CONTACTWINTER 2005/SHEVAT 5765 VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 THE JOURNAL OF JEWISH LIFE NETWORK/STEINHARDT FOUNDATION

Beyond the Bagel Brunch: New Approaches to College Engagement

Beyond the Bagel Brunch: New Approaches to College Engagement

Beyond The Bagel Brunch: New Approaches To College Engagement

For those seeking to engage the next generation of Jews, the college years

present both opportunities and risks. In recent years, the community

has turned its attention to the former. Multi-culturalism and self-discov-

ery — two qualities of campus life that sometimes frighten the insular

— have the potential to galvanize students towards a rediscovery of Jewish

culture. By infusing seemingly non-parochial college activities with opportu-

nities for Jewish exploration, several initiatives have succeeded in engaging

Jews in a deceptively simple manner.

From classroom study to extracurricular service, from dorm-based activities

to film festivals, new programs view Jewish activities not in isolation from

other aspects of campus life, but rather as part of the totality of the Jewish

college experience. Articles in this issue of CONTACT explore various ways

of intertwining Jewish experiences into campus life.

Because of a unique generational shift, college years represent an additional

opportunity. It is often assumed that independence from one’s family puts a

student at risk of identity attenuation. For American Jews, this might have

been true for the first generation that was admitted to universities. But today,

American Jews have become so assimilated that separation from family does

not necessarily imply a separation from Jewish roots. Indeed, close to 50 per-

cent of Jewish students on campus come from interfaith families. In many

cases, students are presented with their first encounters with Judaism once

they head off to college. If the experiences are negative — closed doors,

haughty attitudes — they might affect students’ impressions of Judaism for

years to come. On the other hand, if the experiences are positive, the pendu-

lum might swing back towards an interest in Jewish life. For this reason, it is

all the more crucial that Jewish options on campus be inviting and dynamic,

with the potential to spark a lifetime of Jewish commitment.

2 CONTACT

contactWINTER 2005/SHEVAT 5765 VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2

Eli Valley Editor

Erica ColemanCopy Editor

Janet Mann Administration

Yakov WisniewskiDesign Director

J E W I S H L I F E N E T W O R K

S T E I N H A R D T F O U N D A T I O N

Michael H. SteinhardtChairman

Rabbi Irving GreenbergPresident

Rabbi David Gedzelman Executive Director

Jonathan J. Greenberg z”lFounding Director

CONTACT is produced and distributed by Jewish Life Network/ Steinhardt Foundation, 6 East 39thStreet, 10th floor, New York, NY 10016.

Phone: (212) 279-2288Fax: (212) 279-1155Email: contact@jewishlife.orgWebsite: www.jewishlife.org

For media inquiries about Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation,please contact Richard Dukas atrichard@richarddukas.com.

Copyright © 2005 by Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation.

Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundationis dedicated to strengthening andtransforming American Jewish Life toensure a flourishing, sustainable commu-nity in a fully integrated free society. Weseek to revitalize Jewish identity througheducational, religious and cultural initia-tives that are designed to reach out to allJews, with an emphasis on those who areon the margins of Jewish life.

Photographs in this issue appear courtesy ofcontributors and Photos.com. Eli Valley

WINTER 2005 3

To build on the tremendous progressHillel has made over the last decadein engaging Jewish students, we aredeveloping plans to take the organi-

zation to the next level. To do that, we areexploring the latest thinking in nonprofit andbusiness strategy — what leading-edge non-profit thinkers call “Social Entrepreneurship.”

What is Social Entrepreneurship,exactly? And what could it mean for Hillel?

Social EntrepreneurshipIt is best to consider Social Entrepreneur-ship in comparison to its more traditionalnonprofit counterpart, sometimes known as“service provision.” Let me give an examplefrom the non-Jewish, nonprofit world.

Before coming to Hillel, I was Presi-dent of College Summit, a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasingthe college enrollment rate of low-incomestudents. When College Summit started in1995, most nonprofit organizations in the

college access space were “serviceproviders.” The trajectory of such organi-zations usually went something like this:

1. See a critical need to help more low-income students go to college.

2. Design programs to offer college accessservices (tutoring, test prep, collegecounseling, financial aid) to as manyulow-income students as possible.

3. Realize quickly how expensive — andvaryingly successful — this work is.

4. Scale back the organization’s focus to asmaller group of students — usuallythe academic top tier.

5. Feel significant ambivalence regardingthe rest of the students. Lament thatthey aren’t being served. Subtly (or notso subtly) start blaming funders for giv-ing too few resources to reach thosestudents in the deep ways they need.Even more disturbingly, start blamingthe students themselves — or theirschools, parents or society — for theoverriding, complex social problems wecan’t possibly be expected to solve.

