University of Pennsylvania

Explore University of Pennsylvania Hillel

Penn Hillel is one the best parts of being at Penn. Each year, Hillel reaches over 80% of the 1,300 Jewish undergraduate students on campus, with a dizzying array of different Jewish opportunities ranging from social justice to Israel, and from Jewish culture offerings to Jewish religious expression. No matter what your interest or Jewish background, Penn Hillel is there to get know each and every Jewish student by name and by story so we can help connect them to the next set of experiences, communities, and relationships that will provoke them to grow into Jewish adulthood. Penn Hillel has dozens of different student communities and initiatives who create many initiative and events open to the entire community. This includes a weekly soup kitchen, a wide variety of opportunities to engage with and learn about Israel, world famous speakers and public intellectuals, and trips to the American South, Poland, UAE, Israel and beyond. All of this is in addition to the nearly 300 students who experience Shabbat each week. Steinhardt Hall, our home base, is a state of the art facility that includes Falk Dining, a kosher Penn dining hall that provides the best food on campus with the warmest and most welcoming community. Penn Hillel`s mission is to create the relationships, experiences, and communities that provoke students to engage in a process of Jewish Self Authorship. Hillel embraces this mission by encouraging students to: Pursue tzedek (social justice) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), deepen their engagement with Israel and other Jews all over the world, inspire new levels of spiritual exploration, delve into expansive intellectual inquiry and Jewish learning, and celebrate and sweeten key moments of the year through Jewish holidays and ritual.