Hillel Professionals Reflect on Learning and Connections from HIGA 2025
Each year, Hillel International’s Global Assembly (HIGA) brings together Hillel professionals from around the world for three days of connection, learning, and shared purpose. This year, 1,100 participants gathered in Boston for programming that included short-form core conversations and all-day immersive learning experiences. These interactive sessions created space for professionals at every stage of their careers to step back from the day-to-day work of campus life, reflect with colleagues, and gain new tools and insights to bring back to their communities.
At HIGA, we spoke with two Hillel professionals — Samantha Brody Marks, a Springboard Ezra Fellow at Boston University Hillel, and Erez Cohen, executive director of Hillel at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — about how these sessions shaped their experience. Their reflections highlight the power of learning together across roles and regions — and some of the ways HIGA helps professionals strengthen both their leadership skills and their impact on Jewish life on campus.
Samantha Brody Marks, Springboard Fellow at Boston University Hillel
Samantha Brody Marks, a former Hillel International student cabinet co-chair and a current Springboard Ezra Fellow, shared her inspiration for becoming involved with Hillel as a professional.
In selecting her sessions for HIGA, Brody Marks leaned on those elements of Hillel that are most meaningful to her: the people. She chose core conversation sessions that would allow her to sit in dialogue with people in a variety of roles from across the Hillel movement.
After the core conversation sessions wrapped up, Brody Marks shared her experiences and reflections from the all-day immersive session she participated in the next day.
Hillel International: What was the topic of the immersive you attended? What were you hoping to learn or accomplish going into the session?
Samantha Brody Marks: I participated in the “Beit Midrash for a Jewish Future: Balancing Engagement and Education,” session, which was incredibly impactful. Going in, I was most excited to draw from a room full of passionate Jewish educators and to learn how to balance both education and engagement, which are such key aspects of our shared work.
Hillel: What was the most meaningful moment from the session?
Brody Marks: There were so many meaningful takeaways. One key theme was that transmitting Jewish tradition and helping translate it into our students’ lives are both key aspects of our responsibility as Jewish role models. Our facilitators demonstrated this with a taut rope; pulling just the same on either side is the only way to keep it standing strong.
Hillel: What new skills are you taking back with you to campus?
Brody Marks: I’m taking with me a newfound responsibility for bringing students into Jewish traditions and translating Jewish life for them, as well as the energy to share that task with professionals across the Hillel movement. I am also continuing to think about how we can find ways to measure the lasting Jewish moments where we strike this balance and celebrate the impact they make on our students.
Erez Cohen, Executive Director at Hillel at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Erez Cohen, executive director at Hillel at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, shared his inspiring story of moving from Tel Aviv, Israel to become a Hillel professional.
Cohen also recounted the moments that captivated him during the core conversations he participated in on the first full day of HIGA:
Executive directors of campus Hillels face unique challenges and responsibilities. To meet their needs, Hillel International created programming that gave them the opportunity to participate in core conversations with the larger community, then come together as a cohort for a full-day session on the work that is particular to executive directors.
Cohen shared what he’s taking home from those interactions.
Hillel International: What was the topic of the immersive you attended? What were you hoping to learn or accomplish going into the session?
Cohen: My immersive was the cohort meeting of Hillel’s executive directors. We spent a day and a half together discussing contemporary issues that we are all facing – from the erosion of pluralism in the Jewish world, to antisemitism and the state of higher education, to the relationship between Hillel and other campus partners.
Part of the meeting was dedicated to a conversation between Hillel International leadership and the executive directors of the field Hillels to discuss Hillel International’s strategic plan and its implementation. I went into this session looking for a better understanding of the collaboration between Hillels on campuses and Hillel International in turning the ideas of the plan into reality, and left with a clear vision for the next three years.
Hillel: What was the most meaningful moment from the session?
Cohen: I was most inspired by my colleagues. The executive directors in our Hillel movement have dealt with immense challenges since October 7th – antisemitism, supporting students through emotional strife, being present for families and staff members, while also handling their own feelings about the terror attacks that day and the subsequent war. And perhaps most importantly, providing the students a stable and safe environment in which they could organize and lead their communities. Even after all that, directors continue to bring new and innovative ideas to the Jewish world in ways that both affirm our Jewish traditions and reinvent how we can be Jewish in our current reality. Hillel is blessed with incredible campus leaders.
Hillel: What new skills are you taking back with you to campus?
Cohen: I am bringing back renewed energy and commitment to build strong student leadership, strengthen relationships with our campus and Jewish partners, and provide our staff with the best tools to build a strong, joyful Jewish community on campus.
Thank you for joining us for a deep-dive into the incredible experiences that HIGA 2025 offered Hillel professionals. Read more about HIGA 2025 and the moments of joy and inspiration that came to life.