Where Hillel and Greek Life Meet: Jewish Students Finding Brotherhood and Community on Campus
As thousands of Jewish students head back to school on campuses around the world, many may find Jewish community in more than one place. For students involved in Hillel and the Jewish fraternity AEPi, those communities often overlap, creating more opportunities to find friendship, Jewish joy, and a sense of belonging in shared spaces from the moment they arrive at school.
Often, AEPi brothers serve as student leaders at Hillel, celebrate Shabbat and holidays together, and invite friends into Jewish campus life. Hillels, in turn, can provide space and support for AEPi chapters and help connect students interested in Jewish Greek life with a larger Jewish home on campus.
For student Noah Ben-Zion, his connection with Hillel began even before he attended his first class at Northeastern University. During FreshFest, Northeastern Hillel’s orientation program for first-year students, Ben-Zion and a few new friends started playing a game of volleyball that pulled in nearly every first-year student on site. Among the students he met were friends who would eventually join AEPi alongside him. “[Hillel] made me feel as though I had a place on Northeastern’s campus before I had ever attended a class,” Ben-Zion said. “It was also during this time that I decided to rush AEPi with the other students I had met, forming my first college friend group.”
Three years later, those communities remain interconnected. A history and political science major, Ben-Zion has served as vice president of his AEPi chapter and is now co-chair of the Fellowship Ambassadors for Birthright program for Hillel International and Northeastern Hillel. His experience reflects some of the ways Hillel and Jewish Greek life can reinforce one another, giving students multiple pathways to friendship, Jewish identity, and leadership.
That connection to Jewish campus life was on display at the recent AEPi Fraternity International Convention in Phoenix, where more than 500 AEPi brothers gathered to strengthen their leadership skills and Jewish identity.
Since the October 7th attacks, Ben-Zion’s relationship with the Jewish community – both at Hillel and AEPi – has taken on particular meaning. He sees his Jewish identity as an inheritance generations before him fought to preserve. “I think about my own Jewish identity as being the latest in a long line of people who consistently chose, no matter how difficult, to be Jewish and to do so proudly,” he said.
As antisemitism surged, Ben-Zion said these communities helped him continue to feel safe and confident expressing that identity. “Thanks to my community at Northeastern, both in Hillel and AEPi, which for me are very intertwined, I was lucky enough to feel safe and protected by those around me,” he said. His experiences also inspired him to take on leadership roles in both organizations, where he can support other students.
At Carnegie Mellon University, Christopher Lessler found a similar sense of community across Hillel and AEPi. Lessler grew up surrounded by Jewish life, beginning with Jewish day school, and in college, the two organizations gave him new ways to explore Jewish faith, tradition, and culture. “I think my Jewish identity in college is only as big as it is because I’ve had AEPi and Hillel to open that door to Jewish involvement,” said Lessler, a business administration major.
For Lessler, the overlap between the two is part of the rhythm of everyday campus life. “Often, I will join my fellow AEPi brothers in our chapter house and walk down the street to a Hillel event together,” he said.
Similarly, at the University of Iowa, Nathan Hara’s AEPi brothers are also part of his Hillel community. “If I’m not in class, I am at Hillel,” said Hara, a political science major. “During Shabbat each Friday night, my chapter all sits together for dinner at Hillel. After the long, busy week, we take the time to relax, catch up, and have a nice meal together.”
On a campus where less than 2% of students are Jewish, Hara said having both communities has helped keep his Jewish identity at the center of his college experience. “My identity is defined by my Judaism,” he said. “AEPi and Hillel have been the true foundation of my college experience.”
For Ben-Zion, Lessler, and Hara, those foundations were built by making an initial choice to show up in Jewish spaces. Lessler never imagined he would eventually become an AEPi chapter president or take on a leadership role at Hillel, and his advice to new students is to give both communities a chance. “You’re going to meet a lot of people you don’t already know, or you might not know anyone yet,” he said. “That can be a bit scary, but you will feel welcomed and build close relationships incredibly quickly.”
Ben-Zion’s advice is even more specific: Start early. “Being a part of the Jewish community on campus from day one helped me make what seemed like such a large new world smaller and more comfortable,” he said. “It allowed me to build strong connections that have fostered into my closest friends three years later.”