Hillel Stories

Proud to be Jewish

Jewish Enough to Share My Voice with Joy and Pride

Author

Tessa Hewitson

Date

May 28, 2026

It is hard to believe that my four years as a college student are now over, and I am starting the next step of my journey. Before I arrived at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2022, I carried a quiet insecurity with me: that I was never quite “Jewish enough.” But when I stepped onto campus in Dearborn, that fear inverted almost overnight. Suddenly, I was “too Jewish” in almost every room I walked into — both the first Jewish person my peers had ever met, and a representative of a people they did not understand. 

When you are the sole representative of an entire people to your classmates, the responsibility to engage can feel incredibly heavy. I often spoke up alone on issues confronting the Jewish people and Israel. At first, I was terrified that speaking against the hate that I experienced could carry consequences. But after I confessed to a fellow Hillel of Metro Detroit student that I was considering pulling out of a meeting with professors about an anti-Israel seminar that had been held on campus, his response, rooted in Jewish wisdom, shifted my resolve: “If you do not show up, who will?”

That single conversation with my friend two years ago has fueled me ever since. It became the core of how I understood Jewish advocacy on campus: to show up even when I did not feel fully prepared or confident, because just showing up sometimes makes all the difference.

That conviction was strengthened when I attended the ����vlogl Content Creators Forum this past spring. For so long, I was advocating just for myself, as the only visible Jewish student on campus. Then suddenly, I was surrounded by students anchored to the same goal: humanizing, highlighting, and uplifting the vibrancy of Jewish life.

I sat with TikTok creators, a Holocaust educator, news correspondents, an incredible Olympic athlete, and over 100 Jewish students whose voices belong in rooms of national leadership. For the first time in a long time, I was with people who inspired me, and who I know are working together to build a better world.

It was also there in New York that my understanding of advocacy deepened in a new way. During a plenary speech, creator Eliana Jolkovsky (@thatkoreanjew) shared a lesson that struck a chord with me: “If I do not speak, someone else will speak for me.”

Eliana’s words helped me realize that choosing not to speak up actually hands the microphone to someone else. Silence creates an opening for others to define Jews and Jewish experiences for us. And I want to hold the ownership of my own story. 

Every student at the Content Creators Forum had a different story to tell and a different medium through which to tell it. But together, we shared the same drive to show up, speak honestly, and create space for Jewish stories to be heard. And hearing those stories, along with the years of community and belonging that I found at Metro Detroit Hillel, finally silenced that insecurity that I was not Jewish enough. 

I was Jewish enough to speak up for myself and my community. I was Jewish enough to build friendships with Jewish student creators across the country. And I am Jewish enough to take the lessons that I learned at Hillel with me as I head out into the wider world and continue sharing Jewish stories, including my own, as far and wide as possible.

Tessa Hewitson is a graduating senior at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and a ����vlogl student leader.

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News

Standing Up with Pride in Celebration of Asian and Jewish Heritage Month

Author

Aasia Gabbour

Date

May 14, 2026

Aasia Gabbour is a graduating fourth year student at New York University (NYU). Aasia shares her story as an Asian Jew in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, both of which are celebrated in May. 

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a non-Jewish Chinese mom and a Sephardic Jewish dad. Judaism was a constant that was woven into my childhood. That meant Friday night Shabbat dinners at my grandmother’s house, Jewish summer camp, and USY events. Being Jewish was never something I questioned.

Yet I faced a barrage of questions about my Jewish identity from others. I got used to hearing the same reactions over and over again: “Wait, you’re Jewish?” “You don’t look Jewish.” “You’re really Jewish?”

Though I understood from a young age that Jewish identity was incredibly diverse,  some people acted like being Asian and being Jewish were somehow incompatible.

Over time, I started leaning more into my Chinese identity, partly because it was the one other people seemed willing to recognize. I took Mandarin classes in high school and played the erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument, in a Chinese orchestra.

For most of my life, my identities existed in separate spaces. Music and language connected me to my Chinese side. Camp, synagogue, and Jewish social spaces connected me to my Jewish side. Before college, I had met one or two other Asian Jews in my entire life.

Then I went to NYU.

I became involved with NYU Hillel almost immediately, and before long, it became the center of my college experience. I started as an engagement intern during my second year and eventually became the senior engagement intern. I became president of Kehillah, our traditional egalitarian minyan; co-president of our Jewish a cappella group, Ani v’Ata; and an intern for Sababa Kitchen, a weekly NYU Hillel program that explores Jewish diversity and peoplehood through food.

But the biggest shift wasn’t getting involved. It was finally meeting other Asian Jewish students and community members.

For the first time, I made friends with people who understood exactly what it felt like to constantly explain yourself. People who also grew up hearing that they didn’t “look” Jewish. People who knew what it was like to have others act surprised by their identity.