The End Result: Services (often good ones)to the academic top tier. Sporadic, anecdotalservices to the rest. Frustration among pro-fessionals that although they do great work,they are not truly making change. Diffusefinger-pointing at funders, families and soci-ety. And ultimately, failure of the mission: nosignificant increase in the college enrollmentrate of low-income students.

Frustrated by that cycle, College Sum-mit’s founder tried a different approach,called social entrepreneurship. The essenceof this approach is as follows:

1. Identify the problem to be solved. (ForCollege Summit, the under-enrollmentof low-income talent.)

2. Formulate a strategy, based on in-depthresearch and experience, to advance asolution. (College Summit went after themid-tier students, since they had themost to gain in terms of college enroll-ment and were most likely to influencethe overall culture of college attendance.)

3. Set clear measurements of success, towhich the organization holds itself

E. Kinney Zalesne is the Executive Vice Presidentfor Strategy at Hillel: The Foundation for JewishCampus Life.

Engagement asSocialEntrepreneurship

by E. KINNEY ZALESNE

4 CONTACT

accountable. (For College Summit, thelead metric was college enrollment, witha host of “sub-indicators” such as partnerschool and college return rates, fundsraised, employee satisfaction, etc.)

4. Measure success regularly — andadjust, or celebrate, accordingly.

The Results: It worked. College Summitstudents now enroll in college at nearlytwice the rate of low-income high schoolgraduates nationwide, and they stay in col-lege at the remarkable rate of 80 percent.(And these were the mid-tier students.)

Funders swooped in. Between 1999and 2004, College Summit’s budget grewfrom under $500,000 to over $7 million —mainly because we now spoke and actedlike the investors we wanted to attract. Wealways led with the heart — there is nomore stirring story than disadvantagedyouth beating the odds — but now wecould offer funders more than just faith.

And, of course, staff morale soared. Pro-fessionals had always been drawn to Col-lege Summit for the mission, but once theyalso had a clear sense of what was expectedof them and how their roles fit into thelarger organizational strategy, employee sat-isfaction, productivity and teamwork roseto levels that stunned even us.

What Does This Have to Do with Hillel?Hillel is not starting where College Sum-mit did. Far from it. Hillel is already a

mature organization that has undergoneremarkable growth and transformationover the past ten years. But as Hillel thinksthrough how to move to the next level,particularly with regard to engaging morestudents, it is valuable to examine themerits, and the limitations, of the SocialEntrepreneurship approach.

The parallels are compelling. Forexample:

• Both Hillel and organizations like Col-lege Summit seek culture change. CollegeSummit seeks to boost college atten-dance among low-income youth to thepoint where students are not asking eachother “Are you going to college?” but“Where are you going to college?” Simi-larly, Hillel is aiming to strengthen Jew-ish identity to the point where studentsare not asking “Is Judaism worth living?”but “How do you live your Judaism?”

• In the areas of both college access andJewish identity, it is tempting to startfrom student needs, and quicklybecome overwhelmed by the desire (orsense of responsibility) to satisfy themall. But that approach too often results,as described above, in programs for theeasiest-to-serve. It also engenders amaddening cycle — for professionalsand funders alike — of hope, frustra-tion, blame, resolve, exasperation andfinger-pointing all over again.

• In both cases, social entrepreneurship

brings a great deal to the enterprise.After all, entrepreneurship is about see-ing value where others don’t. Just asCollege Summit works because it seesvalue in low-income students that col-leges don’t see, can Hillel be the enginethat shows Jewish college students thetremendous value in Judaism that todaythey do not see?

But there are limitations to the model, too:

• First, organizations like College Summithad the luxury of choosing their targeted,strategic interventions because other pro-grams already existed that served low-income students. By contrast, Hillel hasboth the blessing and the responsibilityof being the locus of the entire Jewishcommunity’s expectations for services tocollege students. (If not us, who?)

• Second, college access has a built-inmeasure of success: college enrollment.We could count within eighteen monthsof College Summit’s engagement withstudents whether the students hadenrolled. By contrast, it is very difficultto agree on what success looks like vis-à-vis Jewish “intervention” in college.

What Hillel is Doing About ItTo wrestle with these questions, amongmany others, Hillel has begun a comprehen-sive, year-long strategic planning processinvolving all of our stakeholders and asmany college students as will talk to us.

Given the rapid changes over the lastgeneration both in Hillel and in the Jewishstudent population, towards what shouldHillel deploy its tremendous assets in orderto deliver for the future? In other words,what core problem is Hillel trying to solve?

How can Hillel gather the profound,varied wisdom of professionals, funders,advisors and students to determine themost strategic ways to maximize Jewishlife on campus?

What is success? And how will weknow whether we are on the right path toget there?

These are the types of questions thatwell-run businesses are very familiar with,and that nonprofits have begun to askthemselves both in order to run better andto compete more effectively before funderswho want to engender both communityand measurable results.

