Hillels Host Visiting Israeli Professionals on Campus

WASHINGTON – Hillels on seven campuses next week will welcome visiting Israeli professionals who have previously served as Jewish Agency for Israel Fellows to Hillels. They will spend ten days working with their host Hillel and putting into place plans to create pro-Israel campus life throughout the year.

Now in its third year, the returning Israel Fellows program is called Miluim, Hebrew for “reserve duty”. The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Fellows are young Israeli professionals who work for up to three years at Hillels on more than 100 campuses in North America. They educate students about Israel, protect campuses from anti-Israel activity and associated anti-Semitism, and help students build pro-Israel coalitions with diverse allies.

The Miluim program is an intensive 2-week visit that allows veteran Israel Fellows to support campuses that are not currently hosting a full-time Fellow. The goal is to help additional Hillels develop strategic plans for Israel programming throughout the academic year, build leadership capacity and facilitate student programming.

This year, seven returning Fellows are visiting campuses that were identified as at-risk for anti-Israel activity and also capable of supporting more robust Israel programming. The positive results achieved by previous returning Israel Fellows have led several campuses to request permanent Israel Fellows.

The returning Israel Fellows will serve at the University of Redlands, Colby and Bowdoin Colleges, Portland State University, University of Washington- Seattle, University of North Texas, University of Alabama and California State University, Long Beach. They will arrive in the United States on October 14 for training and will begin their 10-day campus assignments on October 16.