From the Desk of Adam Lehman: A New Year of Jewish Joy, Pride, and Leadership at Hillel
Friends,
Excitement is building at campus Hillels across North America and around the world, as Hillel teams prepare to welcome students for the 2026-2027 academic year. At Hillel International, we are doing everything we can to ensure that Jewish students everywhere can tap into Hillel’s unique pathways to Jewish joy, pride, and leadership.
Feeling a sense of Jewish belonging through Hillel begins with knowing Hillel is there for you as a Jewish student. So we’ve launched our new campaign promoting Back-to-School events at Hillels as part of Welcome Week 2026. From FreshFest at Florida State Hillel to Camp WaJew through UVA Hillel, from Sweet Treats at WashU Hillel to Midnight Oneg at KU Hillel, and through hundreds of other Welcome Week events at Hillels, Jewish students returning to campus will find great opportunities to make new friends or reconnect with old friends.
Hillels foster Jewish joy in ways as diverse as the students we serve. At the same time, Shabbat and holiday experiences serve as a common denominator for Hillels across our movement. To amp up the Jewish joy, meaning, and community students can access through those core Jewish experiences, Hillel International is expanding the reach of our Ruach Fellowship from 23 to 49 campus Hillels. Through this program, piloted for the first time last spring, more than 150 Jewish students will be trained, mentored, and empowered to inject Shabbat and holidays at their Hillels with inspiring and joyful services, music, and celebrations. We’re also investing Shabbat Surge grants and resources into 161 campus Hillels, to help ensure each one can unlock the magic of Shabbat for their students.
It’s as important as ever for Jewish students to be able to cultivate and express a sense of Jewish pride. And pride begins with knowing who you are and what you’re part of. To grow that Jewish knowledge and understanding for students everywhere, we’re supplying programming and grants to 150 campus Hillels so they can in turn engage their students in meaningful, cohort-based Jewish learning experiences, like our Jewish Learning Fellowship. We’ll also be working to support as many Hillel professionals and students as possible in traveling to Israel, so they can experience Israel firsthand – forming their own understanding of Jewish history, life and culture in Israel and Israel’s role within global Jewish peoplehood.
And we’re funding 13 regional Hillel summits that will bring together thousands of Jewish students to connect, learn from one another, and feel a part of the broader Hillel and Jewish community, through gatherings like the Hillel and EUJS Resilience Shabbaton hosted by Hillel Germany, the Lev Conference and Shabbaton hosted by Hillel Ontario, Shalom Y’All: The Southern Jewish Experience hosted by North Carolina Hillel, Jews on the Mountain hosted by Hillel Council of New England, and Israel Elevated hosted by University of Miami Hillel.
This will also be a year to support and empower the Jewish leaders, builders, and creators who will guide Jewish life at their campus communities and prepare to lead all of us into the Jewish future. We’ll be supporting leadership development for more than 20,000 students, through the expansion of our campus-based Hillel Leadership Institute from a pilot last year on 20 campuses to offerings at more than 60 campuses; through our new wave of regional Leadership Summits; through our Leadership Passport program taking Hillel student leaders to the leadership conferences of partner organizations, including the Jewish Federations of North America, ADL, National Council of Jewish Women, AEPi, and Interfaith America, and through a new Global Hillel Leadership Conference. At this exciting new convening we plan to bring together more than 1,000 students representing Hillels from North America and the 14 other countries with Hillel presence to learn, connect, and be inspired toward further leadership within their Hillels, campuses, and broader communities.
In Pirkei Avot, wisdom of our fathers, Hillel the Elder counseled that you should not separate yourself from the community. As important as that maxim was in Hillel’s time, it feels even more imperative in our current era, which is all too often marked by isolation, disconnection, and division. Fortunately, with your support, Hillel International and our unparalleled network of campus Hillels are fostering the joy, pride, and leadership drawing nearly 200,000 students and young adults closer to their Jewish communities.
With gratitude,
Adam Lehman
President and CEO of Hillel International