Giving Priorities
Giving Priorities Rutgers Hillel depends upon unrestricted dollars to support its annual campaign. While our priority is to ensure that dollars raised can be allocated to areas of need, there are number of specific priorities which donors may underwrite. The following Designated Funds within Jewish Student Life have been identified as giving priorities.
For more information about supporting these initiatives, please contact us.
Center for Israel Engagement
Hillel’s new Center for Israel Engagement brings together and augments Hillel’s existing Israel educational and engagement programs and resources to meaningfully engage more students with Israel and enhance their understanding and connection to the Jewish state. The Center creates the groundwork for Israel to become a prominent component of Jewish identity and focuses on engagement and education to meaningfully engage more students with Israel and enhance their understanding and connection to the Jewish State.
Alternative Spring and Winter Breaks and Tzedek
Hillel is the leading provider of Jewish Alternative Break service learning experiences. These immersion experiences provide students with the opportunity to provide vital hands-on services to communities in need, highlighting the connection between community service and the Jewish obligation to pursue social justice (tikkun olam). Hillel invests significant resources in training its staff to implement the educational curriculum, facilitate meaningful Jewish experiences, and connect Alternative Break alumni with additional Jewish and service opportunities when they return to campus.
Student Leadership Training
Hillel is committed to identifying and training emerging leaders through a variety of leadership and professional development programs. These programs will help student leaders develop the necessary skills to take pride in and ownership of their Jewish identity, learn how to mobilize others, develop their leadership vision, and equip them to become ambassadors to the community at large. These opportunities will provide students with a framework for making an enduring commitment to Jewish life in the years beyond college, laying the foundation for students walking across campus today to be tomorrow’s Jewish leaders.
Center for Outreach and Engagement
Rutgers-New Brunswick is a unique campus with five distinct campuses. Recognizing that the majority of Jewish students do not reside or take classes on the College Avenue Campus, the location of the Rutgers Hillel building, we bring Hillel to them. Through our team of Outreach and Engagement professionals, Student Board of Directors, Peer Network Engagement Interns and First Year Impact Fellows, Rutgers Hillel is able to create a Jewish presence on all five campuses through tabling and programming at student centers and residence halls.
Reform Outreach Initiative
Rutgers Hillel has begun a unique partnership with our statewide Reform community, designed to engage the estimated 1,000+ Rutgers students from a Reform background. We have a full-time Reform rabbi on campus, who is leading this initiative, and who represents and articulates the values and ideas of the Reform movement and provides programming opportunities for Reform Jews to express themselves as part of the campus community.
Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus
Orthodox Union partnership with Rutgers Hillel In partnership with the Orthodox Union, the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) brings to Hillel a full-time Orthodox rabbi and his wife who is a Jewish educator and pro-Israel advocate. Offering daily minyans, study sessions and learning opportunities, as well as opportunities to experience Shabbos in our JLIC couple’s home, JLIC provides an invaluable resource to all students seeking to gain a deeper understanding of our sacred texts and traditions.
Creative Ways to Give
$54 — Supports Morning Minyan Bagel Breakfast
$118 — Feeds Five Students at Our Passover Seder
$150 — Fund Apples & Honey during Rosh Hashanah to sweeten student’s lives
$180 — Funds Shabbat Dinner for Ten Students
$360 — Promotes Social Justice Events
$540 – Create Shabbat experiences for students who have never celebrated Shabbat through the Shabbat Across Rutgers initiative bringing dinner into their residence halls, Greek Houses, or apartments
$720 – Co-sponsors Annual Chanukah Ball
$1,000 — Underwrite a scholarship for 1 student to attend Alternative Spring Break
$2,500 — Provide 1000 students with Hanukkiahs to light candles with their peers across campus, and gather for Hanukkah celebrations, including latke study breaks, soufganiot (jelly donut) eating contests and more!
$3,600 — Enable 1 student to go on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip experience during winter break, providing funding to lead up to their experience and follow-up with outreach efforts on-campus.
$5,000 — Reach 2500 Jewish students with positive High Holy Day experiences including, Rabbinic support, service leader training, and break fasts.
$10,000 — Underwrite a team of 6 student interns to reach out to students on-campus to connect them with Jewish Student Life.
$18,000 — Support a partnership with the Jewish Agency to support the work of an Israel Fellow on Rutgers campus.