Stay tuned. Offer up your bestthoughts and ideas. Imagine with us whatnew progress Hillel might achieve in thenext decade. Hillel’s ability to answer thesequestions wisely may well make a signifi-cant difference for the Jewish future.

HILLEL IS AIMING TO STRENGTHEN JEWISH IDENTITY TO THE POINT WHERE STUDENTS ARE NOT ASKING

“IS JUDAISM WORTH LIVING?” BUT “HOW DO YOU LIVE YOUR JUDAISM?”

WINTER 2005 5

At the schools in our study, almost half of all Jewishstudents (45 percent)had taken at least one Jewish studiescourse by the timethey were seniors.

If you were walking on a college campus40 years ago and stopped to ask for direc-tions to the Jewish Studies Department,you would have been greeted with a

blank stare. A knowledgeable student mighthave told you that, aside from some Hebraistscholar in the Classics Department, no suchentity existed, although he might have kindlysteered you toward the yeshiva downtown. AsBrandeis University Professor Emeritus LeonJick noted in a recent lecture on the history ofJewish studies, “The entry of Jews in Americanuniversities as students was early, massive anddetermined. The entry of Jewish subject matterwas late, fragmentary and timid.” While Jewssaw the secular university as a ticket to eco-nomic and social success in America, they sawJewish learning as the province of seminaries,yeshivot, and Hebrew teachers colleges.

The landscape today is vastly different. Thepast few decades have seen a flourishing ofJewish studies. Boosted by the push for ethnicstudies in the 1960s and 1970s, Jewish studiesprograms have taken root and grown on cam-puses across the country. Schools are happy tohave these programs, which — in distinctionfrom Jewish clubs and organizations on cam-pus — directly serve a university’s academicgoals. Jewish studies programs round out auniversity’s course offerings, they serve largenumbers of students, and they help students

fulfill their course requirements. On manycampuses, Jewish studies programs offerdozens of courses a year that serve hundredsof students. While Hillel organizations andclubs are recognizable from a generation ago,the growth in Jewish studies represents a stun-ningly dramatic change on campus.

The PromiseOur recent research of Jewish life on collegecampuses (see sidebar) documented the sig-nificant numbers of Jewish students takingone or more Jewish studies courses duringtheir undergraduate careers. At the schools inour study, almost half of all Jewish students(45 percent) had taken at least one Jewishstudies course by the time they were seniors.Once students cross the threshold into a Jew-ish studies program, there is a good likeli-hood that they will take a second or even athird course. Indeed, half of those who delveinto Jewish studies follow this pattern.

Jewish studies courses manage to reachstudents who are otherwise untouched by for-mal Jewish life on campus. In our analysis welooked at three types of students: the “unen-gaged,” who have no involvement in Hillel orother Jewish-affiliated clubs; the “engaged,”who have at least some involvement, even ifonly minimal; and Jewish student “leaders.”We found that approximately one out of four

Amy L. Sales is Senior Research Associate at theCohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Bran-deis University and Director of the Fisher-BernsteinInstitute for Jewish Philanthropy and Leadership.Leonard Saxe is Professor of Social Policy andManagement at Brandeis University and Directorof the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies.

EngagingtheIntellect:Jewish Studies on the College Campus

by AMY L. SALES and LEONARD SAXE

“unengaged” students have taken at leastone course on a Jewish subject (Table 1).

It is true that the stronger a student’sJewish upbringing, the more likely s/he isto take a Jewish studies course. Nonethe-less, a fourth of those who were raised innon-Jewish or mixed households, of thosewho had minimal Jewish education grow-ing up, and of those who consider them-selves secular Jews find their way intothese courses.

Why do students who are otherwise notengaged by Jewish life find their way intoJewish studies courses? The principalanswer turns out to be pragmatic — to ful-fill course requirements. Schools today oftenrequire students to take at least one courseconcerned with women, minority groups ornon-Western cultures. Jewish studiescourses — even for Jewish students — fulfillthis requirement. Moreover, Jewish studiesprograms are, by nature, interdisciplinary,encompassing history, foreign languages, art,philosophy and even politics and sociology.Credits from a Jewish studies course, there-fore, may count toward other undergraduaterequirements. Enrollments are particularlyhigh in courses that not only fulfill require-ments but also have a campus-wide reputa-tion for their exciting content and teaching.

Pragmatic con-cerns are oftenaccompanied bysocial, emotionaland intellectualmotivations aswell. Among Jew-ish students, thereare clearly thosewho use Jewishstudies classes asa way to feedtheir curiosity, as

a corrective to their childhood Jewish edu-cation (or lack thereof), or as a safe spacefor self-exploration.