I cannot overstate how meaningful it was for me to find friends through Hillel who shared my life experience. Then, during my second year, something changed even more deeply. Our Springboard Fellow, Sofie, started a Jews of Color (JOC) club for Asian Jews, Black Jews, and Latinx Jews. Before that, I had never really imagined a space intentionally built around those experiences. Walking into that room for the first time, I felt seen in a way I hadn’t before.

And I didn’t want that feeling to disappear.

When Sofie’s fellowship ended, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to keep the group going. I wanted other students to have someone they could turn to, someone who could connect them to a larger JOC community, whether that meant attending events together or simply joining a group chat where they could feel understood.

I no longer just saw myself as someone looking for community. I saw myself as someone responsible for building it.

That feeling became even stronger this past fall when I helped organize the first-ever Asian Jewish Shabbaton at Yale University. More than 500 students from more than a dozen colleges and universities attended. Walking into a space filled with hundreds of Asian Jews was emotional in a way I still struggle to describe.

We talked openly about the complicated parts of our identities, the assumptions people make about us, and the loneliness many of us had experienced growing up. But we also celebrated. We laughed. We prayed together. We built something joyful together.

And the impact didn’t stop there.

Recruiting students for the Shabbaton helped me connect with even more Asian Jews at NYU. We started our own group chat. We began hosting gatherings and creating spaces for each other on campus. At the same time, I became more involved in bringing diverse Jewish traditions and cultures into broader Hillel programming, whether that meant incorporating a Spanish-speaking themed Shabbat or hosting an Asian Shabbat dinner with Chinese food.

What I’ve learned is that representation changes people. Sometimes all it takes is seeing someone who shares your experience to realize you belong here too.

If I could give advice to incoming Asian Jewish students now, as a senior preparing to graduate, I would tell them not to wait for permission to build the spaces they need.

If something feels missing in your Jewish community, and you know other students may be craving it too, don’t be afraid to step forward and create it. That first step can feel intimidating. But you might be gratefully surprised by how much of an impact you can have by simply standing up with pride in who you are. 

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News

Bringing Alex Edelman to Campus – A Dream Come True

Author

Amalia Stulbach and Noam Karger

Date

April 30, 2026

Amalia Stulbach and Noam Karger are fourth-year students at Washington University in St. Louis. Together, with the partnership of their university, WashU Hillel, Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and ����vlogl, they hosted comedian Alex Edelman for a night of laughter, Jewish joy, and belonging. This show was part of a multi-campus comedy tour that crisscrossed the country, with nearly two thousand students in attendance across four campuses – WashU, Northwestern University, USC, and Cornell University.��

In the summer of 2025, we met for dinner and walked away with our stomachs full of falafel and our minds buzzing with a big idea. Over the following months, that idea became our dream, and in March 2026, that dream finally came true.

For each of us, this dream began when we had the chance to see Alex Edelman perform — Amalia at his solo show “Just For Us” on Broadway in 2023, and Noam at a conference in Denver. Alex’s comedy, which weaves his Jewish identity into his storytelling, stood out to us as uniquely relatable, sharp, and deeply thoughtful. He has a rare ability to deliver witty, high-level jokes while tapping into more complex questions about Jewish identity in 21st-century America.

Sitting there in the falafel restaurant, we knew we wanted to bring him to WashU for a campus show.

But before moving forward and presenting the idea to our student government for funding, we took a step back to define what we wanted this event to accomplish.

First, we wanted to bring together a truly diverse audience. We hoped to gather Jewish students across religious and cultural backgrounds, while also welcoming non-Jewish peers from the broader university community. We believed Alex’s comedy could resonate across all of these groups. His humor, rooted in everyday experiences and identity, feels especially relatable to college students navigating similar questions of belonging. Humor, after all, is something universal, something we all share.

Second, accessibility mattered. We were committed to making the event completely free in order to remove any financial barrier to attending.

And finally, we wanted Alex to shine. For Jewish students, we knew it would be powerful to see someone perform who felt familiar — a regular Jewish guy, someone who went to the same high school as Noam — and had achieved success at the highest level. Alex’s Broadway run, comedy special, acting and producing work, and late-night appearances are all remarkable. But what stood out most to us was who he is: warm, humble, and deeply thoughtful. A true mensch. We hoped our non-Jewish peers would walk away with that same appreciation, creating a shared moment of connection and kiddush Hashem, sanctification of God’s name.

After a successful pitch, the WashU student government was in to help us bring Alex to campus. And then WashU Hillel stepped up to take us the rest of the way there. They quickly partnered with us, committed to making the event happen. Soon after, we learned that ����vlogl and the Schusterman Family Philanthropies would cover the remaining costs, as part of Alex’s larger campus tour to Cornell, Northwestern, and USC. Suddenly, our dream started moving toward reality.

As we continued planning for the show, WashU Hillel and ����vlogl became true partners. They empowered us to lead while offering constant support behind the scenes. We met with teams across marketing, communications, and event planning — all eager to help. Every check-in started the same way: “How can we support you?” The message was clear: this was our event, and they were there to help us succeed. We are incredibly grateful for that partnership. The event would not have been possible, or nearly as successful, without it.

