by Esther Reed | Nov 27, 2012 | rhcie
What Does Shabbat Mean to Me? If someone were to ask me a year and a half ago what Shabbat meant to me, I honestly wouldn’t have an answer. Just 15 or so months ago I had absolutely no emotions or attachments to Shabbat; but, then began my freshman year at Rutgers...
by Esther Reed | Nov 20, 2012 | rhcie
Praying for Peace, Even as We Struggle For anyone who has been following the news coming out of Israel, this has been a long and scary week. The air in Israel is thick with uncertainty and unpredictability and in the midst of rocket attacks throughout...
by Esther Reed | Nov 19, 2012 | rhcie
Israelis Living a Frog Tale Civilians in southern Israel have been targets of Hamas’ rockets for the past eight years. When asked about the situation, I have found the boiling frog tale as great parallel to illustrate the life conditions for citizens in southern...
by Esther Reed | Nov 14, 2012 | rhcie
ISRAEL: THE ONLY TRUE RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY SEMINAR INITIATVE The purpose of our on-campus initiative is to make our students aware of the connection between the Russian Jewish community and the development of modern Zionism. We will be inviting many exciting speakers....
by Esther Reed | Nov 7, 2012 | rhcie
The New Hero of Israel Advocacy on Campus In my career in Israel advocacy on campus I have participated in and planned many Israel advocacy seminars. The goal of these seminars is to prepare the participants to become better advocates on behalf of the State of Israel...
by Esther Reed | Nov 6, 2012 | rhcie
Rutgers Hillel, A Shelter From The Storm When Hurricane Sandy struck last week, many in the Northeast were left struggling. Andrew Getraer, Executive Director at Rutgers University Hillel, shares the story of how his community came together. “Most of the university...
by Esther Reed | Nov 5, 2012 | rhcie
Rutgers Israel Public Affairs Committee Israel Update Israeli Journalist Briefs Hill Staff on Gaza Threat A top Israeli journalist on July 23 briefed some 70 congressional staffers and interns about the nature of the rocket threat to Israel from Gaza and other...
by Esther Reed | Sep 27, 2012 | rhcie
Kol Nidre 5773 – The Power of Real Community (By Rabbi Heath Watenmaker) I want to take a poll. How many Facebook friends do you have? Raise your hand if you have more than 100 friends. More than 200? More than 600? More than 1,000? Now, of those friends, how many...
by Esther Reed | Sep 24, 2012 | rhcie
Greg Yellin Sweet Surprise When Rutgers Hillel Engagement Associate Greg Yellin picked up the baked goods for Shabbat, he returned with more than just sweets. “As I waited to check out with the sheet cake and cookies, the man behind me commented on all...
by Esther Reed | Sep 20, 2012 | rhcie
Rosh Hashanah 5773 – Searching for God in a Broken World ( By Rabbi Heath Watenmaker) It happened in a movie theater in Aurora; a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin; in the Family Research Center in Washington, DC; on campus at Auburn University and Texas A & M;...
by Esther Reed | Sep 19, 2012 | rhcie
Erev Rosh Hashana Sermon (By Rabbi Esther Reed) What do a natural event such as a thunderstorm; a personal transition, such as childbirth; and unfathomable structures, like the grand canyon, have in common? All three of these experiences make us pause and reflect,...
by Esther Reed | Aug 22, 2012 | rhcie
Own Your Zionist Identity Working in the field of Israel advocacy on campus I had a question—if the goal of Israel advocacy is to create a public opinion favorable of Israel, in what moment does a student shift their opinion from being anti or neutral to being...
by Esther Reed | Aug 1, 2012 | rhcie
What the Jewish Community can learn from Chipotle about strategy The website punk Torah recently published a post titled Three Reasons Why Chipotle Is Better Than Synagogue. According to the article’s author, Chipotle never fails him while synagogues usually fail him,...
by Esther Reed | Jul 31, 2012 | rhcie
Rutgers Hillel Center for Israel Engagement (RHCIE) recognizes that relationships are the key to sustain and develop support towards the state of Israel on campus. Therefore, RHCIE created the Rutgers Israel Fellows program to advance the pro-Israel network on campus....
by Esther Reed | Jul 13, 2012 | rhcie
Having just concluded the first academic year of the Rutgers Hillel Center for Israel Engagement (RHCIE), we have completed a comprehensive evaluation of the initiative to date. This evaluation was internally driven. We want the RHCIE to be as effective as possible,...