ChallengeIn terms of identity exploration and devel-opment, the academic purpose of thecourses cuts two ways. On the one hand, itis precisely the academic nature of thecourse and its perceived seriousness andobjectivity that create the safe environmentfor self-exploration. In the process of meet-ing requirements and learning to be criticalthinkers, students may also learn some-thing about themselves. On the other hand,Jewish studies — unlike Jewish educationalprograms at Hillel — cannot and do notfunction as identity-building groups.

Indeed, Jewish studies programs arelargely unconcerned with a student’s Jew-ish identity, religious beliefs or Jewishobservance. Rather, courses are offeredbecause of their intellectual value andtheir contribution to the university’s mis-sion. Faculty are selected for their schol-arly excellence — not for their own Jewishpractices or their ability to be role modelsto students on a Jewish journey. At oneelite institution, a key faculty member toldus that the Jewish studies program refuses

to be in the service of Jewish identity.“Our function is as critical scholars orteachers,” he said. For faculty, Jewish stud-ies is a matter of the head, not the heart.

Bottom LineThat said, what happens to students whotake these courses? Our data show thatcompared with their Jewish peers who donot take such courses, those who take Jew-ish studies courses have significantlyhigher levels of Judaic knowledge; theyplace significantly higher weight on Jewishvalues; and they report a significantlygreater connection to the Jewish people, agreater pride in being Jewish, and a greaterimportance of Judaism in their lives. It isdifficult to know how much of their Jew-ish knowledge, values and sentiments canbe attributed to college coursework orwhether these derive from other experi-ences (during or prior to college), but it isclear that there is a relationship.

The bottom line is that Jewish studieswon’t create Jews. For Jewish studentswith limited Judaic knowledge, it canserve to correct and augment childhoodlearning. It can enhance Jewish literacyand thus, indirectly, lower barriers to laterparticipation in other Jewish activities. Butit cannot create a sense of Jewish people-hood or a love of Torah or a sense of obli-gation to mitzvot. For students to achieveboth intellectual and emotional growth asJews, coordination is needed between for-mal and informal education, between fac-ulty and Hillel professionals, and betweenthe classroom and extracurricular clubs.The full potential of Jewish learning dur-ing the college years will happen onlywhen these elements work together andthe divide is bridged between knowledgebuilding and identity building.

Fifty years ago, Jewish college students were forced tocompete with one another forquota-limited slots at

many institutions of higher learning. Today, Jewish students areunfamiliar with any such discrimina-tion. Their assimilation into theAmerican college scene is complete.This current reality has engendereda new problem: How to supportJewish students in the developmentand expression of their ethnic-religious identity. Recentinterventions — from reshaped and reinvigorated Hillel chapters

to the birthright israel program —have served to reach out and toengage more Jewish students inJewish life.

To understand the nature ofJewish identity among young adults,researchers from Brandeis Universityhave been studying Jewish life onthe college campus. As part of thiseffort, we studied 20 colleges anduniversities with significant Jewishpopulations. Over 700 students andprofessionals (faculty, administra-tors, Hillel staff) were interviewedduring site visits. Surveys wereconducted with both Jewish and

non-Jewish students. Surveyrespondents included over 2,000Jewish undergraduates and an equalnumber of non-Jewish students.

Data from the study shed lighton both the promise and thechallenge of Jewish life on campus.What is clear is that the experiencesof Jewish students are notmonolithic, even at a single campus.Despite a plethora of programs,most young Jews are untouched byformal Jewish life during theircollege years. The results of thestudy will be available in 2005.— AMY L. SALES and LEONARD SAXE

STUDYING THE

STUDENTS6 CONTACT

Table 1: Engagement in Jewish Organizations and in Jewish Studies Courses

Relationship to Formal Percent Taking aJewish Organizations Jewish Studies Course

Unengaged 26%

Engaged 43%

Leader 61%

WINTER 2005 7

A Decade of

Jewish Campus Service Corps

by SIMON AMIEL

The 10th anniversary of Hillel's Steinhardt Jewish Campus Ser-vice Corps (JCSC) Fellowshipoffers an opportune moment to

reflect on the concept of Jewish engage-ment, the Fellowship’s growth and itsimpact to date. Created in 1994 under thevisionary leadership of Michael Steinhardt,Richard Joel, Rhoda Weisman and count-less others, the JCSC Fellowship wasestablished to reach and relate to the thou-sands of Jewish students on college cam-puses who were unlikely to seek outJewish experiences during their collegeyears and beyond. The strategy of activelyengaging Jewish students by meeting them“where they are” (physically as well asspiritually) and perhaps not expectingthem to actively participate in Jewish lifeon campus at any point is the raison d’etre

of the JCSC Fellowship.As the JCSC Fellowship approaches its

second decade, maximizing the engage-ment effort on campus has become moreurgent. With recent studies predicting thecontinued dissipation of the Jewish com-munity — as indicated, in large part, bythe lack of Jewish commitment by largenumbers of Jews on campus — Jewishcampus engagement is more central to Hil-lel’s agenda than ever before.

