Latest News from Campus

More than 220 Jewish students from over 20 colleges and universities across the Midwest and Northeast gathered at the University of Michigan for the third annual Michigan Yavneh Football Tournament, supported by Hillel International. Twenty-four men’s and women’s teams competed, with Fairleigh Dickinson University winning the men’s championship and Michigan taking the women’s title. Beyond the field, student-led Shabbat programming, bonfires, and Havdalah gave participants opportunities to build friendships and connect with peers from different campuses.

More than 150 students, university administrators, elected officials, faith leaders, and community members gathered at the University of Oregon Hillel for a Shabbat celebrating Jewish community and resilience. The gathering came after antisemitic flyers were posted around campus targeting Hillel’s Executive Director Lenny Steinberg and calling for Hillel’s removal from campus. Oregon leaders, including U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, Rep. Val Hoyle, and University President John Karl Scholz, joined students to show their support for Jewish life on campus.

An Israeli folk dance group with roots at The Ohio State University Hillel is beginning a new chapter at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus. As the group moves to the JCC, it carries forward a tradition that began in Columbus’ campus Jewish community and continues to bring people together through joyful Israeli dance.

Hillel Rio is welcoming hundreds of Jewish students and young adults to its sukkah throughout Sukkot for meals, learning, holiday rituals, and community gatherings. Students are integral to every part of the Sukkot experience: from helping to build and decorate the sukkah to shaping programming held inside it. “Having a sukkah is especially meaningful because it represents what Hillel is all about: a welcoming home where we celebrate our Jewish identity and feel a sense of belonging,” said student Gabriela Sznajderman. “It’s incredible to have different activities every day during the chag (holiday), bringing us together and strengthening our community.”

As more students return to Israel through Hillel’s Birthright Israel trips, Hillel at the University of Rochester Assistant Director Michael Pollak explores how first-time and returning participants experience the country differently. After staffing multiple trips, Pollak reflects on how students can encounter familiar places, build relationships with Israeli peers, and engage with Israel through new experiences and conversations, including visits to the Nova Festival memorial.

University of Arizona fourth-year student Courtney Saxe reflects on how Hillel helped her develop a deeper connection to Sukkot. Through meals, studying, conversations, and time with friends in the Hillel sukkah, Saxe began to see Sukkot as a tradition she could explore and make meaningful in her own life. Through Sukkot and Hillel programming more broadly, Saxe hopes other students find “not a prescribed way to be Jewish, but the space, community, and confidence to discover what being Jewish can mean to them.”