Season of Giving Kicks Off

By akinman November 17, 2010

With the season of giving just around the corner, UF Hillel kicked it off with a bang. UF Hillel hosted the first annual Mitzvah Day on Sunday. Students and nonprofit organizations joined from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to work on different service projects. While waking up to a horrible loss the night before at…

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Jews Doing, um…

By yschwartz November 5, 2010

A common phrase that used to be heard in Campus Hillel mission statements was: “To maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews.” Yet, as familiar as many of us may be with this formulation, it has today disappeared from nearly all Hillel websites and promotional materials (with a few exceptions). Why? In…

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What a Mensch

By akinman November 3, 2010

“True leaders are not those who strive to be first but those who are first to strive and who give their all for the success of the team. True leaders are the first to see the need, envision the plan, and empower the team for action. By the strength of the leader’s commitment, the power…

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Got Faith?

By akinman October 27, 2010

Microsoft. Apple. You name it. I probably know it. Each week I try to come up with topics that relate to technology and Judaism, from the Kindle to BibleMap. Sometimes coming up with unusual ideas can be a challenge. After all, in some ways, technology contradicts the ways of Judaism. Nevertheless, I try to find…

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Building the Bridge

By akinman October 20, 2010

Like the bell on Wall Street blaring off to the start of a chaotic day, my e-mail inbox hits the ground running at the sound of my alarm. Aside from the numerous Facebook notifications about who-said-what-to-who, I make sure to open UF Hillel’s weekly newsletter. Communication in the 21 Century. Filled with the inside scoop…

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Location, Location, Location

By mmoncaster October 19, 2010

It was a festive weekend for Vancouver Hillel as the University of British Columbia hosted its Inaugural Grand Opening of the newly built Diamond Foundation Centre for Jewish Campus Life. It was a loaded all-day affair, officially starting at 10 in the morning and ending at 5 in the evening. Unfortunately, due to a high…

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Shalom: Welcome to the Gator Nation!

By akinman October 13, 2010

Let the gator growl. These are the words students at my university, the University of Florida, will be screaming Friday night. This weekend, most of Gainesville will shut down and celebrate Gator football homecoming with a lineup of events like Gator Growl, a.k.a UF’s pep rally, the homecoming parade and the homecoming game. But what…

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Outreach!

By yschwartz October 8, 2010

“No, really, please, seriously, explain to me the difference!” The fireworks were flying in a meeting staged last week at Yale Hillel prefacing the search for a new Orthodox campus rabbi. Yale Hillel, like many Hillels across the country, are in a state of change, shifting and adapting to make room for new priorities, and…

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The Festival of (Jewish) Film

By akinman October 6, 2010

From “Dinner for Schmucks” to “The Social Network,” what is there not to love about Hollywood’s hottest Jew crew? Captivating young audiences worldwide, Jewish entertainers like Paul Rudd and Jesse Eisenberg have starred in money-making, motion pictures, bringing a little bit of Jewish humor onto the big screen. But rarely do people watch films about…

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More Buzz on BDS

By Ben Sales October 5, 2010

In case you’ve missed one of the hot topics of the Jewish media this year, Members of the Tribe have their panties in a bunch over the slowly growing BDS movement in the US and worldwide, which urges universities to divest from, boycott and sanction companies that do business in the West Bank and Gaza….

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Dear Hillel, We Need to Talk

By bspringer September 23, 2010

I have a confession to make. Deep breath. Last Saturday was my very first experience with Hillel at the University of Colorado at Boulder. And it was … disappointing. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Why, pray tell, did I wait until the fifth Yom Kippur of my undergraduate career to check out the main…

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The Reading List: LeBron and the bling-bling rabbi, and more…

By Ben Sales August 11, 2010

Good morning! As this photo proves, LeBron “Most Hated Man Not in Cleveland” James met with a rabbi to solicit some advice on a major business deal. The rabbi’s price: somewhere around $100,000. [TMZ] Women in the Washington DC area call some more (needed) attention to the age-old problem of agunot, or Jewish women whose…

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A Call for Kesher

By Carly Silver May 26, 2010

As I strolled through the streets of Morningside Heights, the humid air nearly suffocating me, one thing I noticed was the emptiness. Empty of students, empty of professors, empty of Jews. Where were all my comrades in religion? Home for the summer, undoubtedly, but this presented a sharp contrast to Barnard and Columbia during the…

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What are the implications of the nonprofit funding model?

By Harpo Jaeger March 15, 2010

Yesterday afternoon, I spent two hours on the phone for Brown/RISD Hillel’s fund drive.  We asked parents and alums for donations ranging from $20 to $1000.  About half of the funding for our Hillel comes from board members, and the rest from other donors like the ones we were calling.  The implications of funding an…

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Labelship Down

By ckessler February 27, 2010

As another Friday night set in, I pondered whether to schlep out of my warm house into the snow flying sideways to make the long trek (a seven-minute bus ride) down to Hillel, and after I coordinated with some friends at the University of Pittsburgh–whom I hadn’t seen all week–I decided that the schlep was worth…

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