The first ten years of the Fellowshiphave provided us with a bounty of lessons.Some of the most important lessons are:1. Engagement is possible. When the Fel-lowship was first established, there wasdoubt as to whether engagement as a Hillelidea would actually work. Were thereenough students who would be open tobeing engaged? If we found them, could wedare imagine an enthusiastic response? Theanswer to these questions has been aresounding “yes.” We have seen a remark-able increase in Hillel’s participation levelssince the advent of the Fellowship. Asidefrom birthright israel, it is arguably the most

Simon Amiel is the Director of Hillel’s SteinhardtJewish Campus Service Corps and the Director ofProgram Professional Advancement for Hillel’s Schus-terman International Center in Washington, DC.

Rhoda Weisman Uziel contributed to this article.

Y E A R S

significant and successful engagement toolin the Jewish world.2. The most successful JCSC Fellowsbuild organic relationships with unin-volved Jewish students, introducing themto Jewish life premised on the biblicalphrase ba’asher hu sham — where he [orshe] is. These Fellows are engaging Jewishstudents on the students’ own terms. Theycreate partnerships with students to deter-mine what those terms are, based onactively listening to what motivates, pro-vokes and interests each individual. TheFellows then seek to connect these stu-dents to the most appropriate portal to theJewish community or, if it is not already inplace, to assist in its creation.

These portal connections mightinclude a theater student participating in aHillel production of a Neil Simon play, afraternity brother attending a Greeks-onlyShabbat dinner or a first-year student play-ing on the Hillel intramural ultimate Fris-bee team. But it cannot be emphasizedenough that most of these efforts, if theyare to be successful, are predicated on agenuine relationship between the Fellowand the student as well as on the conditionthat the student has entered the portal onhis or her own terms.

A related lesson is that JCSC Fellowswho build successful, organic student rela-tionships are able to do so effectivelybecause they are peer-to-peer. The JCSCFellows are no more than two years out ofcollege and more often than not share sim-ilar worldviews and interests as currentuniversity students. The proximity of bothage and life experience between a Fellowand student creates an almost instanta-neous level of trust and understanding.While peer relationships and professionalinexperience do not allow for most Fel-lows to offer spiritual guidance to stu-dents, he or she has these resources at

hand through the Hillel director or cam-pus/community rabbi.3. By partnering with their host universi-ties and campus student organizations,Hillels, primarily through their JCSC Fel-lows, have succeeded in “normalizing”Jewish experiences so that they becomepart and parcel of a student’s more typicalcampus experience. For a growing numberof students each year, participating in Jew-ish life is as normal as going to class, eat-ing dinner and studying in the library. 4. For the same reason that a Fortune500 company would not give full responsi-bility for its biggest client to its least expe-rienced professional, engagement shouldnot be placed squarely and solely on theshoulders of the JCSC Fellow. Nor shouldit be marginalized to a specific set of Hillelprograms. If engagement is the strategythat is most crucial to the future of theJewish community, it should inform everystep and every decision of all Hillel profes-sionals, lay volunteers and student leader-ship. Engagement must be the “frontletsbetween our eyes.” Over the past decade,this has been one of Hillel’s greatest chal-lenges as well as one of its greatest lessons.

The effect of the JCSC Fellowship onJewish campus life has clearly been enor-mous. Through its global engagementefforts, the Fellowship has helped create aparadigm shift over the last decade withinthe Hillel world. Hillels are no longer seenas the “centers” for Jewish life, a term thatimplies that students must experience Jew-ish life at a specific campus location inorder to be included. Hillels are now, andforever will be, “foundations” for Jewishcampus life. They are institutions fromwhich valuable Jewish experiences andrelationships become possible.

One success of the JCSC Fellowshipthat has little to do with students is theimpact of the program on the Fellows

themselves. There are nowhundreds of JCSC alumni,many of whom have gone onto additional years of profes-sional or lay service on behalfof the Jewish people.

Finally, the JCSC Fellow-ship has brought the idea andpractice of engagement to theforefront of Jewish communallife. It is not only Hillels butsynagogues, Federations,schools and community cen-ters that wrestle with reachingour Jewish constituencies inmeaningful ways. The JCSCFellowship has made engage-ment part of the vernacular of

many Jewish communities and contributesto the expanding philosophy of howengagement can inform strategy, evenamong the most traditional and historicJewish institutions.

As the Fellowship heads into its sec-ond decade, we look to become part of an“engagement revolution” on campusesaround the world. Hillel hopes to capital-ize on its successes with the Fellowshipand ensure that the engagement methodol-ogy is applied to all aspects of Jewish lifeon campus at all times, including pro-gramming, staffing, student leadership andphysical space.

