Hillels respond to surge in antisemitism

In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League recorded the highest number of antisemitic incidents nationwide since it began tracking them 40 years ago. Last year, Hillel International counted 178 antisemitic incidents across the 550 North American campuses it serves—an all-time high, even though some campuses were closed due to COVID-19.

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Hillel Engagement Practices in COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic forced institutions and leaders of all kinds to significantly change how they do their work in an era of social distancing. Jewish organizations, including Hillels, were not spared from this tumult. Still, in the face of these challenges, anecdotal evidence suggests that Hillels have been successful in engaging college students and responding to their needs.

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A Rising Spirit: Interfaith, Jewish College Voices

Jewish life presents a unique opportunity for students to explore the complexities of their identities, and active Jewish engagement during college can play a pivotal role for many interfaith, Jewish college students. These students, many of whom are the leaders of their Hillels and other Jewish groups on campus, have embraced Judaism in college.

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A Letter to My Past Self

In a letter to his freshman self, Sam Kricsfeld, student at KU Hillel, encourages his younger self to get involved with Hillel and recounts what he has learned throughout his Jewish college experience.

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Announcing the Hillel International Spring 2021 TikTok Ambassadors

Hillel International is proud to announce the hiring of six Jewish college students as TikTok Ambassadors. These students are part of a semester-long paid partnership that will bring original content to Hillel’s channels and elevate the voices of the Jewish future.

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Hillels across the U.S. get creative in addressing food insecurity

In 2016, 47% of college students reported experiencing food insecurity, meaning they didn’t know where their next meal would come from. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing problems — nearly three in five students reported experiencing food or housing insecurity in 2020.

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Stories of hope and connection animate Hillel’s Jewish Disability Advocacy Month

Observed each February, Jewish Disability Advocacy Month is a worldwide Jewish effort to promote education, awareness, and inclusion of people with disabilities. Throughout the month, Farbstein and other speakers engaged with hundreds of Hillel students about the intersections of Judaism and disability and the importance of inclusion.

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This Purim, I’m honoring the spirit of the Jewish people and our insistence on survival

On Purim, we remember that one Jew has the power to single-handedly prevent the story of the Jewish people from ending. That "one Jew" is Queen Esther, who is rightfully enshrined as one of the most important figures in our culture.

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First-Years Lean into Leadership with Hillel

As Hillels around the world prepared to begin the 2020-2021 school year under unprecedented circumstances—fully remote, on-campus but without the ability to gather, and everything in between—Hillel student leaders and staff members alike worried in particular about how to engage and support first-year students.

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Dartmouth Hillel announced as its own independent non-profit organization

Dartmouth College and Hillel International announced this week that Dartmouth College Hillel is transitioning from being part of the College into becoming its own independent non-profit organization, launching a new era of growth for Jewish life at Dartmouth.

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Hillel International Writers Program announces Spring 2021 Cohort

Meet the student journalists who will cover Hillel happenings in Spring 2021

Hillel International this week announced the six students chosen to participate in the Spring 2021 cohort of the Hillel International Writers Program, a five-month opportunity for Jewish undergraduate students interested in journalism.

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From “Hamilton” to Marvel: How Hillels are Using Pop Culture to Drive Connection

As the Coronavirus pandemic has pushed Hillels across the world to get creative with their virtual programming, it’s not uncommon to see a pop culture icon sit down for a video chat with Hillel students.

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Meet the 2020-2021 Masa Fellows

We are so excited to welcome our seventh cohort of Masa-Hillel Fellows.

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Sheldon Adelson, z”l, a Giant in Jewish Philanthropy

Our community has lost one of its most influential and generous supporters with the passing of Sheldon Adelson, z’l.

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Hillel’s ‘Mr. International’ Looks Back on 20 Years of Hillel in the Former Soviet Union

In the early 1990s, as the Iron Curtain fell in Europe, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hillel Director Yossie Goldman noticed something of a trend—Russian Jews were arriving at the university and joining Hillel in droves.

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How This Plague Made Us Stronger

At 2:30pm on March 11, 2020, just as our sephardic Jewish learning programs were finishing, Governor Cuomo shut down the CUNY schools for the rest of the semester. We were worried.

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Scaling Small for Deep Impact

While Gen Z, those born after 1995, are often known for being “digital natives,” like all humans before them they overwhelmingly crave in-person connection. Their adolescent digital lives are often disrupted in college by life-changing interactions, which we all recall from our own college experiences. Of the many assaults of 2020, the deleterious effects of the pandemic on college students and their quest for human connection should rank high.

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Cultivating global Jewish connection when travel is paused

By using online platforms like Zoom, Hillel International has strengthened its global programming efforts, connecting Jewish students thousands of miles apart. And for all those travel restrictions, it’s certainly been a very global year for Hillel.

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Hillel International Launches First “Winterfest” to Create New Learning Communities Amid January Pandemic Challenges

Supported by Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund, Maimonides Fund and Jim Joseph Foundation, Winterfest creating 170 small campus-based groups in nine countries

With many colleges and universities delaying the start of the spring semester to the end of January, or forced to continue substituting in-person classes with virtual learning, Hillel International, the world’s largest Jewish campus organization, is launching its first-ever Winterfest throughout January, connecting students through some 170 small-setting experiences at universities in nine countries to provide meaningful Jewish learning to students on and off campus while countering increasing social isolation during the pandemic’s intensifying second wave.

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And that's a wrap on HIGA/GLC 2020

Last week, December 14-15, 2020, Hillel International hosted its first virtual, seventh annual Hillel International Global Assembly (HIGA) and fourth Global Leadership Conference (GLC).

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