What’s happening on campus? Hear from students, professionals, and Hillel community members whose lives have been impacted by Hillel and who impact the world with their voices and stories. Share your story with us!
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I don’t see that my Persian identity ever has to stop for my Jewish identity to start. Iranian Jews have been in Iran since 586 BCE, so the Iranian and Iraqi diaspora are the most historic diaspora of the Jews. My family has been in Iran longer than we’ve been in Israel and longer than we’ve been in the U.S.
I think the best part of that whole conversation was they were so grateful that we educated them because they didn鈥檛 know something that we were able to teach them about. They weren鈥檛 apologizing profusely. They were sorry, but they weren鈥檛 like 鈥楻eally? You have to make our lives more difficult?鈥 They were so willing to make this change happen with us.
The racial justice protests that swept across the country this past summer has prompted the American Jewish community to reckon with the racial disparities that exist inside and outside of our communities. My own life has been a masterclass in understanding these tensions. When I was two, I was adopted. Two years later, my adoptive […]
Following the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, student leadership at our Hillel had a discussion to figure out how we could move forward and support the movement.
Last year, we had a bunch of hate crimes on campus that targeted international students, black students, and Jewish students. There were some swastikas and Jewish professors received nasty emails. What resulted from that was a list of needs that we issued from the Jewish community to the administration.
Coming from a tight-knit Modern Orthodox community, I was worried about maintaining my customs when I first got to college.
There鈥檚 this perception, largely accurate, that college kids are not particularly observant. I was really concerned about finding a synagogue that could be a home for me and some type of observant community at school. I was worried I was going to be left out or stuck on my own on Shabbos.
鈥淚 got involved in Hillel during my freshman year, and through Hillel I signed up for a Pesach-themed Zoom event called 鈥淟et My People Flow,鈥 which was a yoga class led by Evan Joblin.”
In Judaism and theater, I feel a constant need to improve; to know that each event or moment in time can be better than the one that came before it.
Judaism at its core is about social justice, Tikkun Olam, and helping each other. Helping your fellow Jews, but also helping your fellow humans. That鈥檚 what an American republic is about too: helping each other and contributing to society. Those ideals are both very Jewish and very American.