We face a significant challenge inbuilding the capacity necessary to enablemost if not all Hillels to hire Fellows. Weface a significant challenge in guaranteeingthat those Fellows are given the necessarytools to succeed: effective supervision,strategic thinking skills, professional moti-vation and a Hillel staff, board and studentleadership that fully support engagementby ensuring that they do engagementthemselves. And we face a significant chal-lenge in ensuring that we do not get toocomfortable with our own success. Thereare far too many young Jews on campuswho have yet to connect to their Judaismin a way that is compelling, pertinent andrelevant to them.

We see Hillel Foundations with alter-native spaces on campus dedicated toengagement, much like the one at the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania. We see regionalengagement training centers, where localprofessionals go to their peers first forengagement training, as opposed to Hillel’sheadquarters. We see Hillel Directors andlay leaders championing the idea thatengagement is central to their success.

And we see stories — new, excitingand inspiring stories — of Jewish engage-ment and revitalization every day.

8 CONTACT

As the Fellowship

heads into its second

decade, we look to

become part of an

“engagement revolution”

on campuses around

the world.

Y E A R S

WINTER 2005 9

After my first visit to Hillel, I sworeI would never go back. It wasYom Kippur during my freshmanyear at the University of Pennsyl-

vania, and my roommate decided that Iwould attend services with her. I had grownup in a relatively secular home and had littleexperience with a formal synagogue setting,but I agreed to be dragged along. Within thefirst ten minutes of the service, I realized Iwas in way over my head. Feeling alienated,I decided that Jewish life on campus simplywasn’t for people like me.

That very well could have been theend of my story. Fortunately for me, itwasn’t. Although I made a point of avoid-ing Hillel, an enterprising Hillel profes-sional nonetheless continued to invite meto events that were happening around mydorm. And, when an event looked suffi-ciently non-intimidating, I might evenshow up. Nonetheless, I considered myselfto be “not really” part of the Jewish com-munity at Penn. I simply did not knowenough, and I wasn’t comfortable enoughin a Jewish setting.

Thus, when I was asked to participatein the Jewish Life Liaison program, Ithought they must have mixed me up withsomeone else. Known as the JiLLs, thisgroup of students served as a link betweenthe Jewish students in their dorms and thelarger Jewish community. Presented withthe opportunity to apply, I looked dumblyat the Hillel professional with whom I wasspeaking: “Are you sure you mean me?”But, I was assured, I could be a JiLL. All Iwould have to do is plan fun and engagingevents in my dorm that would help create

a Jewish community beyond the walls ofthe Hillel building. Perhaps it wouldinclude hosting a Shabbat dinner in thedorm, or maybe just offering movie nightsand snacks. Plus, I would get to attendweekly meetings that would help methrough the process and teach me all the“Jewish stuff” I would need to know.Although I was doubtful, it sounded likefun, and I signed on to be a JiLL.

The year that followed was transforma-tive for my Jewish identity. I quickly grewto love the weekly JiLL meetings, whichwere not only fun but provided informa-tion about Judaism I had never known.The network of other JiLLs quicklybecame my personal Jewish community.But the most rewarding aspect of being aJiLL was the programs that I created. Iplanned events that varied from a hike inthe woods to a lecture by a Jewish authorin my dorm. I planned a Passover dessertparty and a Hanukah latke party. Theseevents put me in contact with tons ofother people like me — people who wereglad to have an outlet for their Jewishidentity, but who simply weren’t sure thatHillel was the right forum for them.

As my year as a JiLL drew to a closeand I realized how much it had done tofoster my Jewish identity, I knew that Icouldn’t let it end at being a JiLL. Idecided to become involved in the Hillelcommunity to help create spaces withinHillel for people like me. By the time Igraduated, I was the President of the HillelExecutive Board — not bad for someonewho originally felt that Hillel was “tooJewish” for her! But, even more important,the JiLL program gave me the vocabularyand confidence to ask for more Jewishknowledge. With the help of some amaz-ing teachers, I set out on a quest to fill inthe gaps in my Jewish knowledge. On my

21st birthday I celebrated a bat mitzvah inthe library at Penn Hillel. The Hillel com-munity that gathered around me on thatfestive occasion underscored the amazingdistance that I had traveled since my fresh-man year. Hillel's JiLL program had trans-formed me from someone who foundHillel to be scary and who felt “not Jewishenough” to someone who had ownershipand pride in her own Jewish identity.

I haven’t forgotten how I felt before Ihad the opportunity to become a JiLL, andthis knowledge shaped the year followingmy graduation, in which I became the Dop-pelt Steinhardt Jewish Campus ServiceCorps (JCSC) fellow at Northwestern Uni-versity’s Hillel. Among my other responsibil-ities as a JCSC, I had the opportunity tostart a Jewish Life Liaison program at North-western, known as JAC (the Jewish ActivityCorps). Without a doubt, working with theJACs was the most fulfilling part of my yearat Northwestern. I watched as they hosteddozens of programs in their residence hallsand connected with their fellow students toform a Jewish community beyond the wallsof the Hillel building. But, even more, I sawthe transformative nature of the program asI watched each student in the JAC programgrow into his or her own Jewish identity.