When the day finally arrived at the end of March, nerves and all, we were able to step back and watch everything come together.

The evening started with a private meet-and-greet with Alex before the show. The meet and greet was a highlight for everyone — Alex was playful, genuine, and completely himself. He answered every question and gave aspiring student comedians a closer look at how he engages with a crowd.

Next came showtime.

We walked Alex from the green room, snapped a quick selfie, and introduced him to a crowd of 525 students, faculty, and community members in Graham Chapel. It was a surreal moment. Alex joked that it was his first time performing in a chapel. In fact, this stage at WashU has hosted icons, from “Saturday Night Live” cast members to Jane Goodall to Eleanor Roosevelt.

As he began the show, we sat in disbelief for the first few minutes. Then we took in every moment.

We got to experience an hour of laughter, followed by a standing ovation. We saw a room full of people sharing something meaningful together. And we’ve heard our friends and classmates sharing the joy they felt together in the weeks since the show. It was incredibly fulfilling to unite so many people at WashU around shared laughter, especially around a Jewish comedian as special as Alex Edelman.

It was everything we had imagined back at that falafel dinner eight months earlier.

Alex — same time next year?

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News

Team Spirit and Jewish Joy at the 15th Annual National Hillel Basketball Tournament

Author

����vlogl

Date

April 22, 2026

This past weekend, over 700 students gathered  for the 15th annual , hosted by the University of Maryland Hillel. More than 60 teams from 31 U.S. Hillels competed in the men’s and women’s competitions, with many Hillels participating for the first time ever.

“It’s such a cool thing to have all these different types of Jews in the same place,” said Avi Baruch (University of Maryland ‘27), a member of the NHBT executive board “This is just a great opportunity to bring together so many groups of people who wouldn’t normally be in the same room. It really speaks to [Hillel] being there for all kinds of Jewish students, regardless of their background.”

What started as a small local basketball tournament, originally called “Dribbler on the Roof,”  has now evolved into the biggest student-run Jewish sports competition in the country. 

“Basketball [is something] you never even associate with Jewish community or Hillel, on the obvious level,” said Ben Marcus, a member of the Brown RISD Hillel Men’s Basketball Team. “But when you look a little bit deeper into it, it’s all interconnected. It’s really all about forming community and finding home, which is what Brown RISD Hillel has done for me over the past four years, and what Hillels around the country are doing for a lot of other students.”

The National Hillel Basketball Tournament is organized by the (more than 30 students strong!) and supported through collaboration with Maryland Hillel staff and ����vlogl. Students handle everything from marketing to fundraising, recruitment to logistics — they even developed an to help manage registration and attendance for the tournament.

Basketball was what brought everyone together for this year’s competition, but this four-day event brought so much joy and connection on and off the court. Kicking off on Thursday evening, students spent Friday moving between Jewish ritual time, tournament games, and delicious meals before transitioning into the celebration of a Hillel Shabbat.

After October 7th, Matt Levine, a student at The Ohio State University and a member of the ����vlogl Student Cabinet, sought out NHBT as a haven for Jewish belonging and community. “Here, we just get to build ourselves up internally,” he said. “We get to talk about our community and then we get to play sports.”

NHBT has also become a yearly opportunity for students to see friends from Hillels across the country. “One of the highlights for me was seeing students from across the country connect and reconnect with each other. They traveled near and far to be in community with each other and to enjoy the friendly competition,” said Michael Kagan, ����vlogl’s director of student engagement and experiences. “This year’s NHBT left an impression on everyone in attendance.”

“There’s some good competition here,” added Alan Mashensky, a varsity basketball player for New York University and the president of the Jewish Athlete Alliance. “And I think what’s really beautiful here is that we have Jews from all over the spectrum… And to come into a place where you have sports as that bonding thing is really special.”

Congratulations to everyone involved with planning this year’s tournament, and , the Wash U Hillel Men’s Team and the Hillel at Binghamton Women’s Team  — we can’t wait to see you next year at NHBT 2027!

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Service, Fun, and Jewish Joy at Campus Hillel Purim Celebrations

Author

����vlogl

Date

March 6, 2026

This week, campus Hillels around the world celebrated Purim with dance parties, Megillah readings, carnivals, service programs, and many other events marking this holiday that centers Jewish resilience and pride.

“Purim is… the ultimate reminder that our happiness and our success will pave our future, not [someone else’s] darkness,” said Tess Hewitson, a student leader at  

Finding joy in the midst of darkness feels especially relevant right now. Students in Israel are continuing their studies while navigating sirens and shelters, and students in the United States are closely following developments and potential security concerns related to the conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But moments like these can make it even more important to focus on Jewish resilience and joy.

