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]]>Reflections from a Hillel Intern on Pride Month
This year, Pride Month coincides with the reading of Sefer BaMidbar, the Book of Numbers. At the outset of the book, we learn that God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, a topic addressed by the rabbis in BaMidbar Rabbah, an 11th century book of midrash, or rabbinic allegory.
Why did God choose to speak to Moses in the desert, of all places? The sages taught the Torah was given through fire, water, and desert, because each of these three things are given freely to all of humanity. Thus, Torah, too, should be given freely to all of humanity.
When I came across this interpretation, I immediately thought of Hillel’s tagline, “All Kinds of Jewish.” Through Hillel, any Jewish college student is welcome to freely access Jewish tradition, culture, and community. Any Jewish college student should be able to walk into a Hillel building and feel not only like efforts are being made to include them, but that they belong just as much as anyone else. Gay, straight, trans, cis: Hillel can be your home away from home.
Over the past year, I have interned for the Center for Student and Staff Wellbeing at Hillel International, learning invaluable lessons about how validating and affirming one’s identity can affect well-being. Our holistic wellness is deeply important, and the ability to look at someone’s soul and affirm who they are and that they belong is crucial in today’s world. Research shows LGBTQ+ young people with at least one accepting adult in their life report significantly lower rates of attempted suicide. It is absolutely essential that LGBTQ+ college students find accepting adults at Hillel, peers with shared experiences, and programming that supports their well-being and equips them to tackle the challenges of their world.
When I first interviewed for the intern position, Hillel International Associate Director of Student and Staff Wellbeing Sarah Cohn asked me how I practiced self-care. At the time, I was chair of the Jewish Student Union at my college, working multiple jobs, completing a double major, and applying to rabbinical school, all while being generally heartbroken by the state of the world – and feeling the weight on my shoulders to repair it. I told Sarah that I didn’t need a self-care practice, since the work I was doing was fulfilling, meaningful, and important to me and others. As you might imagine, this was not the best response during an interview for a position on a wellness team. Sarah called me on it, and I am profoundly indebted to her.
The Center for Student and Staff Wellbeing team helped me realize just how essential an individual wellness practice is. It should not be secondary to our lives, something we do only when we have the time. It is foundational, and it’s how we learn to flourish and thrive – especially in a world that often wants to keep us subdued.
It’s been a privilege to work at Hillel International for the past year and see the many kinds of important work that Hillel does for Jewish college students, including:
The Center for Student and Staff Wellbeing offers grants to help campus Hillels bolster their well-being programs, hire mental health and/or wellness professionals, and create spaces dedicated to improving wellness.
The social impact team offers microgrants to help campuses become engaged in social justice work. This could be anything from facilitating LGBTQ+ interfaith spirituality groups to volunteering with marginalized populations. Working across identity and talking across difference is how we build a world in which we all become liberated.
Several years ago the Center for Jewish and Israel Education adopted a policy lovingly called the Kranjec Test that increases the voices of women and other minority genders on our source sheets. For millennia, Jewish texts and our study of them have been dictated by men. Hillel is at the forefront of pushing for change in this arena, so many brilliant voices that have been left off to the side for too long can be brought into the center.
Ari Levy, Hillel’s associate vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion recently completed Keshet’s Shivyon Project, a year-long, cohort-based project of training, consultation, and learning. Keshet conducted an internal assessment, hosted a full-day of learning, worked with Ari to create a sustainable plan for action, and established tools for ongoing work to support LGBTQ+ staff at Hillel. Ari’s support and the institution’s support of LGBTQ+ personnel is essential, and I am grateful for it.
This past year has also been my first as a rabbinical student at Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School, not to mention a painful and immensely challenging year for the Jewish people. My queer and Jewish identities have always intersected, and I am deeply committed to promoting LGBTQ+ belonging in Jewish community and tradition. To train as a spiritual leader while working for Hillel International and witnessing the culture that Hillel promotes has been an incredible privilege. It gives me hope for the future of mainstream Jewish society, one in which “All Kinds of Jewish” are accepted and belong.
This Pride Month and every day moving forward, may Hillel continue to be a leader in cultivating communities in which all can freely access Jewish tradition, culture, and community because they feel affirmed and a deep sense of belonging.
