Hillel’s 2009 annual report, titled "Hillel Stories," highlights the challenges and achievements of the Hillel movement through the words of Hillel student activists and professionals. And, for the first time, each chapter includes an online multimedia component that brings these stories to life.
Chapter 1: Campus Entrepreneurs
Northwestern student Marisa Johnson did not find a comfortable Jewish community on campus – so she became a Campus Entrepreneur Initiative intern and created her own Jewish home away from home. At the University of California, Los Angeles, student Sandra Ghatan has found a way to share her love for her heritage with others through
CEI. In an accompanying video, CEI participants and Hillel professionals explain the CEI and Peer Network Engagement Internship.
Chapter 2: International
Andrey Gorozhankin of Odessa, Ukraine, explains his path from uninvolved student Hillel activist. His participation in an Odessa Hillel visit to the Baltimore Jewish community is featured in an online video.
Chapter 3: Immersion Experiences
Tufts University student Larissa Gibbs describes how she has founded a meaningful Jewish community on campus through Hillel and community service. View a video about Larissa’s Alternative Break trip to Tampa with Jewish students from Tufts University, the University of Kansas and the University of Maryland.
Chapter 4: Strengthening Professionals
Rabbi David Levy is not just the director of Hillel at Colgate University: He is a university teacher, a school chaplain, and the only Jewish spiritual leader for 30 miles. In this online feature, Rabbi Levy shares the final video projects of students in his Jewish calendar class.
Chapter 5: Israel
Boyanna Gurbeshich started her life in Croatia but -- after immigration to Israel, army service and university -- she is now helping American students to understand Israel as the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at Baruch College in New York City. An
accompanying video describes how Hillel students at Sapir College in Arad, Israel, are helping community members cope with life under threat of constant terrorist bombing: Sapir College Hillel’s Wandering Cinemateque and Sapir College Hillel students collect used items for the community.
Chapter 6: Senior Jewish Educators
Rabbi David Kasher discusses the pitfalls and successes of his life as a Hillel Senior Jewish Educator at the University of California, Berkeley. In an impromptu video, Columbia University student Rivkah Blutstein describes the impact of University of Texas Hillel Senior Jewish Educator Devora Brustin on students participating in an Alternative Break at the Jewish Farm School in Reisterstown, Maryland, May 2009.
Hillel’s Timeline
Review Hillel’s successes during this turbulent year in a retrospective of 2009. Take another look at Hillel’s 85th anniversary in two videos.