At the University of Colorado at Boulder Hillel, Purim programming centered on one of the four traditional mitzvot of the holiday: matanot la’evyonim, giving gifts to the poor. In many communities, that mitzvah has expanded to include broader service and volunteer opportunities. CU Boulder Hillel’s Purim Service Carnival blended meaningful service with the festive spirit of a carnival.

Alongside classic Purim activities like mask making and a photo booth, 50 students packed meal kits for Circle of Love, which serves meals to unhoused people at the Boulder Bandshell, and wrote letters to isolated seniors through Letters to Our Elders.

“The carnival celebrated Purim through both joy and giving,” said Shira Finke, program manager at CU Boulder Hillel.

“The Purim story represents Jewish resilience and the power of responding to darkness with light and celebration,” Finke said. “Being able to bring that spirit to our students, especially through a program that extends joy to others in need, feels incredibly meaningful.”

Purim carnivals are a longtime tradition in many Jewish communities, and Hillels are no exception. At Rutgers Hillel, students embraced the holiday by reconnecting with childhood joy.

More than 175 students arrived in costume to play classic carnival games like ring toss, “find the special duck,” and bean bag toss. Game tickets could be redeemed for prizes that felt straight out of childhood, including paint-your-own-mug kits, magic grow capsules, themed rubber ducks, and bubble wands.

“This year’s Purim Carnival was a real joy to create and was inspired by childhood carnivals,” said Alex Prowisor, Rutgers Hillel holiday chair. “It was so fun watching many young adults put on their ‘child’ costumes to play games and win prizes.”

At Oregon State University, Hillel hosted its annual McMenamins Purim Party at the Pacific Northwest landmark McMenamins restaurant. The top floor was transformed into a celebration worthy of Queen Esther, complete with a Megillah parody play, competitive games of pool, and a crowd-favorite costume contest.

“We’ve had students dress as their favorite Hillel staff, [bring to life] current memes…, and super creative students who make their costumes from scratch,” said Yael Raich, a student leader at OSU Hillel. “The McMenamins Purim Party is a staple of OSU Hillel tradition, and we’re excited to see how its legacy lives on.”

Other campuses put a unique spin on the holiday. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, Hillel hosted its second annual Purim-themed murder mystery, “A Night of Masks and Mischief.”

During the event, staff and board members became actors portraying characters from the Purim story. Students stepped into the role of investigators, questioning suspects, analyzing clues, and working together to identify a culprit. The evening included costumes, a dramatic coronation scene, Persian Jewish food, raffle prizes, and a photo wall.

“We were most excited to give students a meaningful and memorable way to connect with Jewish tradition by combining immersive storytelling with joyful Purim celebration,” said Zion Tunstall, director of Jewish student life at UC Santa Cruz. “Students got to engage with the story of Purim in a new, fun, and exciting way, connecting with their Judaism through creativity and community.”

One student participant summed it up, saying, “This is honestly my favorite event of the year. I’ve been looking forward to it since the first murder mystery we did last year, and I already can’t wait for next year.”

Food also played a central role in many celebrations, reflecting the Purim tradition of sharing festive meals and treats. At John Carroll University, the Hillel community joined the campus-wide Tower Time tradition, a weekly midweek gathering by the clock tower on Saint Ignatius Plaza hosted by a different student group each week.

For their Purim edition, Jewish students brought hamantaschen from a local bakery and invited their friends to decorate masks while learning about the holiday.

“We don’t have many Jewish students on our campus, so we don’t get to have many campus-wide events around holidays,” said Orli Peleg, a student leader at John Carroll University Hillel. “It’s exciting to have the campus community come together for an event about a Jewish holiday.”

Hamantaschen were also front and center at Hillel of Metro Detroit’s celebrations, which included a baking competition and a poker-themed event called “Hold ’em and Hamantaschen.”

“Seeing how hyped different groups on campus are for the perfect Purim chaos is unique,” Hewitson said. “It has been energizing to see people who usually stay in their own lanes, the poker crowd, the bakers, the competitive types, all get excited about the same event.”

Because Hillel of Metro Detroit serves students across multiple campuses, organizers aimed to create an event big enough to bring everyone together.

“To me, Jewish joy is extremely inclusive,” Hewitson said, ”It’s so meaningful to me to prove that everyone is welcome to the party and that being inclusive makes our own community stronger. When the whole campus is having a great time, it makes our Jewish students feel like they are part of something vibrant, visible, and worth standing up for.”

However your campus celebrated, all of us at Hillel hope you had an amazing Purim. 

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News

Two New Torah Scrolls Are Dedicated at Tufts Hillel

Author

����vlogl

Date

March 5, 2026

The completion and dedication of a new Torah scroll — the moment when the last letter is added and the scroll itself dedicated to the community — is a rare occasion. Even more rare is a ceremony dedicating two Torah scrolls at once. 

But at Tufts Hillel, that’s exactly what members of the community celebrated earlier this week.