Emma Mair is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College, located north of Boston. She likes to celebrate Jewish joy, ask bold questions, and facilitate meaningful experiences for all kinds of people.
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]]>Welcome to Hillel: The Ramirez Sisters Head Back to School
Roll Call:
College students across the country are headed back to school. At the University of Central Florida (UCF) and at New York University (NYU), two sisters are kicking off the school year as brand new Hillel staff members. Melina Ramirez, Engagement Manager at UCF Hillel, and Sofie Ramirez, Springboard Innovation Fellow at NYU Hillel, are excited to welcome students back to campus and to continue their own Hillel journeys.
Growing up in a small Jewish community on Long Island, Sofie and Melina were both deeply involved in their childhood synagogue, as well as BBYO.
When Melina started school at Florida Southern College, a school with a very small Jewish population, it was a new experience for her to be one of the only Jewish people that most of her classmates had ever met. She quickly became involved in the tight-knit Hillel community, and after graduation, decided that connecting with a larger, vibrant Jewish community, like the one she grew up with and the one she found on her gap year in Israel, was a priority for her career and life choices. After working for BBYO and her local JCC, she found her way back to Hillel where she is starting her first year as a Hillel professional.
Sofie’s journey also took her to Hillel as a student at Hofstra University on Long Island. Hofstra Hillel became an important part of her college experience as she volunteered as a student leader and worked closely with the Hillel rabbi on campus. After taking some time off following graduation to visit her family in Puerto Rico, Sofie is excited to share her love for Hillel with students at NYU as a Springboard Innovation Fellow.
Welcome to Hillel!
As first-year students move onto campus and begin exploring their new schools and communities, Hillel staff and student leaders are there to welcome them.
NYU Hillel’s Welcome Week kicked off this past weekend with a brunch that brought together first-year students and their families in the Hillel building. For the next two weeks, Hillel staff will be available to help students move into their dorms, connect with new friends, and chat over coffee. Different types of programs will be available to students depending on their interests. Sofie will run a one-day color war for student athletes that will include team-building exercises as well as classic games like wheelbarrow races and ring toss. She believes that offering space and programming to students with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds is essential to helping first-year students start to feel at home on campus and at Hillel.
At the University of Central Florida, students started arriving on campus in mid-August. UCF Hillel hosted FreshFest, an early move-in opportunity for Jewish students paired with programming and a chance to meet other first-year students before classes began. Twenty first-year students, along with third- and fourth-year student leaders and Hillel staff members had a splash at the nearby Aquatica Water Park. Following two days of getting to know each other, the FreshFest students attended the first Shabbat dinner of the semester with 80 other students from across the university.
Melina reflected that in addition to FreshFest, her favorite part of welcoming new students was driving around campus to pick students up and bring them to the Hillel building for coffee chats, activities, and hang-out time. She’s excited for the energy of this first week to carry through the rest of the year.
Wishes for the New Year:
The first weeks of the new school year often lead right into Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Reflecting on the upcoming academic and Jewish year, Melina and Sofie each have dreams they’re hoping to accomplish with their students.
Melina said, “As students come out of a very isolated experience with the Covid-19 pandemic, we want to make sure there is a warm and welcoming environment waiting for them at Hillel. A big part of that is making sure that each student has a space where they can feel comfortable. As a Jewish Latina, building a space for Jews of color to share their experiences and their voices is so important to me.”
Sofie added, “Creating an affinity space for Jews of color at NYU means that there will be a unique space for every Jewish student to speak up. I’m excited to run a Yom Kippur program about forgiveness and processing emotions around difficult interactions—I’m looking forward to broadening this space for Jewish students of color.”
As sisters, Melina and Sofie are also looking forward to connecting with each other through their Hillel work and to growing strong, vibrant communities at UCF and NYU.
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]]>Connecting Across Faith Traditions
In partnership with the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, Hillel International’s Social Impact Department offers Interfaith Outreach Microgrants, which support projects that are the outgrowth of collaborative relationship-building between Jewish students and students from other faith traditions, and that result in expanding and strengthening relationships among students from different faith traditions. Below are some examples of recent multifaith programs from across the country.
