How Guilford Hillel Became Guilford Chavurah

Guilford College's main walkway. | CC via Wikimedia Commons
Guilford College's main walkway. | CC via Wikimedia Commons
Guilford College’s main walkway. | CC via Wikimedia Commons

At 8:17 a.m. on a rainy Thursday morning, a group of nine Jewish students at Guilford College decided to make a change.

Rather than continuing to label themselves as a Hillel, the students decided to dub themselves Guilford Chavurah, meaning “group of friends” in Hebrew.

“I want it to be a very flexible club,” said sophomore and president of Guilford Chavurah Leah Whetten-Goldstein. “If [students want] politics, it’s politics. If it’s High Holidays, it’s High Holidays.”

Many of the students felt that continuing as a Hillel wouldn’t be right for the group, as Hillel International’s standards of partnership do not allow co-sponsorship with any person or group supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

“It limits what we could do [and] it has been something that’s deterred students from joining,” said sophomore Anna Lichtiger.

At first, students saw joining Open Hillel, a student-led campaign to pressure Hillel International to divorce itself from its standards of partnership, as a potential way to make more students feel welcome. This became a particularly attractive option when students decided to host a Open Hillel-sponsored national campus tour featuring Jewish Civil Rights veterans and strident critics of Israel Dorothy Zellner, Ira Grupper, and Larry Rubin.

Of course, many students do feel safe in Hillel, particularly Zionist Jews. For this reason, many Guilford students opposed the idea of “opening” their Hillel.

“Hillel for me is a religious organization, an organization that celebrates Jewish life,” said senior Josh Weil. “Open Hillel, in my eyes, is political.”

Senior Sara Minsky disagrees. “No matter your political ideologies, students should be able to come to Hillel and feel like they should be able to talk about these issues,” she said.

In light of irreconcilable views on Zionism within the community, Guilford’s Jewish students felt the group needed to focus on club structure and Jewish culture rather than politics.

“We’re not sure where we are right now, so we decided not to sponsor any political based events,” said sophomore and treasurer of Guilford Chavurah Lizzie Hart.

In restructuring their community, many students are taking a comment Zellner made on the panel about the need to discuss the matter with everyone in the community as a guiding principle through the transition. In order to foster a more inclusive discussion, Guilford Chavurah put off many major decisions about the club’s future until next fall, when the next class of students will arrive.

“Major decisions around an organization need to include anyone who is a part of that organization, anyone who has expressed interest,” said Weil.

 

Though no longer called “Hillel,” Chavurah will remain affiliated with Hillel unless students decide to break the standards of partnership.

Though some students were opposed to potentially breaking away from Hillel at first, they ultimately felt that going by “Chavurah” would be best for the community.

For its part, Hillel is still happy to be with them through the transition to Chavurah. “Hillel has a history of supporting Jewish life at Guilford,” said Executive Director of North Carolina Hillel Ari Gauss. “We are eager to continue providing them with resources to celebrate and explore our tradition.”

Under any and every name, Guilford students with a wide range of political views and Jewish experiences will continue working hard the semester to make their Jewish group on campus more inclusive.

“It’s a process of awakening,” said junior Laura Todd. “It’s a painful process and it can be a drag, but it is a necessary process.”

“We’re attempting to find our identity,” said sophomore Seth Rose. “It takes sacrifices.”

 

Nicole Zelniker is a student at Guilford College.

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