Hillels Unite Around Good Deeds Day: An Opportunity to Give Back

On Sunday, April 11, Hillel students from around the world participated in Good Deeds Day, a global day for volunteering and community service. This year, even with COVID-19 restrictions, 64 Hillels registered to participate.

Full story

HillelWell microgrants help Hillels adapt and expand wellness offerings

In the year since Covid-19 entered our lives and altered what ‘normal’ student life looks like, Hillels across the country and around the world have been implementing new wellness programming to meet students, and their newfound wellness needs, where they’re at, with support from Hillel International’s HillelWell microgrants.

Full story

Students form Black Jewish Cohort to Connect and Celebrate

This is the point of the Black-Jewish Cohort, which was created in February to provide a community for students across the Hillel movement who identify as both Black and Jewish. As part of Hillel International’s virtual Hillel@Home platform, the Cohort hosts monthly social and educational programs—from conversations for just Black Jews to talks for everyone by Black-Jewish professionals from various fields.

Full story

Hillel fan favorites bring joy and mischief on four furry legs

Stetson University Hillel is one of many campus Hillels that considers dogs to be a valued part of their community. Many of these belong to employees who bring them to work, or they live in the Hillel house. No matter what breed or what Hillel, every Hillel dog brings joy to their communities.

Full story

Counseling at Hillel Supports Gen Z’s Focus on Mental Health and Resilience

Even before the pandemic, Hillel professionals had reported seeing stress increase across the board, as students grappled with fears, loneliness, tech burnout, and more. More and more Hillels across the United States are adding social workers or licensed therapists to their teams to help their students cope with stressors.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story

Meet the 2020-2021 Masa Fellows

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

Full story

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.

Full story

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.

Full story