At Brown University, the executive director of Hillel received anonymous death threats.

At Columbia, the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life was surrounded by protestors demanding that Hillel be removed from campus.

At Harvard, students entering Rosovsky Hall, the heart of Jewish life at the university, were met by protestors shouting, “Zionists are not welcome here.”

This surge in antisemitism has left much of the Jewish community grappling with fear, anger, confusion and a deep sense of betrayal. But perhaps no institutions have been more directly impacted, or more essential, than Hillel chapters on college campuses.

As Jewish students have faced harassment, intimidation and assault in the wake of the Gaza war, Hillel chapters have had to navigate complicated roles as refuges for 19-year-olds terrified after being heckled with “Heil Hitler” chants, comforters of parents worried by anti-Jewish encampments of masked students, educators to ill- and misinformed students and faculty, even as negotiators with administrations under political pressure from all sides.

In collaboration with the Temple-Emanu-El Men’s Club, we are proud to welcome the Executive Directors of the Hillel chapters at Brown, Columbia and Harvard Universities, along with three of their student leaders, to discuss not only what they have endured but how they have risen to the occasion to educate Jewish and non-Jewish students by engaging with universities’ leadership and creating vibrant communities of young “October 8th” Jews newly awakened to their Jewish identities.

With:

Rabbi Josh Bolton, Executive Director at Brown RISD Hillel

Brian Cohen, Lavine Family Executive Director, Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, Columbia/Barnard Hillel

Jessica Lemons, Executive Director, Stony Brook Hillel

Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, Executive Director, Harvard Hillel

Moderated by Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, Campus Support Director and Senior Educator for Hillel International.