Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
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Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life (Hillel International) is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world. Hillel's stated mission is "to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world."[1]
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History
The organization was founded in 1923 at the University of Illinois by B'nai Brith, which served as the sponsoring organization until the 1990s. By then, it encompassed 120 Hillel foundations and affiliates at an additional 400 campuses. The name "Hillel" comes from Hillel the Elder, a sage who moved from Babylonia to Palestine in the first century. His message was that, in all Jewish endeavors, let us "love and pursue peace, and by loving our fellow creatures, may we bring them to Torah." The organization started in part as an alternative to fraternities and sororities, many of which excluded Jews from membership.Template:Fact
Services
In addition to providing resources to students on campus as undergraduates, Hillel International also provides job offers, free trips to Israel (see Birthright Israel), and student leadership programs post-graduation. Also, as recent graduates, students can join the Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corp (JCSC) and share the Hillel experience, as well as learn skills necessary in the work place.
Hillel is also dedicated to social activism. These initiatives include alternative spring breaks dedicated to service, a Yom Kippur Fast Action Campaign, March for Women's Lives, and the Oxfam Fair Trade Coffee Campaign, among many others.
Criticism
One criticism of Hillel is the use of the motto "Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel." Some believe that this alienates Jewish students who do not believe in the concept of Zionism.
Another criticism has been the monopolistic tactics that the group is alleged to have used to assume primacy over the Jewish campus scene. While this criticism has somewhat diminished since Richard Joel left the organization, Hillel's approach varies from campus to campus.
In 1997, Jeremy Deutchman, a graduate of Hillel's JCSC fellowship and a student member of Hillel's board of directors, wrote a lengthy article in Tikkun Magazine [2] asserting that Hillel engaged in the wholesale "dumbing down" of Judaism, and providing stylish, yet meaningless Judaism instead of substantive Judaism. He argues that this is because the organization had become overly donor-driven, and had hence compromised Judaic quality.
Recently, Hillel president Avraham Infeld has been challenged in traditional circles for asserting that Hillel accepts intermarriage (marriage of Jews to non-Jews). [3]
See also
External links
- Official Hillel International Site - includes links to individual campuses
- Jewish Campus Service Corps