And as for me, although I am no longerformally affiliated with Hillel, or with aJAC or JiLL program, I find that the lessonsI learned there continue to shape my Jew-ish identity. Now that I have the tools tocraft my own Jewish life, I will never againfeel “not Jewish enough.” I will continue tostrive to share that sense of communityand acceptance that I learned from being aJiLL. But, above all, every time I light Shab-bat candles, I feel grateful that I wasoffered the opportunity to participate in theJiLL program, and thus take the very firststep on my own Jewish journey.

Katherine Jorgensen spent the 2000-2001 schoolyear as a Jewish Life Liaison at the University ofPennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. inAmerican History at The Johns Hopkins University.

JAC & JiLL...and Me

by KATHERINE JORGENSEN

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10 CONTACT

Imet Michelle during my freshman yearof college. She had recently transferredto the University of Massachusetts,Amherst from Syracuse University,

where she had been a musical theatremajor. We first ran into each other at audi-tions for the UMass Theatre Guild’s pro-duction of Tommy and instantly becamefriends. Soon after we met, we decided toaudition for Kolot, the Jewish a cappellagroup on campus. Michelle was acceptedinto the a cappella group (and, surpris-ingly, so was I), and at that moment,Michelle embarked on a life-changing Jew-ish journey. She had grown up in an inter-faith home. Her parents were both musicteachers, and since Michelle and herbrother shared their parents’ musical tal-ents, the family religion was essentiallymusic. Within the same year that Michellejoined Kolot, she started to learn aboutJewish music and culture, she becameinvolved in Hillel and she traveled to Israelon a campus-based trip. Upon graduatingfrom college, Michelle spent a year inIsrael on Project Otzma. When shereturned from Israel, she spent a summer

facilitating the Jewish arts as a SpielbergFellow at a California summer camp andthen worked in the Jewish community fortwo years. Although it’s impossible toknow all the factors that affected Michelle’s journey, it is undeniable thatMichelle is a Jewish engagement successstory. Moreover, I believe that Michelle is aJewish arts success story. Michelle’s storydoesn’t stand alone. While in college, anumber of my peers who were looking fora place to sing auditioned for Kolot. This,in turn, started them on their personalJewish journeys.

Arts have the ability to form and buildcommunity, to develop and strengthenidentity and to transmit powerful stories.It seems only natural that the arts can dothe same for the Jewish community and,more so, for Jewish students on campus.While the Jewish community continues to search for ways to strengthen collegestudents’ Jewish identities and Jewish connections, the arts remain an underusedtool in accomplishing these goals. Collegeis a place for exploration, reflection andcultural exchange. For many students, it is in college that they first enter a jazz bar, see a ballet, watch a foreign film anddiscuss their new experiences with others.

Art is relevant to the lives of college stu-dents. If the Jewish community wishes toappeal to students on their terms, artshould be seen and used as a significanttool for connecting Jewish students to Jewish life on campus.

Like all art, the possibilities of defin-ing, creating and using Jewish art are lim-itless. It can be created by a Jewish person,inspired by a Jewish theme or story orcontain a Jewish message. Jewish art canbe historical or contemporary. The limit-less nature of the Jewish arts extends intothe range of possible experiences andmedia that can be used to transmit art.Film, dance, visual art, music, writing,theatre and photography are just a fewmeans of Jewish artistic expression.Because of their relevance to the lives andlifestyles of students, Jewish arts have theability to inspire profound connections toJudaism on campus.

The Jewish arts, in one form oranother, have been used on college cam-puses for many years. Jewish a cappellaand theatre groups have increasinglybecome the norm on college campuses.Student photography has been showcasedfrom birthright israel trips and alternativespring-break trips; Jewish student galleries

Shira Hutt is Associate Program Officer at JewishLife Network/Steinhardt Foundation.

ArtfulEngagement

by SHIRA HUTT

By exploring the vast

potential of Jewish arts

on campus and beyond,

the possibilities of engaging

more young adults in

Jewish life are endless.

