News

Voting is Very Jewish: Reflections on Civic Education at Hillel

Author

Danielle Kranjec, Dani Levine, Anna Worrell and Zoe Levine

Date

November 3, 2025

Jewish students across the United States are exercising their right to vote on Election Day today. At Hillel, we believe that civic action and education aren’t only ways to engage students on campus – they are the deepest expressions of our Jewish values. 

For generations, Jews in America have embraced the opportunity and responsibility to participate in democratic life. Today, we draw on ancient wisdom to meet the challenges of the present, ensuring that Jewish students are prepared to make a positive difference at their universities, and also to embrace their civic responsibility as voters, impacting their cities, states, and communities.

Hillel’s work to educate students and engage them in the work of citizenship takes several paths. Through our nonpartisan voter initiative, MitzVote, Hillel has helped thousands of students register and show up informed at the polls. Last year, more than 40 campuses hosted a , weaving together the ideas of civic engagement and ritual life. 

On the education side, learning about why civic engagement matters as a Jewish value led us to develop Jewish Values and Civic Engagement, a student learning cohort with curriculum created in partnership with the . This four-week series, first offered in 2024, offered students a chance to wrestle with complex questions at the intersection of Jewish identity and American democracy.

In the cohorts that gathered in the weeks leading up to the November 2024 election, students came from a wide range of backgrounds — first-years and graduate students, seasoned activists and first-time voters. The conversations were deeply personal and often emotional. Some students brought stories of community organizing; others were still deciding whether they would vote at all. One participant, a survivor of gun violence, was inspired to start a chapter of Students Demand Action on their campus.

Despite differing political views, students found common ground in the shared project of Jewish learning. They explored what it means to be part of a covenantal tradition that values justice, humility, peace, and responsibility. They embodied the rabbinic principle of mahloket l’shem shamayim — disagreement for the sake of heaven — modeling the kind of pluralism that strengthens both Jewish life and democracy. 

Nessa Bleill, a student at the , enjoyed the civic engagement cohort at Hillel because it opened her eyes to “how Jews differ in their civic opinions and where these beliefs stem from,” saying, “I feel civic conversations are important… in the Hillel space because [they are] essential to connecting fully to your Jewish identity.” The idea that communities can be strengthened through understanding our differences is a crucial element of this cohort learning experience.

In addition to cohort learning, Hillel is uniquely positioned to guide students during a formative time in their journeys where they might be voting for the first time, testing their values in real world contexts, or exploring issues that shape their long-term civic commitments. Ellie Moseman, a student at the University of Wisconsin, shared that participating in civic engagement work at her Hillel made her feel that she was truly making a difference in her community. She said, “It is so important to give students a voice and help them give back.” And Hillel is committed to providing those opportunities for students on every campus.

That commitment to helping students engage with democracy is more and more relevant in our current political climate. For American Jews, particularly Jewish college students, civic participation is more than a right. It’s a mitzvah, a sacred responsibility rooted in our deepest values. As former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor reminded us, “The practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned by each new generation.” At Hillel, we’re proud to be doing exactly that.

Civic learning and engagement at Hillel don’t happen in isolation— this work grows out of relationships, community, and Jewish tradition. Hillel’s participation in the , convened over the past year by and the , helped us to contextualize this work in the landscape of civic initiatives across the Jewish community. 

We’re proud of every student voting today, and of every student living their Jewish values through civic engagement. 

The post Voting is Very Jewish: Reflections on Civic Education at Hillel appeared first on ĚÇĐÄvlogl.

News

Depolarization Should Be a Focus on Campus and Elsewhere

Author

Dani Levine and Liora Knizhnik

Date

April 18, 2024

When was the last time you made the choice to sit down and listen to people you disagree with? 

Debate and disagreement are as much a part of Jewish tradition as challah on Shabbat. Going back to Talmudic times, Jews have sat down together for deep discussions that encouraged lively and sometimes heated debate. Their ability to come together and hear opposing opinions allowed for stronger communities that incorporated different points of view into tradition and practice.

