local
O As School Year Dawns,
Hillels Go ‘Back To Basics’
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
utside of the University of
Pennsylvania’s Steinhardt Hall
Hillel Building, the massive
tent set up at the beginning of the pan-
demic will stay put for this upcoming
semester, as it has for the last 2½ years.

Th ough COVID is no longer at the
forefront of students’ minds — Penn
has rolled back its testing and masking
requirements — the tent is representative
of a model that has emerged for many
area Hillels over the past few years.

“Th ere was a point in the fall of 2020
where we had a lot of grab-and-go events
because that was basically what the only
thing that Penn would allow student
organizations to do,” Penn class of 2022
graduate Karin Hanalel said. “Just being
able to engage with people and talk with
people, even if it was just like fi ve minutes
Penn students attend previous Hillel events
and masked and distanced and outside,
there was something just really lovely
about getting to just socialize.”
While planning for the start of the
2022-’23 academic year, Hillel leaders
Courtesy of Gabe Greenberg
have taken a similar lesson to heart: Th ey
just want people to consistently show up;
the Jewish community bonding unique
to Hillel will follow.

“We are going back to basics,” Greater
Philly Hillel Network Executive Director
Rabbi Jeremy Winaker said. “What hap-
pens once we are together with students,
either one-on-one or in any conversation at
a bagel brunch or a holiday-themed experi-
ence, without question, has turned into an
opportunity to help our students feel seen.”
As pandemic precautions waned and
as students are given more opportunities
to be social on campus, students have
changed how they approach extracurric-
ular activities, Hannah Rosenberg, assis-
tant director of the Drexel University
Hillel, noted.

“We’re seeing our students a lot less
involved in a lot of things,” she said.

“Th ey’re kind of prioritizing their time to a
few organizations that mean a lot to them.”
Avidan Baral, a rising senior at Penn,
said the eagerness for students to join
organizations is important for Hillels
to consider.

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