Supporting Jewish Students Through Community Building at Hillel at Hunter
Cindy Golub’s investment in Hillel began with the Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Hillel), where she and, subsequently, her three children studied. “I’ve supported Hillel for a long time. My feeling has always been [that] if my family benefits from anything, I should pay them back ten times.”
As Cindy’s life and philanthropy expanded beyond Penn Hillel, she found her way to Hillel at Hunter College — an organization with deep family roots for her. Cindy’s mother was a graduate of Hunter College Class of 1948. A first-generation college student, her mother grew up during the Great Depression and needed to work seven days a week to not only afford her education but also support her father, Cindy’s grandfather.
It was because of her mother’s experiences in college that inspired Cindy to support Hillel at Hunter through a named endowment, renaming it the Rita Levine Rabin Hillel at Hunter College. “I saw the similarity between the current Jewish students at Hunter and my mother,” Cindy shared. “Also first-generation. Needing to work to support themselves and their families. I wish my mother, when she was there, had these advantages. She didn’t, unfortunately, but we can offer it to these generations.”
Hillel at Hunter, which supports students at several New York City-based schools including Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College, and the Silberman School of Social Work, offers students services like career counseling, food assistance, and mental health support, that help them focus on their education. “What I learned was that Hillel at Hunter also functions as a total social service agency. They really make a difference and help these students,” said Cindy.
Hillel at Hunter also serves as a critical space for Jewish students to express and explore their connection to their Jewish identities, through programming and Jewish education. Cindy understands the importance of having a space dedicated to Jewish students, especially during the challenges faced by Jewish students since October 7th. Reflecting on her mother’s need for that space, Cindy said, “You know how next to your yearbook [photo], it has your clubs next to it? The only club – [and] my mother didn’t have time for clubs, of course, because she was working and going to school – listed next to her name was Hillel. [Seeing that], it really made me feel like I’m paying it back.”
After recently attending a Not Shabbat Shabbat dinner at Hillel at Hunter, a Shabbat-style dinner that Hillel at Hunter holds for commuter students who very often aren’t on campus on Fridays, Cindy was inspired by the sense of community that this diverse group of students displayed. “It’s just wonderful to sit there and talk to the students. [I enjoy listening to them discuss] their hopes and dreams, what they’re trying to do and why they’re there and what they’re getting out of it,” she said. “It’s lovely because it’s really a sense of community. It really felt like a Shabbat dinner, even though it was during the week.”
It’s Hillel at Hunter’s community building, alongside the full spectrum of support they offer Jewish students, that inspires Cindy’s ongoing support. In a full-circle moment, she shared that, “Rabbi Mike Uram, who was head of Penn Hillel for a long time, said that when you go to college, you define what your Jewish identity is. Until that point, it’s your family that defines it, but when you go to college, you get to decide what Judaism means to you, how you want to interact with it, and how you want to be part of the Jewish community.”
Read more about Hillel supporters like Cindy and the impact they have on generations of Jewish college students.