the drawing board several times to make sure their programming ideas aligned with what the community was looking for, and Hillel’s values regarding a Shabbat experience. 

“It can be hard to encourage students to turn their ideas into reality,” he said. “Sometimes they hold themselves back if they think an idea is too weird, or if they don’t think they’re the right thing…”

To work through this problem, Craig called on the insights he’d gained from a workshop at Hillel International’s New Professionals Institute (NPI). “We were given a problem to solve, and our instructions were to come up with the worst possible idea to solve the issue. Then we passed it along the table, and the next person had to make it even worse, and so on. What it encouraged us to do was come up with ridiculous ideas and then say, ‘What could make this into a good idea?’ And then model it into something better.” With this strategy in mind, Craig, his supervisor, and the student leaders were able to put together a successful and engaging Wellness Shabbat, and many other programs since.

Asked what advice he’d give a prospective Springboard Fellow, Craig suggested that the most important thing an applicant can do is self-advocate. “You’ll want to make sure you ask for what you need,” he said. “And sometimes that means coming in with your own needs and advocating for them. That’s what I did, and I ended up very happy and fulfilled in my work.”

Join a network of changemakers like Craig and transform Jewish student life— visit hillel.org/springboard-fellowship and apply today!

The post Notes from Springboard Fellows: Thinking Outside the Box appeared first on Hillel International.

News

We Are Still Here: Traveling to Poland with Hillel

Author

Jordan Kekst

Date

January 24, 2025

University of Miami student Jordan Kekst recently traveled to Poland with other Jewish students as part of a trip organized by the Hillels of Florida, including University of Miami Hillel, Hillel at Florida International University, University of Florida Hillel, Hillels of the Florida Suncoast, Hillel at Florida State University, Central Florida Hillel, and Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach. This powerful reflection from his trip was originally published on the University of Miami Hillel Instagram page, and we are honored to share it ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

I am an architecture student at the University of Miami, originally from Los Angeles. While I do not have a personal family connection to the Holocaust, I have always felt a deep responsibility to remember and honor those who were lost. This trip was an opportunity to witness history firsthand and better understand the impact of the Shoah, the Holocaust, beyond textbooks and museums.

Standing in Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II: Birkenau, Majdanek, and Treblinka, we walked the same paths where millions were forced to endure unspeakable cruelty. We saw the barracks designed as stables where Jews lived in inhumane conditions for years, the gas chambers where they were murdered, and the crematoriums where their remains were discarded without dignity. 

The scale of the Holocaust was incomprehensible, but it was the details, the bales of hair, the piles of glasses worn by Jews just like me, the faint echoes of lives once lived, that was truly shattering. 

One moment that has stayed with me is walking into the Yad Vashem exhibit at Auschwitz I, where videos and photos of Holocaust victims were played, showing them laughing, spending time with loved ones, and simply living their lives. Seeing their faces and joy in a place where they were murdered made the loss feel deeply personal. It was there that I truly grasped the sheer scale of the Holocaust, not just as statistics or numbers, but as unfathomable human tragedies. The weight of that realization has stayed with me every day, serving as a reminder that behind every number were stories, families, and entire worlds violently cut short, never to be fully known.

Bearing witness to their pain felt like both a responsibility and an obligation. I imagined myself in their positions. How would I have felt? What would I have done?

Yet along with this intense mourning, there was also light. As we traveled through Krakow, Lublin, Warsaw, and Kazimierz, our kehilah (community) found moments of connection, joy, and even laughter. We sang together, shared stories, and leaned on each other for support on long bus rides and in group discussions. 

This balance of grief and levity felt profoundly Jewish; tapping into a tradition that intertwines joy and sorrow, honoring the past while finding reasons to celebrate life and our combined strength.

This trip reminded me of the resilience of the Jewish people. For every life taken, there are communities that refuse to let their memory fade. For every moment of despair, there is a spark of hope. Our group left Poland bonded, not only by the weight of history, but by the shared strength of our identity.  

We are still here. We remember. We carry their stories forward. Never again. 

The post We Are Still Here: Traveling to Poland with Hillel appeared first on Hillel International.