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Veteran Zionist Activist Joins Hillel as Shaliach;
Heads Department of Campus Israel Affairs
October 29, 2001Comments (0) | Add | E-mail this to a friend Joint Appointment with Jewish Agency is First for Organizations
 Michael Jankelowitz -- who has spent more than two decades educating college students and the public about Israel and Zionism -- has joined Hillel to direct its new Department of Campus Israel Affairs. Jankelowitz is simultaneously serving as the first shaliach, or emissary, of the Jewish Agency for Israel to Hillel.
"I look forward to this tremendous opportunity to educate a new generation about Israel and its centrality to Jewish life," says Jankelowitz. "It is my goal to build on the foundation Hillel has created to reach Jewish college students through messages and methods that they find appealing."
"Michael will be an enormous asset to Hillel," says Richard M. Joel, president and international director of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. "His expertise in dealing with students will allow him to create meaningful Israel-related education framed in a Jewish context."
Jankelowitz has extensive background working with students and the campus community. During the 1980s he was both a staff member and director of the Student Division of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). He also served two terms as shaliach to North American campuses through the WZO. Since 1994 he has worked for the Jewish Agency for Israel, serving in the Office of the Treasurer and as Liaison to the Foreign Press.
Hillel's new Department of Campus Israel Affairs will design and implement Israel education programs for use by local Hillels, and will coordinate with other Hillel partner agencies to support Israel education on campus. The department also will help campuses respond to instances of anti-Israel activity. The department will work in coordination with Hillel's birthright israel program, the largest provider of trips through the international birthright israel program (Taglit) which provides free trips to Israel to Jews ages 18-26. Jankelowitz will also work with Hillel's EMET Fellows initiative, a program that trained 40 students in pro-Israel activism at Tel Aviv University's Jaffee School for Strategic Studies last summer. Hillel also runs the She'arim Gateways Initiative which offers birthright israel alumni educational opportunities upon their return to the United States.
A native of South Africa, Jankelowitz moved to Israel after graduating from high school in 1971. His father, an attorney, defended Govan Mbeki, the father of the current South African president, in a treason trial in 1962. Jankelowitz was active in the Habonim Zionist youth movement as a teen and spent time with a group from the Bnai Akiva Movement on Kibbutz Maalei Gilboa during his army service. He holds an undergraduate degree from Bar Ilan University in Jewish history, English literature and teaching English as a second language. He is married to Denise Feit. The couple has two children, Roi and Danit.
The largest Jewish campus organization in the world, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is devoted to creatively engaging and empowering over 400,000 Jewish college students through its network of 105 Foundations and over 350 affiliates in North America, Europe, Israel and the states of the former Soviet Union. Its long-standing dedication to building Jewish identity, while nurturing intellectual and spiritual growth in a pluralistic community, positions Hillel as a leader in building a stronger Jewish people and stronger Jewish future.
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