Different Dynamics of Hillel

There are many different types of Hillels depending on campus sizes, locations, financials, and denominational presences.  My own at Miami is pretty small, nowhere near a Jewish community, not financially stable, and composed of Reform and Conservative Jews that don’t seem to have strong denominational identifications to speak of.  We have hardly any “Greek Jews” at our Hillel, except a small contingent of students from Alpha Epsilon Phi.  The Hillel-contingent is generally also not on the most friendly terms with Greek life.  And this certainly has affected us in past programming. 

We want to host programs that reach Jewish students unaffiliated with Hillel, expanding our appeal to what we call “non-core” Hillel members.  But we often refuse – although this isn’t always admitted by everyone – to actually plan events that “non-core” Jews would actually want to attend.  We want Greek Jews to come to increase attendance, but many Hillel board members don’t want to be around Greek life.  In the end we state a goal of attracting Greek life but actually hope that our goal remains unmet.  The result: the goal does remain unmet.  This has been the case for Hanukkah parties, Challah baking, Sukkot programming, social justice projects, Shabbat, and a variety of other things.

On other campuses, however, I have visited Hillel and seen Greeks and non-Greeks, and in general a diverse array of Jewish students that have happily coexisted at Shabbat, programs, and socials.  They did not necessarily interact with each other a lot, but they shared space and were friendly to one another.  At Miami and many other small Hillels it seems this ability to share space is an issue.  There is a dynamic of “greater” and “lesser” parties that is intimidating to some.  Core Hillel members feel safe at Hillel and don’t want their space treaded on by Greek Jews.  For some reason, on a small campus, it is harder to retain your own groups of friends and individual identity when surrounded by unfamiliar faces and types of people.  I understand this feeling, but am saddened by it and think we at Miami must find a way to overcome it.

For a step in that direction, Hillel hosted a “Greek life dinner” last week with Jewish representatives from about 10 Greek organizations to discuss their individual Jewish lives on campus and potential partnerships in the future.  We are also – much to the chagrin of many “core” Hillel-ites – hoping to have a large Greek turnout at our Purim Masquerade in two weeks.  We don’t yet know if your goals will be met, but at least this time we are actually trying to reach them!