Today, we live in an increasingly polarized and fractured world, where it’s generally easier to avoid those with whom we disagree than truly engage with them. But learning to disagree, to connect and listen, and build relationships across differences is more important than ever. It’s not an impossible task (even though it sometimes feels that way) — it’s a skill that can be learned, if we’re willing to lean into discomfort.

As director of social impact at ĚÇĐÄvlogl, I had the honor to represent Hillel’s at last month’s , which took place in conjunction with in Washington, D.C. The highlight of the event was , discussing the ways justices of our nation’s highest court create and maintain a culture of congeniality and colleagueship, even during profound disagreements. 

As the political discourse in our country today often seems uncivil at best, I was curious — like most of the rest of the audience — to see some perceptible tension among the Supreme Court justices on stage. 

Instead, I lost count of the number of times I heard Justice Barrett say, “I completely agree,” or Justice Sotomayor say, “She’s exactly right.”

I listened as the justices described the norms they follow when discussing cases:

1. Sit in a circle or around a table, in assigned seats. Don’t sit down randomly — we naturally gravitate toward those who we are least likely to disagree with.
2. No one speaks twice before everyone has spoken once.
3. No interrupting.
4. No yelling.
5. Disagree on the merits of the discussion at hand, not the character of the person you disagree with.
6. If you learn that something you said or wrote has offended another person in the group, apologize. Apologizing is not about a “feeling,” it is a choice that prioritizes strengthening ongoing relationships.
7. Eat lunch together every day, in assigned seats, and don’t talk about work during lunch.

These are some of the first rules we all learn as we grow up, and at first, seemed overly simple. But the more I thought about them, I realized that what made them so profoundly effective was their simplicity.  Justices Sotomayor and Barrett didn’t negate the fact that their disagreements were real and incredibly consequential. Instead, they offered a roadmap for how to be in community, how to care for one another, despite profound ideological differences. I left that conversation with so many questions, but also with a renewed sense of hope that what I saw modeled on stage by the two associate justices could be replicated on campuses and in communities throughout our country. 

Cultivating Student Connections

On college campuses across the country,  polarization has never felt more intense.  There seems to be no shortage of opportunities to reduce all disagreements to a simple us vs. them narrative. As the war between Israel and Hamas stretches into a seventh agonizing month, dehumanization and polarizing rhetoric is everywhere, coinciding with a dramatic increase in both antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents. 

Despite this tension and escalation, across our campus communities, there are students and professionals pushing back on polarization, following the models offered by our Supreme Court justices. One example is Syracuse University, where Hillel Rabbi Ethan Bair and Syracuse Imam Amir Durić are leading a to help students find common ground. This semester, the month-long fellowship connected 10 Jewish and 10 Muslim students together for weekly discussions focused on building empathy and trust. Students and professionals are hungry for nuance and compassion, invested in building relationships, and determined to open doors for the dialogue our communities so badly need.

This spring, ĚÇĐÄvlogl launched a new initiative called Cultivating Student Connections, aimed at opening those same doors. More than 1,500 students at over 50 campuses are participating in programming designed to bring students together across differences. The initiative supports Hillel professionals with tools they can use to help create environments where relationships can endure across ideological differences, and where all students feel seen and heard. There are multiple program offerings available, from facilitated town-square style conversations in partnership with Resetting the Table, to non-verbal creative processes in partnership with the Jewish Studio Project. All the programs create opportunities for listening and learning, bettering relationships and fostering stronger communities.  

If we can do our part to begin listening, to address the toxic polarization on campus, we can model those skills for our broader communities at the local, state, national, and even global levels. 

So I’ll challenge all of us, just as I was challenged by Justices Sotomayor and Barrett, to make an active choice to engage with people we disagree with – to listen — truly listen — to each and every person at the table.

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