by Esther Reed | Jun 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
Condolences to Rav Avi and Sara Schwartz Dear Rutgers Hillel Community, As many of you have already heard, Rabbi Avi and Sara Schwartz’s beloved daughter, Kiki, Yakira Leeba, passed away yesterday. Kiki, just a few weeks shy of 4, was a joyful and loved child...
by Esther Reed | Feb 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
The arts have been a subject which, for a long time, have held great importance to the students who make up the community at Rutgers Hillel. In the past, there were frequent opportunities for students to produce and appreciate art. Over the last few years, this work...
by Esther Reed | Mar 12, 2020 | Uncategorized
Dear Friends,As a community, we just concluded the celebration of Purim, the Jewish holiday in which we recognize the topsy-turvy, unpredictable nature of our world. So perhaps it is fitting that the whole world seems a bit topsy-turvy right now, with the...
by Esther Reed | Nov 13, 2017 | featured
The revelation that Rutgers University hired a former spokesperson for the genocidal Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad to teach, of all things, international human rights law, has become a national embarrassment to the University. Not only was he an official in a...
by Esther Reed | Jul 6, 2017 | Hillel
An Israeli Perspective on the Kotel Decision By Aviv Ayash As the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at Rutgers Hillel, I believe I have responsibility to my American Jewish students but also to the Jews who live in Israel. That’s why a few days ago I...
by Esther Reed | Jun 29, 2017 | Hillel
A Truly Life Changing Experience By Forrest Butensky ’17 Where can I start? If I really wanted to lay out my entire Birthright experience, you’d be reading for hours. I’ll keep it simple and pick out my most memorable experiences from the trip. Just a...
by Esther Reed | Jun 7, 2017 | Hillel
Andrew Getraer Shares Thoughts About Jerusalem, 50 Years After By Andrew Getraer, Executive Director, June 7, 2017 50 years ago today, June 7, 1967, Jewish sovereignty was returned to Jerusalem, our holy city and eternal capital, for the first time since the 2nd...
by Esther Reed | May 25, 2017 | Hillel
STATEMENT BY RUTGERS HILLEL BOARD OF DIRECTORS As members of the Board of Directors of Rutgers Hillel, we reject recent calls for Hillel Director Andrew Getraer to apologize for “Islamophobic remarks.” Such claims are based on false charges made more than a year...
by Esther Reed | May 24, 2017 | Hillel
Thoughts on Yom HaShoa – Holocaust Memorial Day by Andrew Getraer, Executive Director, Rutgers Hillel April 24, 2017 I will never forget the day that my wife Jean and I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was a slate grey day in late fall/early winter. There was no...
by Esther Reed | Jan 24, 2017 | Hillel
First Student Board Gathering in the New Building By Brittany Yesner ’19 On Monday, January 16, the Rutgers Hillel Student Board met for the first time of the new secular year for our January Leadership Day. Leadership Day is an intensive training day for the...
by Esther Reed | Nov 22, 2016 | Hillel
What Being Jewish Means to Me By Samantha Goldstein ’19 This is the second of two blog posts written by students who spoke during the Rutgers Hillel Kol Nidre service for Yom Kippur. In the Jewish community, the holiday Yom Kippur represents a time to reflect...
by Esther Reed | Nov 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
What Being Jewish Means to Me By Max DuBoff ’19 Max DuBoff ’19 This is the first of two blog posts written by students who spoke during the Rutgers Hillel Kol Nidre service for Yom Kippur. Yonkel goes to his rabbi and says, “Rabbi, I want you to make me a Levite.”...
by Esther Reed | Sep 11, 2016 | Uncategorized
Israel Changed Me Forever By Jordan Siegel, Class of 2018 Sam Kralle, Jordan Siegel, and Kelly Stimmel on their birthright trip For me Birthright was an eye opening and life changing experience. Before going on Birthright I felt little to no connection to the...
by Esther Reed | Sep 7, 2016 | Hillel
A Great Way to Kick Off the Year by Leila Gordon ’17 and Jacob Holdowsky ’17 Leadership Day 2016 was the start to what is sure to be a great year for Rutgers Hillel. Although exhausting, the Hillel Board spent all day planning future events and...
by Esther Reed | Sep 2, 2016 | Hillel
Welcome & Welcome Back! By Sami Brandspiegel ’17 I remember my first weekend at Rutgers Hillel like it was yesterday, and believe me, sometimes I wish that it was still my freshmen year. For all current students, other than my fellow seniors, no one...
by Esther Reed | Aug 24, 2016 | Hillel
How can the Reform Movement Revitalize its Presence on College Campuses? by Sarah Joselow (This article was originally published here and is being posted on our website with permission of the author.) Although Reform Jews represent the majority of American...
by Esther Reed | Aug 15, 2016 | Hillel
A Home Away from Home: Reflections on Four Years with Rutgers Hillel By Michael Guggenheim ’16 For many people, college can be a time of extreme change. People both discover and lose interest in their passions, make friends from all different walks of...
by Esther Reed | Aug 4, 2016 | Uncategorized
10 Extraordinary Days on Birthright by Jose Matiella ’17 I was never a religious person, and I don’t plan on becoming one. However, my birthright trip made me feel closer to the Jewish people and made me embrace my Jewish heritage. It’s an extraordinary...
by Esther Reed | Jul 29, 2016 | Uncategorized
Rutgers Hillel as “Bookends” for my College Career by Esti Mellul, class of 2016 Esti Mellul ’16 singing with Kol Halalya To say that Hillel has been an important part of my college career would be an understatement. Hillel has not just been a part of my...
by Esther Reed | Jun 21, 2016 | Uncategorized
The Trip of a Lifetime By Jacob Persily, Class of 2016 10 days – 12,000 miles in the air – 75 miles on foot – 1 incredible experience Jacob Persily ’16 at the kotel on Birthright with Rutgers Hillel in May 2016 There is no better way to characterize the incredible...