Syracuse University:
Rabbi Ethan Bair and Imam Amir Durić, both chaplains at Syracuse University, were inspired to build relationships between the Jewish and Muslim students on campus as a way to strengthen their individual and shared faith communities. With an Interfaith Microgrant from Hillel International, Imam Durić and Rabbi Bair worked with their student leaders to host a multifaith Passover and Ramadan celebration that would serve as an iftar for Muslim students and an opportunity to observe Passover for Jewish students. 120 students with equal representation from both faith communities gathered for dinner, a Kahoot about the relationship between Judaism and Islam, and powerful conversations about the connections between these two faith traditions.
The celebration was followed by a community service project centered around the value of tzedakah or sadaqah, shared by both faiths. Both Rabbi Blair and Imam Durić remain committed to continued shared learning and celebrations.
Wake Forest University:
During Passover and Ramadan, students from across multiple faith communities gathered together for a communal Interfaith Seder and Iftar. Over 60 students who identify as Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and more attended the event. Aman Kimani, the President of the Hindu Student Association shared, “It was a really impactful and immersive experience to learn about each other’s cultures and religions – not just with Jewish and Muslim people, but with people who hold all kinds of beliefs and traditions.”
University of Miami:
The University of Miami Hillel recently hosted an Interfaith Shabbat program, led by student leaders from multiple faith communities. Katherine Pratha, one of the student organizers of the event, shared this reflection, “We had a fantastic time at InterFaith Shabbat! I truly enjoyed the ability to work with student leaders from other faiths on an event that meant so much to me. Coming from an interfaith family, dialogue surrounding shared traditions and differences has always been a conversation of value to myself and my learning. The ability to learn from other students of other faith practices while sharing the Jewish tradition of Shabbat with communities at the University of Miami was an enriching experience that I sincerely hope to repeat.”
For more information on Hillel International’s Interfaith Microgrants, connect with the Social Impact team at socialimpact@hillel.org.
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]]>Speaking Up and Making Change: Madison’s Story
It can be hard to have a disability and make friends at school. In high school, I was involved with Washington Hebrew Congregation and loved being a leader in my Jewish community. So when I was searching for a way to form a community for myself at George Mason University, I went to see what was happening at Hillel.
Joining Hillel gave me a sense of family on campus and I met great people there who became my friends. My Hillel family gave me a space to explore my Jewish identity and inspired me to get involved in other leadership opportunities.
When I arrived on campus, I was shocked to learn that George Mason LIFE students (students who participate in a four-year program for people with disabilities) were not eligible to serve as full members of the student government. I was determined to change that for myself and other students who were passionate about leadership. Madison’s Bill, a piece of legislation that I introduced, allowed students with disabilities to join the student government.
I took the first step by winning a student senate seat to represent the voices of marginalized students like returning education students, international students, and students with disabilities.
Across campus, there continued to be opportunities for me to speak up for inclusion. From making Greek life more inclusive to advocating for kosher dining on campus to changing how George Mason defines their enrolled students with disabilities, I spoke up and my Hillel family was with me every step of the way.
I became only the fifth person in the United States with Down’s Syndrome to graduate from a four-year college. I hope my journey and the work I did as a student and beyond inspire others to speak up and make space in their lives for inclusive change.
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]]>Five Ways Hillel Mental Health Professionals Improve Jewish Life on Campus
Yael Kornfeld, Hunter Hillel Social Worker, recently sat down with Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute North America, on the Hartman Institute’s podcast, Identity/Crisis, to discuss her work. Here are five ways that her work and the work of social workers across the Hillel movement are improving the lives of Jewish students on campus.
While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for mental health support on campus, it did not create that need.
Yael shared that Merav Fine-Braun, Executive Director at Hunter Hillel, identified the need for mental health care at Hillel in 2019 when she learned that 80% of Hunter College’s students experience food insecurity. From the beginning, building out a role for a social worker on Hunter Hillel’s staff was about addressing basic needs for every Hillel student, from mental health to housing.
Students on different campuses have unique needs.
Hunter’s student population has a diverse range of students from different socioeconomic, geographic, and religious backgrounds. Having a mental health professional who is an expert in a specific student population and who is familiar with the culture and needs of the students is critical. “Many of our students are either first-generation immigrants, or their parents are… It’s so important to have someone at Hillel with the cultural competency to understand where our students are coming from,” Yael reflected.