“This double Torah dedication is a remarkable and deeply moving moment for the Tufts Jewish community,” said Rabbi Naftali Brawer Ph.D., Neubauer Executive Director at Tufts Hillel and the Jewish Chaplain for Tufts University. “That two families independently chose to dedicate a Torah each is not only an extraordinary act of generosity, but also a powerful vote of confidence in the continued vibrancy of Jewish life at Tufts.”

Writing a new Torah is a massive undertaking. While a single trained Torah scribe, or sofer, can complete a scroll in 12 to 18 months, that timeline requires dedicating more than 40 hours a week to each scroll. The Torah scrolls completed at Tufts were independently written by two scribes and were finished at the ceremony.

Tufts Hillel Student President Elijah Fraiman found the event very moving. “It was a huge honor to emcee the celebration, working with our student leaders and the Hillel staff members to make the celebration happen, welcoming in the next chapter of the history of Jewish life on Tufts’ campus,” he said. 

Because of the joyous and once-in-a-lifetime nature of the dedication, the ceremony was open to the Tufts community. Several student leaders and campus administrators joined the celebration, as well as Tufts University President Sunil Kumar, who spoke to the audience. The Torah completion was accompanied by a performance by , Tufts University’s award-winning Jewish a cappella group, and was followed by a procession from Eaton Hall to the Hillel Center.

“One moment that was especially meaningful for me was the scene of welcoming our new Torah scrolls to the Hillel building for the first time,” Fraiman said. “Four of our Hillel staff members were standing outside the center ready to greet the procession with our other Torah scrolls, one of which survived the Holocaust.”

That moment, Fraiman said, was even more significant because it brought back memories of October 7, 2023, when, as students were grappling with devastating news of the attacks in Israel, they held Simchat Torah celebrations – which are centered around dancing with the Torah scrolls. 

“That made our dancing outside all the more meaningful as it was a full-circle moment singing Am Yisrael Chai as we welcomed our brand new Torahs,” Fraiman said. 

Bringing two new Torah scrolls to the Tufts community brings lasting meaning beyond the celebration of the moment. “With the steady growth of regular, student-led Shabbat minyanim and Torah reading at Tufts Hillel, our students are quite literally writing the next chapter of Jewish life on campus,” said Brawer. “This celebration marks both gratitude for that generosity and faith in a thriving Jewish future.”

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How Two California Campuses Honored Holocaust Remembrance Day

Author

����vlogl

Date

January 27, 2026

Every year on January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, Jewish communities and their allies around the world observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

As the years go by and there are fewer Holocaust survivors who can tell their stories firsthand, Holocaust Remembrance Day becomes more important to ensure that the truth and legacy of the Holocaust is never forgotten. Here’s how Jewish students at Hillels on two California campuses marked this day — and what the program organizers hope participants will remember.

An Evening with Sam Silberberg at Claremont Hillel

At , which serves the seven institutions that make up the Claremont Colleges, students gathered to hear firsthand testimony from Holocaust survivor . 

Born in Poland, Silberberg was only nine years old when the Nazis invaded his hometown. He survived forced labor, multiple concentration camps, and a death march before the war’s end. Now living in Orange County, Sam joined the Claremont Hillel community to share his story of resilience, survival, and hope. Students had the opportunity to engage directly with his living history, honor the memory of the Holocaust, and reflect together as a community on our responsibility to confront antisemitism and injustice.

“What’s most meaningful to me about this program is the privilege of hearing directly from a Holocaust survivor who not only endured unimaginable trauma, but has chosen to dedicate his life to education and remembrance,” said Nika Makhervaks, a second-year student at Harvey Mudd College, the Israel Leadership Network (ILN) representative for Claremont Hillel, and one of the lead organizers of the event. “Listening to Sam’s story transformed the Holocaust from something distant or abstract into something deeply human and personal.”

In planning the event, Makhervaks hoped that Silberberg’s strength, courage, and willingness to share his experiences would remind students of the importance of preserving survivor testimony and honoring their legacies while they still have the chance to learn from them.

“I hope the program helps them understand the Holocaust not only as a historical event, but as a lived reality whose lessons are still deeply relevant today,” Makhervaks said, noting that today’s college students are likely among the last generations who will have the privilege of hearing directly from Holocaust survivors. Sam’s story, she said, highlights the consequences of silence, indifference, and hatred, while also demonstrating extraordinary resilience and courage.

“My hope is that students leave feeling a responsibility to remember, to speak out against antisemitism and all forms of injustice, and to carry these stories forward so that the lessons of the past are never forgotten or repeated,” she said.

Hearing from Survivors at University of California Irvine

Last year, University of California Irvine (UCI) hosted an event with a Holocaust survivor for Yom HaShoah — Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is commemorated on the Hebrew anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943. This year, Shir Diner, education and outreach chair of Hillel at UCI and ILN vice chair wanted to do something similar for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but on a larger scale.

