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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“Hillel has always had to compete for
eyeballs,” he said.

Other clubs offer opportunities to net-
work for high-paying jobs after gradua-
tion or promise unique activities.

“How do we make people care about
Hillel? How do we make people care about
Jewish life when there’s a million other
things they could be doing?” Baral said.

For Hillel leaders, the answer comes
in the form of the connection Hillel
vows to give students that they can’t find
elsewhere. While relaxed COVID protocols have
given students additional opportunities
to connect, the pandemic also has left
mental health scars. By addressing men-
tal health concerns, Hillels can become
a place of connection and support, lead-
ers argue.

“We have seen that students are increas-
ingly seeking social connection, as a
pretty direct response to feelings of isola-
tion and loneliness that they experienced
intensely for the first year and more of the
pandemic,” said Rabbi Gabe Greenberg,
executive director of Penn Hillel.

Strategies on how to build this connec-
tion differ across Hillels. The Drexel and
Temple University Hillels have adopted
peer groups to increase engagement.

Temple, as part of its Jewish Learning
Fellowship, will pair students in small
group cohorts that will meet weekly.

Drexel Hillel will offer financial assis-
tance to students hoping to host Shabbat
dinners with a couple of friends, shift-
ing their model from holding frequent,
“big blowout” Friday night dinners,
Rosenberg said.

The social support Hillels give students
remains important, Winaker said. As the
Greater Philly Hillel Network grows to
provide programming to Jewish orga-
nizations at Catholic schools such as
Villanova University and Saint Joseph’s
University, it is putting particular effort
in supporting those students.

For Lauren Arnold, a rising sophomore
at Villanova, having a Hillel helped her
address antisemitism she experienced on
campus. Hillel advisers helped Arnold
navigate the situation and informed her
on how to bring up the incident to school
administration if she wanted to.

By making students more aware of the
Hillel on campus, others will be able to
reach out to the organization if they are
in need.

“We’re really just trying to make our
presence known on campus and to
ensure that other students on campus
know that we’re around and that we’re
there,” Arnold said. JE
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