Mental health professionals embedded in Hillels have a particular effectiveness in reaching students who need care.
As Yael said, “A very basic tenet of social work is meeting the client where they are. So if students are coming into Hillel, let’s be there. Let’s be ready to support them in the place that they’re already comfortable coming to.”
Hillel mental health professionals work in concert with university counseling centers to make sure students are receiving comprehensive services.
One of the biggest questions about having mental health professionals work full time at Hillel is where their work intersects with university counseling services. Yael emphasized that Hillel mental health professionals and university counseling services work in collaboration with each other and often fill different mental health needs for students.
Mental health and wellness are crucial to student success.
Hillels have always been dedicated to supporting and enriching Jewish students’ lives. Through Yael’s work and the work of other mental health professionals at Hillels across the world, Hillels are meeting students’ emotional and mental needs in addition to their communal and spiritual needs.
Yael and the other mental health professionals working in Hillels all over the country have shown the need for Hillels to provide mental health support on top of the diverse array of programming and guidance that they already offer. Thank you to the Shalom Hartman Institute North America for continuing this important conversation.
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]]>The post When our student community sees themselves represented in leadership roles, they feel more safe, secure, and seen on campus. appeared first on Hillel International.
]]>When our student community sees themselves represented in leadership roles, they feel more safe, secure, and seen on campus.
“Brooklyn College is one of the most richly diverse campuses in the country. The two biggest communities on campus are the Muslim and Jewish communities. So this year, my friend Iqura (Muslim Hijabi Woman) and I (Yemenite Jew) decided to run for Student Government President together with the intention of collaboratively co-leading. This was absolutely unique and unheard of at Brooklyn College, which usually has very contested elections. The idea that two students from very different communities decided to run together and share the highest position in the student body raised many eyebrows on campus. Students were very skeptical it would work out, and I got comments daily questioning my decision.
“Nonetheless, we both won the position and immediately started working closely to improve student life at Brooklyn College. Since there isn’t an official ‘Co-President’ position, in the fall I ran the cabinet and Iqura ran the senate, and in the spring we switched. Our cabinet wass proudly so different from other cabinets before it in that it was one of the most diverse in Brooklyn College history.
“Our Student Government created new methods for communicating with students, including establishing a website with student-facting resources, and engaged with the administration to help as many students as possible. The cultural shift this has created has made Iqura and I realize the power of our innovative, intersectional approach.
“Our collaborative leadership has taught me a great lesson in the importance of diversity and inclusion. When our student community sees themselves represented in leadership roles, they feel more safe, secure, and seen on campus. This makes for a better campus life experience for each student. This is what I will be taking with me throughout my college career and beyond my time at Brooklyn College.” – Aharon Grama, Brooklyn College ‘23
Aharon Grama is a recipient of the 2022 Hillel International Campus Leadership Award. Learn more about Hillel scholarships for Jewish students.
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]]>The post No student should feel unwelcome at our Hillel because it’s not accessible. appeared first on Hillel International.
]]>No student should feel unwelcome at our Hillel because it’s not accessible.
Hillels across the country spearheaded new initiatives to make their spaces more inclusive this Jewish Disability, Awareness, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). Every February, Hillel observes JDAIM to amplify the voices of Jewish people with disabilities and spread awareness in the Jewish community.
Naomi Hess, a senior majoring in public policy at Princeton University, has been hosting JDAIM events at Princeton Hillel since her freshman year.
“We already had all sorts of amazing intersectional Shabbat events here on campus,” Hess said. “I wanted to make sure that people knew about the intersection between Judaism and students with disabilities.”
Hess, who has muscular dystrophy, is continuing to spread disability awareness alongside a Hillel committee that reaches out to speakers and helps bring the events to fruition.
Katie Heinzer, a senior studying Slavic languages and literature at Princeton, has helped facilitate JDAIM events at Princeton Hillel. Heinzer moderated an event last year with Judy Heumann, an internationally recognized Jewish disability rights activist.
“It was a really good opportunity for the Princeton campus to realize how important the intersection is between disability advocacy and Jewish life,” Heinzer said. “This year, I’m really excited to host more events regarding accessibility, and to have another speaker speak to our campus.”
