From the Desk of Adam Lehman: Increasing Jewish Belonging on Campus and Beyond
As the weather starts to turn toward spring here in Washington D.C, and we look ahead to the cherry blossoms beginning to bloom, a host of meaningful Hillel activities are blooming across our movement. Some of that activity remains dedicated to addressing ongoing antisemitism impacting Jewish college students, through initiatives including our Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), Campus Climate Initiative, and Campus for All student resource site. That said, since the topic of campus antisemitism is being covered so extensively in the news, I’m focusing this update on the many other aspects of our work that support, inspire, and empower the Jewish students we’re privileged to serve.
We started this month off on a “chai” note with our first-ever Northeast Hillels A Cappella Competition, hosted in partnership with the University of Maryland Hillel. Sixty-eight singers from six different Jewish a cappella groups performed and competed for a live in-person audience, as well as more than 5,000 people who tuned in to watch via live stream.
From top tracks adapted to Jewish themes to Hebrew-language hits, students sang to showcase their musical talents, celebrate their Jewish identities, and win one of six awards, including an Audience Choice Award. In addition to taking in the amazing music being created, as a current member of a Jewish a cappella group myself, I had the chance to also serve as a judge for the competition. Beyond the tight harmonies, entertaining solos, and clever adaptations, this event reinforced the power of building joyful Jewish community for all of the participants and audience members.
One day later, over 500 students, staff, and guests convened in Chicago for the Hillel International Israel Summit. Over 48 hours, students participated in dozens of skills workshops led by Hillel professionals and outside experts on Israel and the broader Middle East, and absorbed powerful and inspiring stories and lessons during plenaries featuring prominent thought leaders, including Gadeer Kamal Mreeh, the first Druze woman to serve as a member of the Knesset; Jason Greenblatt and Amos Hochstein, both of whom served as White House Middle East Envoys; Ambassador Dennis Ross and his colleagues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, David Makovsky and Gaith Al-Omari; and former White House advisors Shelley Greeenspan and Sarah Hurwitz; among many others. As one notable moment, it was both informative and inspiring for students to hear successively from Jason and Amos about how they helped their respective administrations achieve landmark peace agreements (in the form of the Abraham Accords and recent truce between Israel and Hezbollah).
Last week, our team traveled to England to support our first-ever Hillel Global Social event in London. Built around Purim, this event brought together Jewish students studying abroad in London with local Jewish university students. In a twist on a quote from Harry Potter (we are talking about London, after all), while our students may be abroad, “[Hillel] will always be there to welcome them home.”
Each and every time I am around our movement’s student leaders, whether in the above contexts or the many other areas of our work, I find myself awestruck by their insight, maturity, passion, dedication, and resilience.
Of course, we would not be able to do any of this work without the support you provide us. As a result of your engagement, involvement, and investments, we are in a position to provide our students with the Jewish community spaces, mentorship and leadership skills they need to express and grow their Jewish identities with joy, pride, and resilience.
I’ll end with a quote from one of my favorite Dan Nichols’ songs, ‘Chazak’:
“Be strong, let us strengthen one another. / Be strong, let us celebrate our lives. / Be strong let us strengthen one another. / Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik.”
B’shalom,
Adam