In partnership with multiple UCI departments, schools, and offices, Hillel at UCI hosted two Holocaust survivors: Zorica Sorkin, the mother of a UCI professor, and Jenny Unterman-Leijdesdorff, the grandmother of a UCI student — and brought together more than 350 people to hear their stories, the majority of whom were non-Jewish students and faculty.

“It is so easy to be apathetic toward textbooks,” said Diner. “But hearing real-life stories allows our students to be exposed to personal anecdotes, which expand their empathy while also providing them stories to pass on to others in the future.”

Born in Amsterdam, Unterman-Leijdesdorff was forced into hiding at age four alongside her sister after being separated from their parents. She survived and was liberated by Canadian forces, after which she learned her parents had been murdered in Sobibor. Her story is one of survival, loss, and memory. 

Sorkin’s story followed similar lines of survival and resilience. She was born in former Yugoslavia while her mother hid in a barn. Her father died fighting with the partisan resistance forces, and after the war, she and her mother searched for family, only to learn most of her relatives were murdered in Auschwitz. Sorkin and her mother eventually traveled to Israel.��

Diner is particularly proud of how many non-Jewish students participated in the event. “We realized that the average Jewish person has heard the stories of many survivors but most non-Jewish students have never met or heard from a survivor,” she said. “We are the last generation of people able to have the opportunity to hear directly from survivors and shed light on the atrocities that occurred, so my hope is that hearing those testimonies will make a difference… and really shed light on the importance of continuing education for all.”

Thank you to everyone who planned, participated in, and learned from Holocaust Remembrance Day programs this year. May the memories of those killed always be blessed, and may we continue to honor the stories of survivors — and to tell them ourselves, so that they will never be lost to history.

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����vlogl and Havurah Partner for an Unforgettable Hanukkah Discotheque

Author

����vlogl

Date

December 18, 2025

Over the weekend, more than 300 Jewish college students attended a late-night Hanukkah Discotheque in New York City – celebrating the holiday with a “proudly Jewish disco” that featured great music, a giant disco dreidel, and an abundance of Jewish pride. 

In partnership with ����vlogl, – a Jewish student art collective – transformed , a barbershop in the East Village that doubles as a unique nightlife space, into an underground, 80s-style club for a night of funk, soul, house, and disco. Jewish students from local schools like NYU, Hunter College, Baruch College, Columbia University, and Queens College, filled the space, along with other young adults and students from out-of-state schools who were already home for the holidays.

For Eitan Gutenmacher, executive director of Havurah and a recent NYU graduate, the event was an opportunity for students to have a meaningful Jewish experience that celebrated unconditional pride – even in an unconventional setting. 

“Young people are hungry, perhaps now more than ever, for authentic experiences that exist without the confines of needing to explain ourselves,” he said. “I hope attendees took away that Jewishness can be experienced almost anywhere, [including] in a club at 2 a.m.”

The Hanukkah Discotheque wasn’t just a proudly Jewish disco; it was a proudly Hanukkah-centered disco. Guests sipped Hanukkah-themed cocktails as they danced to an all-Jewish set of music played by three Jewish DJs – Numai, 22, and Max Kulchinksy – who kept the dance floor full until the early hours of the morning, all under the backdrop of a giant disco dreidel made by Jewish Iranian-American artist Shereen Kheradyar.

By just about every metric, the event was a huge success. And if the number of attendees wasn’t enough proof, the feedback from students added even more.

“It was a really special way to feel the unity of Jewish college students from all across New York City,” said Carolyn Bernstein (NYU ‘27). “There was something incredibly freeing about knowing the space was safe, communal, and fully ours.”

Gabby Farber (NYU ‘27) agreed. “The discotheque was an absolute blast. It had all the best things — great music, great people, and a real sense of Jewish community,” she said. “Havurah and Hillel did a great job creating a space with joy, connection, and community, all in one night.”

The program may have just ended, but Gutenmacher is already looking forward to the next one. 

“I have no doubt that without Hillel, this event would not have happened,” he said. “The future of our work with Hillel ultimately lies in what young Jews want to see, but for this event to be such a huge success — especially during finals! — means I can definitely see us reuniting with Hillel again.”

Congratulations to the Hillel-Havurah partnership team on this amazing event!

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News

Hillel Staff and Students Recognized at the “Shine a Light on Antisemitism Civic Courage” Awards

Author

����vlogl

Date

December 17, 2025

This month, announced the winners of the third annual . Powered by , these awards honor individuals who exemplify taking action against antisemitism and hate. 

����vlogl is proud to share that four members of the Hillel community were recognized with awards this year: Rachel Sasiene, director of the Israel Action and Addressing Antisemitism Program at ����vlogl; Keira Kepets, Hillel president at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice;  Jacqueline Dressler, senior director of advocacy at Hillel Ontario; and Dr. Amy Milligan, director of Old Dominion University Hillel.

