Miluim Wellness Retreat: A Shabbat for Those Who Serve
Ninety people from JLIC communities across Israel came to the Neve Ilan Hotel over Shabbat, December 26-27, 2025 for the JLIC Miluim Wellness Retreat. Chayalim, miluimnikim, and their families. Some solo, some with spouses and kids. All of them dealing with the reality of reserve duty and what it takes out of you. Rabbi Eitan […]
Five Students, One Rainy Afternoon, and Their First Mikvah Tour
Technion and Haifa U. Students’ Mikvah Tour It was a rainy Thursday afternoon when we set out. Tova Levine from JLIC Technion and Haifa U. brought five students who’d never stepped inside a mikvah building before. One from the UK, one from Brazil, one from India, one from South Africa, and one from the USA. […]
One Flame, Many Communities: JLIC’s Chanukah 2025 Lights Up the World
When JLIC communities celebrate Chanukah, they don’t do it halfway. This year, 30 JLIC campuses and communities across the globe came together under one theme: “One Flame, Many Communities.” Whether you’re lighting candles in New Jersey or Jerusalem, making latkes in Maryland or lighting menorahs in Tel Aviv, the glow of Chanukah connects us all. […]
Thanksgiving in Be’er Sheva: A Community Finding Home
Rabbi Idan and Prielle Rakovsky gathered their JLIC community at Ben-Gurion University last week for a Thanksgiving dinner. Twenty-five students joined them for turkey, pie, American trivia, and a sweet-pie contest that got pretty competitive. Thanksgiving might be an American holiday, but the message of gratitude translates everywhere. When students from Israel, the US, Canada, […]
The Jewish Life You Didn’t Know Was Thriving at the Technion
I’ll be honest. Before Rabbi Evan and Tova Levine, the JLIC Directors at Technion, walked me through campus, I’d heard the same thing everyone else hears: “There’s no Jewish life in Haifa.” Obviously, I knew better. I see the reports, I help market the programs, I know what Evan and Tova are building up there. […]
When the Sirens Sound: JLIC Communities Mobilize
JLIC Communities Respond to Operation Rising Lion The 3:00 AM sirens that pierced the quiet across Israel changed everything. What initially appeared to be an earthquake alert quickly revealed itself as something far more significant—the beginning of Operation Rising Lion, Israel’s response to Iranian aggression that would transform the daily reality for Jewish communities throughout […]
Technion’s Shabbasino: Where Jewish Community Meets Casino-Themed Fun
The Technion campus came alive during an unforgettable weekend when JLIC Technion Students, led by student Shoshana White and her committee of dedicated peers, in conjunction with Rabbi Evan and Tova Levine (JLIC Directors) and in partnership with Mizrachi, hosted their semester Shabbaton—cleverly branded as “Shabbasino.” The casino-themed Shabbat gathering brought together over 140 students […]