To help advance the intersection between disability advocacy and Jewish life, students at American University Hillel partnered with Repair the World, a social justice organization that helps Jewish students get involved in service projects. For their project, American University Hillel students worked with the Center of Jewish Education in Baltimore to learn how to caption videos to increase accessibility for the deaf Jewish community.
“The students are training to caption videos, so that even after the training ends, they can continue to use their skills for more service work as long as it’s needed, which is really exciting,” said Sarah Bernstein, a Hillel International Springboard Fellow at American University.
Not only are students assisting with accessibility in virtual formats, Hillels have also made changes to improve physical accessibility.
At University of Minnesota Hillel, the building recently underwent an 11-month renovation to install a new elevator, multiple ramps for entryways, more accessible bathrooms, and wider doors.
“During the process, there was a lot of discussion. Why put in an elevator? Why spend that much money when you may have one or two students who need it?” said Benji Kaplan, executive director of Minnesota Hillel. “And our answer was: No student should feel unwelcome at our Hillel because it’s not accessible.”
In addition to programming on Hillel campuses during JDAIM, Hillel@Home also hosted a series of online events.
One of these events was a conversation with Chella Man, who talked about his experience balancing his identities as a trans, deaf, Jewish, and Chinese-American man. Man is also speaking at Princeton this month to continue spreading disability awareness and inclusion.
Rabbi Ira Dounn, a senior Jewish educator at Princeton Hillel, feels inspired by his students, many of whom are champions for inclusion all year round.
“During Yom Kippur services last year, one of the aliyot I had was for Naomi Hess and her advocacy for disability rights,” Dounn said. “And I said, ‘Please stand in spirit or body to support the cause.’ The entire room stood up, which was truly beautiful.”
Hess said Hillel is an inclusive space where everyone is willing to learn.
“Rabbi Ira started this tradition of saying, ‘Please stand if you’re able,” Hess said. “And this is just a really small, linguistic change. But it shows that he and Princeton Hillel are absolutely thinking about people whose experiences are different from the norm, which means a lot to me.”
Gabriel Lesser is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University.
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]]>The post My experiences were the tip of the iceberg; I had just as much learning to do as everyone else. appeared first on Hillel International.
]]>My experiences were the tip of the iceberg; I had just as much learning to do as everyone else.
“As a high school freshman, I stepped into leadership for the first time through BBYO. My passion for grassroots organizing and teen initiative inspired me to run for BBYO’s International Board, and I started in February 2020 as the international treasurer. With this position, I was given the platform to take action on causes I’m passionate about. In early June, I began leading BBYO’s racial justice education efforts. Against a national and increasingly global backdrop of discussions about racial understanding, it felt like people were finally starting to value the importance of sensitivity and inclusion. Being a Jew of Color, this work felt deeply personal.
“Growing up, the fact that I was both Asian and Jewish did not resonate with those around me: On my first day of middle school, my math teacher marked me absent because ‘my name didn’t match my face.’ When I told my gym teacher I would be absent from school for the Jewish high holidays, he chuckled and said, ‘I guess you can never tell these days.’ People tried to connect visual pictures with existing known paradigms, which resulted in misunderstandings and misconceptions of how I identified.
“It wasn’t until joining BBYO in 8th grade that I was able to find a community that both acknowledged and celebrated me. Here I could define my complex identity, not through my appearance, but through my actions. Through my leadership, I was able to convince peers and alumni that systemic racism isn’t a political issue, but a human rights issue. I’m proud to have created a comfortable and productive learning space for young adults and have learned so much myself about making tangible steps towards a more inclusive community. Most importantly, this opportunity helped me realize that my experiences were the tip of the iceberg; I had just as much learning to do as everyone else.” — Emma Rosman, Virginia Tech ‘25
Emma Rosman is a 2021 recipient of the Handeli First-Year Student Scholarship from Hillel International. Learn more about Hillel scholarships for Jewish students.
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]]>The post I’m a Trinidadian Jew of Color. Hillel has helped shape my identity. appeared first on Hillel International.
]]>I’m a Trinidadian Jew of Color. Hillel has helped shape my identity.
