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Going away to college can be daunting, as you leave behind the familiarity of home. I remember worrying I wouldn’t find a place that feels like home and would never fully adjust to living somewhere new. That is, I felt that way until I started going to Texas Hillel.
The week before moving into college at Central Michigan University felt terrifying to me. I was moving away from everything I knew, and leaving the vibrant Jewish community I grew up in. The college I chose had a small Jewish community, which was an unfamiliar experience for me. Thankfully, even before I set foot on campus, I knew to look for Hillel.
The first time you step onto a college campus, you cross a threshold. You leave behind one way of life and enter another, a new and exciting space where you’ll learn how to do hard things.
I’ve always loved school. From sharpening fresh pencils to setting new goals, the back-to-school season feels like a reset button for me.
After fifteen years of working in the Hillel movement, and now working as a campus support director for Hillel International, I’ve seen just about every possible version of Hillel Welcome Week programming, from early move-ins and Shabbatons to block parties and barbecues.
On a rainy night in late April 2022, nine years into living in Chicago, I took the bus to a Shabbat dinner in nearby Andersonville that would change my life.
As I’m writing this, my graduation cap and gown are already carefully tucked away in the closet of my childhood room. I can’t believe how fast my time in college flew by.
When Lauren Azrin arrived at Dartmouth College, she came with a clear intention: she wanted to be part of the Jewish community.
In 2005, my family flew from Israel to Minnesota to visit my aunt for the High Holidays, and decided to stay permanently. We quickly became very involved in our local Jewish community: We kept kosher, went to synagogue every weekend, and made Shabbat a big part of our lives.
Four years ago, as a first-year student at the University of Miami, who had just recently arrived from Uruguay, I attended my first Shabbat dinner at Hillel, unsure of what my Jewish journey would look like.
