by Esther Reed | Aug 14, 2014 | Hillel
Life Under Fire By Jordan Davis, Class of 2016 For the past two and a half months, I was blessed with the opportunity to live in Israel. Unless you’re actively avoiding the news, you know that Israel is under fire (#IsraelUnderFire). It’s true. It’s...
by Esther Reed | Aug 4, 2014 | Hillel
Who Really Cries on Tisha B’Av? By Andrew Getraer Executive Director, Rutgers Hillel Tonight begins the Jewish holyday of Tisha B’Av. For over 2,500 years it has been the national Memorial Day of the Jewish People, our Yom Hazikaron, Day of Remembrance. On it...
by Esther Reed | Jul 29, 2014 | Hillel
Love Letter to Hillel by Avi Sinoff, Class of 2014 My Darling Rutgers Hillel, First, let me say that you are looking great these days. Some pictures of you popped up on Facebook, and you looked great at your Gala. Seeing you thrive like that after we parted...
by Esther Reed | Jul 24, 2014 | Hillel
A poem about the current situation in Israel By Anat Litwok Anat Litwok grew up in Marlboro, NJ and attended Rutgers University. In 2011, when she was 20 years old, Anat made aliyah and was inducted into the IDF as a ‘lone soldier’. She now lives on a kibbutz...
by Esther Reed | Jul 16, 2014 | Hillel
Tuesday was a big day in Israel! By Sammy Reed-Schwartz Sammy Reed-Schwartz is 9 years old and visiting Israel for the first time with his family. His mother, Rabbi Esther Reed, is the Senior Associate Director of Rutgers Hillel. Follow Sammy’s first visit to Israel...
by Esther Reed | Jul 15, 2014 | Hillel
Boots on the Ground or Birds in the Air? By Gedalyah Reback, Class of 2008 For everyone who believes a ground invasion will put a dent into Hamas, I am not coming to burst your bubble from some sort of diplomatic or philosophical perspective. From a strategic...
by Esther Reed | Jul 8, 2014 | Hillel
Rutgers Hillel’s Jewish Peoplehood Project By Lillie Hannon, Class of 2017 When I was first offered a spot in Rutgers Hillel’s Jewish Peoplehood Project, I wasn’t at all sure what I was going to be getting into. It was in its first year, and we were...
by Esther Reed | Jul 2, 2014 | Hillel
Rutgers Vigil for Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali By Aviv Alter, Class of 2015, Morganville, NJ Monday afternoon, like many of you, I heard of the devastating news: Eyal, Naftali, and Gilad would not be returning home to their families. Their mothers and fathers, brothers...
by Esther Reed | Jun 24, 2014 | Hillel
Israel: A Home Like No Other By Galina Eilyuk, Class of 2016 Growing up in a Modern Orthodox community, I was constantly exposed to Judaism, religion, Israel, etc. As I grew up, I fled away from my roots and decided I wanted to be a part of a more secular world; I...
by Esther Reed | Jun 19, 2014 | Hillel
Rutgers Hillel Reflections after Graduation By Ariel Lubow, Class of 2014 When I was a senior in high school, I visited Rutgers for a weekend. To be honest, I was not very excited about it. I didn’t really want to stay in New Jersey and although everyone told me how...
by Esther Reed | Jun 12, 2014 | Hillel
Falling in Love with Israel and Each Other at Rutgers Hillel By Rabbi Scott Roland ’05 and Aviva Cohen Roland ’06 I don’t think that we can overemphasize the role that Rutgers Hillel and Israel Inspires played in our lives. After having met at a Rutgers Hillel...
by Esther Reed | Jun 3, 2014 | Hillel
Israel Inspires and My Journey Home By Rebecca Markowitz ’04 My memory of Israel Inspires is one of dizzying excitement, and not of one particular moment. I remember feeling proud to be Jewish, to gather people together and to make a big deal of the situation on...
by Esther Reed | May 28, 2014 | Hillel
How Israel Inspires Empowered Me By Rahel Bayar ’04 Living on campus during the start of the second intifada could have been categorized as terrifying. Rutgers University was a hotbed of anti-Israeli and anti-semitic sentiment. We were a student body dominated...
by Esther Reed | May 20, 2014 | Hillel
Reflections of a Rutgers Hillel Student President, 10 Years Later By Rebecca Leibowitz, Class of 2004 It’s early September in the year 2000 and I’m a newly knighted freshwoman at Rutgers College. With the support and patience of my parents, I move into Clothier Hall...
by Esther Reed | May 13, 2014 | Hillel
Birthright with Rutgers Hillel: Going Home Again By Susan Teplinsky, Class of 2016, Fair Lawn, NJ A couple months ago, I received an email stating that students who had previously travelled to Israel on an organized tour were finally eligible to return to Israel on...
by Esther Reed | May 6, 2014 | Hillel
“Chicken Soup for the Elderly Soul” By Becca Meiner ‘17 “Chicken Soup for the Elderly Soul” is a new community service program at Rutgers Hillel that started this semester (Spring 2014), and I have been so proud to participate in and even help lead this program....
by Esther Reed | Apr 30, 2014 | Hillel
The Jewish Artist and Activist Community Enlightened My Senior Year By Scott Sincoff SEBS/SCI ’14 As a fifth-year senior, I have been able to experience and learn a lot about my Jewish self throughout my time at Rutgers. I have been able to explore my religion...
by Esther Reed | Apr 24, 2014 | Hillel
Running in the Rutgers Hillel FIT5K By Eitan Sufian ‘16 The FIT5K means making a statement. It shows that I believe in a strong partnership with Israel. The Rutgers Hillel Center for Israel Engagement enables students to connect with and learn about Israel. This run...
by Esther Reed | Apr 14, 2014 | Hillel
The Impact of Israel Inspires: Over Ten Years Later By Stephanie Schwartz ‘04 It is hard to believe that Israel Inspires began 11 years ago this summer. At the time, it was impossible to imagine that something so small and so local would have such a broad...
by Esther Reed | Apr 8, 2014 | Hillel
Masorti on Campus Shabbaton, February 2014 By Alex Hamilton, Class of 2017 I had an amazing experience attending the Masorti on Campus Shabbaton in February. This was an incredibly inspiring event, where I had a great time while simultaneously learning about...