Hillel welcomes students of all backgrounds and fosters an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel. As the largest Jewish student organization in the world, Hillel builds connections with emerging adults at more than 550 colleges and universities, and inspires them to direct their own path. During their formative college years, students are challenged to explore, experience, and create vibrant Jewish lives.
For nearly a century, Hillel’s network of dedicated student leaders, professionals and volunteers have encouraged generations of young adults to celebrate Jewish learning and living, pursue social
justice (tikkun olam and tzedek) and connect to their peers and the global Jewish people. By participating in life-changing trips and campus initiatives, students learn to make a meaningful impact on the future of the Jewish people and the world while they grow intellectually, socially, and spiritually. At the heart of the Hillel network is the Charles and Lynn Schusterman International Center, supporting local Hillels to ensure that they achieve their mission “to enrich the lives of Jewish students so they may enrich the Jewish people and the world.”The Orthodox Union’s Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (OU-JLIC) is a 15-year-old partnership between Hillel and the Orthodox Union (OU). There are currently OU-JLIC rabbinic couples in 22 campus settings.OU-JLIC rabbinic educators receive their training and support from the OU, and Hillel International has increasingly sought to include them in Jewish educational strategies, both for the benefit that Hillel’s professional skill building can bring to the OU-JLIC educators, and for the knowledge and skills the OU-JLIC educators can bring to the rest of the Hillel professional world.
OU-JLIC is a shared financial model, funded by the local Hillel and the OU, and Hillel International hopes to work with the OU to increase the number of Hillels with OU-JLIC rabbinic couples. Hillel engages with and inspires the leadership of more Jewish college students than all other endeavors combined. Understanding that 90 percent of Jews in the United States go to college, a rich and diverse Hillel network is proud to serve them at more than 550 colleges and universities. ■