First created in 2023, the Shine a Light on Antisemitism Civic Courage Awards recognize individuals in North America who are countering hate and taking action against antisemitism often through relationships and bridge building. There are nine award categories that include Jewish campus professionals, university students, and university administrators. Rachel Sasiene and Jacqueline Dressler received awards as Jewish campus professionals, and Keira Kepets was recognized in the university student category. Dr. Milligan was honored in the university educator and administrator category.

Rachel Sasiene

In her role at ����vlogl, Rachel Sasiene supports more than 300 campus Hillel communities in helping students navigate rising antisemitism while maintaining a sense of pride and confidence in their Jewish identity. As a Jew of color, she brings a unique perspective, emphasizing the importance of bridge building and solidarity across communities. 

“I am deeply honored to be recognized for the work my team and I are so committed to at ����vlogl,” said Sasiene. “We believe every Jewish student deserves to be fully Jewish on campus, supported by a loving community of their peers. While my team works tirelessly to triage and respond to antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents, our ultimate goal is to educate about and celebrate Israel. My love for Am Yisrael, the Jewish People, grows with every resilient student I meet.”

“At moments when communities feel vulnerable, Rachel models confidence and belonging,” added Jon Falk, ����vlogl’s vice president of Israel engagement and confronting antisemitism, who works closely with Sasiene and nominated her for the award. “She creates spaces where students and professionals feel not only supported but proud of who they are. When antisemitism tries to push students down, Rachel insists the response must be strength and visibility.”

One of Sasiene’s most innovative projects has been promoting and installing solidarity mezuzot — mezuzah cases displayed without the kosher scroll as a symbol of allyship and support of the Jewish community. This kind of creative thinking about Jewish pride and unity has helped Sasiene emerge as a nationally-recognized voice in the fight against antisemitism, not just on campus but throughout the Jewish community. She merges immediate crisis response with strategic planning, ensuring that campuses aren’t just prepared to handle immediate incidents, but also plan effectively to prevent future occurrences.

“This recognition speaks volumes about Rachel’s integrity, her leadership, and the profound impact of her work supporting our Hillels in confronting antisemitism on campuses across the country,” said Falk. “I’m so proud to see her contributions elevated on a national stage.”

Keira Kepets

At John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Hillel President Keira Kepets has become an outspoken leader in the fight against antisemitism. After noticing biased presentations in a victimology class in 2024, Kepets not only spoke directly with her professor, but also started using her platform with Hillel to expose and address antisemitism on campus. She testified at a New York City Council Higher Education Committee hearing on the on city university policies relating to antisemitism, met with NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and also serves as the CUNY cohort leader for the ����vlogl Israel Leadership Network.

“I am deeply honored to be a 2025 recipient of the Shine A Light on Antisemitism Civic Courage Award as a university student,” Kepets said. “My college experience took an unexpected turn when antisemitism surged on my campus after October 7th. In response, I made it my mission to advocate for Jewish students who were facing profoundly challenging and painful incidents. Standing up during those moments was not a choice, it was a responsibility. This award is especially meaningful to me because it affirms that speaking out matters and how courage can create change.”

“We are so proud of Keira, our amazing Hillel president, for being awarded this truly well-deserved honor,” said Ilya Bratman, executive director of the . “Over the past three years, we have been privileged to watch Keira grow into an extraordinary leader, navigating immense challenges on our campus with courage, integrity, and heart.”

Kepets has written about her experiences with the Israel Leadership Network and other aspects of her work fighting antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric. She continued her leadership growth by taking part in the , traveling to Israel and the United Arab Emirates to deepen her connection to Jewish life, history, and culture. 

“Keira has stood up to serious adversity, modeled resilience, patience, and strength, and consistently worked to support and bring together students across differences,” Bratman said. “Through her leadership and example, Keira has inspired others to step forward, get involved, and believe that positive change is possible even in difficult moments.”

Jacqueline Dressler

At , Jacqueline Dressler oversees campus advocacy across nine campuses, impacting a Jewish population of about 14,000 students. She plays a central role in addressing antisemitism, working not just with university leaders, but also directly with students. 

“I am inspired by a deep sense of responsibility to safeguard the right of Jewish students to be openly and proudly Jewish and Zionist on campus without fear,” Dressler said. “Their resilience is the fuel that enables me to keep pushing institutions to meet their obligations to build campuses where Jewish identity is welcomed, not demonized — and to hold those who do not uphold this standard to account.”

Dressler’s work keeps her constantly on the move: from strategy and incident meetings with university administrators to attending student programs to sharing her experience and insights as a thought leader with other professionals. She also created an antisemitism education module that has become a nationwide standard, and regularly works with external organizations to enhance that training.

“This recognition from Shine A Light strengthens my resolve to keep showing up for Jewish students, demanding that they receive the supportive campus environment afforded to all students,” she said.

Dr. Amy Milligan

Dr. Amy Milligan is a central figure of Jewish life and community at Old Dominion University. In addition to her work as the director of the campus Hillel, Dr. Milligan also serves as the Batten Endowed Associate Professor of Jewish studies and women’s studies and the director of the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding. She is also the founder of the campus Jewish caucus.

