Leading with Pride and a Love for Israel
Maria Frayman is a student at Baruch College, a leader at Baruch Hillel, and a member of Hillel International’s Israel Leadership Network.
Not everyone gets to grow up living a Jewish life openly. In Russia, where I am from, being Jewish was something we celebrated quietly once or twice a year on big holidays. I lived every day with the knowledge that my grandparents never got to use their degrees because of the Jewish stamp in their passports. That history taught me that while I will always be Jewish, depending on the circumstance, I must be mindful of where and how I share it.
Then, in 2019, when I was thirteen years old my parents took me to Israel for the first time. I will never forget getting off the plane in Tel Aviv and seeing a space filled with Jews: Jews speaking Hebrew, wearing Stars of David, and feeling safe in their identities. In just one week, that small part of who I was grew bigger, and so did my love for Israel.
When I moved to New York as a high school student four years ago, I finally got to live the proudly Jewish life I was waiting for. But October 7th came quickly after that . Protesters showed up to our high school Jewish club meetings, and my mom asked me to hide my chai necklace on the subway. I was scared again, and I recognized that familiar, frustrating feeling. But when I joined Baruch Hillel as a college student last fall, I was determined to turn that fear into pride. Now, with the support of Hillel, being Jewish is the loudest, biggest, and most important part of me.
This year, I am proud to start another journey as part of Hillel International’s Israel Leadership Network (ILN), joining the executive cohort for the coming year. ILN is the largest Israel-focused student leadership network in North America, created to empower students to proudly share their love for Israel. To kick off the year, our cohort gathered for a Shabbaton hosted by Hopkins Hillel in Maryland to get to know one another, learn from each other, and start shaping what we hope to accomplish together.
As one of the newest members in the room, I listened in awe to my peers’ stories of their leadership journeys. We talked about relationships, not only with one another but with our faith, our histories, and our Jewish identities. Our Jewish Agency Israel Fellow, Dafna, hosted a session where we shared the stories behind our connection with Israel, our passion for advocacy, and where we hope these stories will lead us. Within hours of meeting, we were opening up about our deepest, most personal “whys,” the reasons behind everything we have worked so hard to build.
At some point, I forgot that the people around me were college students. They spoke with such conviction about problems that are deeply complex, including antisemitism. The conversations during our planning sessions were so lively that the Hillel staff working with us had to remind us to take breaks, because none of us wanted to stop. It was extraordinary, powerful, and deeply humbling.
Though we came from many different campuses, we discussed our shared goals of creating communities where we can openly and proudly be Jewish, studying and making friends safely, and celebrating our identities and growth in the ways that are meaningful to us. That work is never easy and, at times, it can be exhausting and isolating.
As a college student in New York, I see acts of hate toward Jewish and Israeli students almost daily, whether online or in person. After attending Hillel’s Content Creators Forum last year and starting to speak up online for myself and my community, I’ve received dozens of hateful comments aimed at my page and my character, some from friends, fellow students, and even older adults. A few years ago, comments like that would have sent me back into hiding. Now I know I don’t have to face them by myself.
At the heart of ILN is the conviction that no one should have to face challenges like this alone. We want every Jewish student to know that if they feel scared or overwhelmed, there are resources, peers, and professionals standing behind them. Our hope is to make sure no Jewish student ever feels like they have nowhere to turn, or believes there is nothing they can do. Because there is always something we can do, and we can do it together.
The Shabbaton was a start to that important work in the year ahead . I left feeling motivated and grateful, ready to bring everything I learned back to Baruch Hillel, and knowing I’ll be doing this work alongside an incredible group of students and leaders.
This Shabbaton showed me that I get to be part of something bigger than myself. The responsibilities I take on inspire me every day to be better, to be prouder, to carry on my family’s legacy, and to motivate fellow students to do the same. And I know that Hillel and ILN will continue to be a space for every student who wants to live their Jewish lives out fully and joyfully.