“Being a Jew of Color always puts me in an interesting place. In my experience, when people think about Jews, they think about white Europeans, but there are a bunch of Ashkenazi Jews like me who aren’t always counted or represented. There may not be many of me in the world, but that doesn’t mean I don’t exist. Making that clear is always important.
“I was born in Trinidad and Tobago; I was one when I came to Brooklyn with my mother and older brother. At the time we were Hindu. In America, my mother met my stepdad, an Ashkenazi Jew. As things got more serious, my mom learned more about Judaism and really fell in love with it, and so we went through the process of conversion. Most converts choose to be Jewish; not that I wouldn’t want to be Jewish, but I didn’t get the choice. It’s different when you’re the child of someone who’s also converting because, in many ways, you don’t think of yourself as a convert. You think of yourself as any other Jew. Growing up, the only thing I wanted to do was blend in. Now I understand how it’s okay not to blend in and how to actually embrace not blending in.
“At school, I would say, ‘I’m Jewish,’ and people would say, ‘I don’t believe you.’ I would take the day off for Simchat Torah or something and teachers would say, ‘You’re Jewish?’ or say a snide comment. I’ve heard the joke ‘You’d probably be the last to burn in the gas chamber.’ I get a lot of antisemitism but not as much as I’ve gotten older because I’m wiser. Hillel is a supplemental service to your Jewish education no matter what you major in. I studied history, and my focus was Jewish history. Now I’m better able to articulate what defines a Jew. I’m blessed to have been part of a Hillel that is so vibrant.
“My Springboard Fellow, Isaac Kurtz, put me on the track to where I’m at now, which is why I love Hillel: the opportunities it gives. On the Hillel International Student Cabinet, I was able to do whatever I was interested in. As a Jew of Color, I love sharing that Jews are more than just a monolith, and one way to do that is putting on events, especially ones that students might not always be accustomed to. I’m going to keep doing this work as a Springboard Fellow for Baruch Hillel. I want to bring all the lessons I’ve learned as a student at Hillel and as someone who’s seen the different aspects of what makes Hillel a living movement.” — Rhodondo “Rj” Jeraman, Hunter College
As told to Rudy Malcom, writer in the Hillel International Writers Program.
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]]>The post Grappling with the Complexities of Black, Queer and Jewish appeared first on Hillel International.
]]>Grappling with the Complexities of Black, Queer and Jewish
“My first Hillel dinner at school was when I was a prospective student. My host’s name was Dana, and she, along with the people I met that weekend, are the reason I’m here. From the moment I stepped into the admissions building to check-in, I felt welcomed and loved, and it continued throughout the rest of my stay. We went to services together, we ate together, and she woke up early to go to Saturday morning services with me. At the end of every interaction I had with a student, they would wave goodbye and say ‘Come to Brandeis!’ So I did.
“Since coming to Brandeis, I have also been impressed by the depth of political conversations we are having on campus. Jewish spaces can be complicated, however, and the debate as to how to protect our synagogues is a difficult one for me. Many white and white-passing Jews call for armed security and cops outside of their synagogues without thinking about the ways hired, armed guards will compromise the safety of Jews of Color. This is not to say we should not protect our synagogues. However, the fact that there are so many people who think police presence is beneficial and that the consequences are nonexistent frightens me.
“I think this debate is also emblematic of how the Jewish community continues to grapple with a multitude of identities within our community. As a Black, Queer Jew, I have faced the most conflict and push-back from people who do not respect the intersectionality of my Blackness and my Judaism. From people saying that Black Jews don’t exist to others claiming that I am not ethnically Jewish because my mom is a convert.
“Despite these challenges, I still feel at home at Hillel events at Brandeis and have mentors I value. It was actually our current Hillel Springboard fellow, Remy, who encouraged me to apply for the fellowship myself. The current assistant Hillel director here at Brandeis, Rabbi Stephanie Sanger-Miller, was the main reason I was able to bring the leader of the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, to campus a couple of years ago.
“Thus, I am grappling with the complexities of these identities and what they entail for both my fulfillment and safety. It is not my job to teach others, to be outraged for others in the face of persistent racism and antisemitism. Yet, I look forward to continuing to promote these essential conversations on campus as a leader, so that all of us can grow.” — Aviva Davis, Brandeis University
As told to Maddie Solomon, writer in the Hillel International Writers Program.
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