“Jewish students and Jewish life are at the center of all that I do,” Dr. Milligan shared. “Education, visibility, and accountability are essential to confronting antisemitism and anti-Zionism, particularly in academic spaces, and I am motivated by a responsibility to ensure that Jewish students are not only protected, but fully seen, heard, and supported. This award affirms the urgency of that work and strengthens my resolve to continue it with clarity and courage. 

That commitment to Jewish life on campus comes with a lot of attention — not all of it positive. Dr. Milligan has experienced event disruptions, vandalism of Hillel logos, and hateful messages and social media harassment targeting her directly. However, these attacks have only made her more determined to support Jewish students and Jewish scholarship. She has contributed to articles and journals, including recently co-authoring a piece examining the effects of academic boycotts, and hosts the Am Yisrael CHAI Café in her office, giving Jewish students a safe space to gather, connect, and be themselves. Additionally, she is devoted to working on multifaith dialogue and bridge-building programs, fostering open conversations and inter-community relationships.

Congratulations to all of the awardees — this recognition is so well-deserved, and we are so proud of you. We can’t wait to see what you do next!

The post Hillel Staff and Students Recognized at the “Shine a Light on Antisemitism Civic Courage” Awards appeared first on ����vlogl.

News

CALL: Bringing Light to Jewish Students With Expert Legal Support

Author

Ariel Katz

Date

December 16, 2025

����vlogl is, and has always been, committed to the safety and security of Jewish students. In the aftermath of the terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, and the recent mass shooting at Brown University, we wanted to share a glimpse into one aspect of that commitment. , the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line, is a free, confidential resource, where students can report antisemitic incidents and access expert legal support. A partnership between ����vlogl, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the Brandeis Center, CALL is supported by attorneys at each of these organizations. 

Ariel Katz, the assistant general counsel at ����vlogl, works to make sure Jewish students experiencing hate and exclusion have easy access to legal guidance. This is her story.��    

I grew up in a large Jewish community where hanukkiot, menorahs, were even more common than Christmas trees. Being visibly Jewish was a given and part of everyday life in Skokie, Illinois.

When I left Chicago and attended college in Claremont, California, I was the only Shabbat observant student on campus, to my knowledge – a stark contrast to my childhood experiences. The Claremont Colleges did not typically attract observant students, and because of this, I was determined to be visibly and proudly Jewish. 

In my professional life, I’ve maintained this desire to always be proudly and visibly Jewish. In fact, it led me to join ����vlogl in January 2024 as the assistant general counsel, where I’ve been committed to helping this generation of Jewish college students embrace their identities without fear. Since November 2023, ����vlogl has partnered with the ADL and the Brandeis Center to run the , or CALL, a free, confidential resource where students can report incidents and access expert legal support. When a student submits a report, attorneys from all three organizations review the case together and determine appropriate next steps.

Over the last two years, the CALL team has received over 600 unique incident reports from Jewish individuals, including students and faculty who have faced harassment or discrimination. Reading some of these reports was harrowing, from the student who was spit on for putting up posters on campus of the hostages taken from Israel by Hamas, or the numerous students who had their mezuzot ripped off their door frames. 

Thankfully, CALL is there to empower students who have faced incidents of harassment or discrimination, helping them pursue justice, accountability, and the safety to live openly as Jews on their campuses.

I am inspired in this work by the Hanukkah story, where a small group of people, the Maccabees, fought to ensure that each Jewish person would be able to live freely. When the Maccabees reclaimed the Jewish Temple from Assyrian-Greek control, they found only enough oil to light a candle for a single day. Miraculously, it burned for eight days. Ever since, we commemorate that miracle by lighting a hanukkiah for eight nights and placing it in a window or doorway, to shine visibly outward. In fact, the requirement of the holiday is not just to light candles, but to light them publicly to publicize the miracle. And I am proud to help Jewish students year round publicize their Judaism. 

Some of the most meaningful moments of my work have been hearing from students who finally received some form of closure to incidents they reported, whether through an apology, a disciplinary action, or a revised policy, all because they reached out to CALL. While legal solutions cannot always prevent an incident, they can make a profound difference. They remind students that they are not alone, that their rights matter, and that their Jewish identity deserves respect.

My hope is all Jewish students will one day feel comfortable hanging whiteboards with Hebrew words prominently displayed, talking openly about their connection to Judaism and the land and people of Israel, and inviting friends of all backgrounds over for a game of dreidel. Their friends will listen and engage with respect and empathy, and the safety and comfort of a public Jewish life will be as mainstream as it was for me in college.

����vlogl and countless Hillel campus professionals are working tirelessly to make that happen. And I’m grateful that the work I do with CALL is helping students navigate the challenges they’re facing along the way.  

The post CALL: Bringing Light to Jewish Students With Expert Legal Support appeared first on ����vlogl.