WINTER 2005 11

have been created for students to presenttheir visual art work; and Jewish filmscreenings and discussions have beenestablished to encourage students toexplore issues of Jewish identity andmeaning. In the last couple years, Hillel asa whole has been exploring its relationshipto the arts and, in turn, raising moreawareness among the professional Hillelcommunity about the centrality and poten-tial of the arts in the experiences of Jewishstudents on campus. In addition, organiza-tions such as Avoda Arts were born out ofthe need and opportunity to use the arts astools for strengthening the Jewish commu-nity. Avoda Arts has emerged as a strongforce in the effort to develop and advocatefor the Jewish arts on campuses. Last year,Avoda Arts and the Bronfman Center atNew York University cosponsored the NewYork International Jewish Student FilmFestival, for which they received 100 sub-missions from students throughout NorthAmerica and Israel. Eight films selected aswinners were screened in a theatre indowntown New York City, and the win-ning filmmakers were given unique oppor-tunities in networking and skilldevelopment. The film festival was devel-oped with the understanding that the pro-

gram had the potential to draw the interestof Jewish film students in New York City,North America, and from other parts ofthe world. The work and interests of thesestudent filmmakers were then leveraged toengage other artists and art appreciatorsthrough the film screenings. Other organi-zations such as JDub Records andStorahtelling, along with a number of Jew-ish performers and artists, have sought outopportunities to share their Jewish art withJewish college students.

These represent significant steps in theright direction, but unfortunately theorganized Jewish community has not ade-quately embraced such initiatives. For allthe right reasons, the Jewish communitysupports a number of organizations thatfocus on political activities, social changeand community service. These, along withseveral Israel-based organizations thatfocus on college campuses, are necessary tostrengthen Jewish life in America. The Jew-ish arts, however, represent another criticalpiece of the puzzle. Jewish art is relevant. Itappeals to college students in a way thatcan impact their future connection toJudaism and the Jewish community. If theJewish community neglects to see that Jew-ish art and culture can strengthen Jewish

life as effectively as other issues and activi-ties, then we are doing a huge disservice tothe future of Judaism in America.

By exploring the vast potential of Jew-ish arts on campus and beyond, the possi-bilities of engaging more young adults inJewish life are endless. Just as Michellefound her Jewish connection throughmusic, other students and young adultsare seeking both artistic outlets and Jewishconnections. Providing more opportunitiesto student artists like Michelle can have aprofound impact on the lives of manyother individuals, the general Jewish stu-dent community and the greater universitycommunity. With the awareness and sup-port of the organized Jewish community,Jewish arts and culture can transform theJewish community by providing a strong,relevant and exciting entry point to Jewishlife that has only begun to be tapped in itspotential. Among other things, Judaism isa culture that has produced and celebratedart throughout history. Art is central to ourcivilization. It is the foundation for howwe celebrate life as well as strugglethrough our challenges. Art should there-fore become one of the primary tools forexposing and engaging students in theirJewish experience.

12 CONTACT

Israel on Campus:Getting

Personalby LISA EISEN

Apartheid walls. Mock checkpoints.Divestment conferences. Intimida-tion by anti-Israel faculty. Barriersto Israel study abroad.

By most accounts, it would appear thatIsrael serves primarily as a lightning rod anddivisive force on college campuses today.Indeed, the intensification of anti-Israel activ-ity on North American campuses has provenchallenging to Jewish college students and tothe professionals and organizations that servethem. Yet, more than street theatrics and anti-Israel rhetoric, the greatest challenge lies inengaging the silent majority of Jewish stu-dents with Israel. Far too many students lackthe knowledge or confidence to speak out,are ambivalent about Israel and the role itplays in their Jewish identity or see Israel astoo controversial to become involved.

How can we utilize the same dynamicthat makes Israel such a hot topic on campusto capture the attention of these students andengage them in personally meaningful andenriching ways?

Recent experience shows that Israel canbe a galvanizing force for Jewish college stu-dents, unleashing their creativity, passion andpersonal engagement. Israel can serve notonly as a focal point of advocacy to mobilizecommitted students, but also as a vehicle toengage many unaffiliated students with theirJewish heritage and to provide them with abase for further Jewish exploration.

Our community is beginning to connectpreviously unengaged students to Israel byredefining the paradigm for Israel educationand advocacy to one of personalization andcustomization. A one-size-fits-all approachsimply does not work with an internet gener-ation that processes information and definesitself with increasing specificity. Long goneare the days when Israel advocacy meantcounter-protests and mass flyering. Ratherthan reflexive reactivity and sweeping mes-

sages, students are pro-actively seizing theagenda and shaping approaches that engageother students in the most personal of ways.Many of today’s cutting-edge Israel programsare highly individualized and tailored toreflect the unique interests of each student.

Student initiatives, such as Israel aca-demic journals, music and film projects, andstudent-faculty study programs, are flourish-ing because they inspire self-expression, per-sonal investment and, inevitably, greaterresonance with the student population. Partic-ularly effective approaches are those thatempower students to tell their own personalstories about Israel, that provide vehicles forpeer-to-peer conversations about Israel or thatoffer outlets for students’ extracurricular andprofessional interests. AIPAC, Israel at Heart,Hillel, AE and others are pioneering person-alized peer-to-peer Israel education and advo-cacy that engage Jewish students emotionallyand intellectually and enable them to exploreIsrael’s complexity in approachable ways.

Axiomatic to the need to personalizeIsrael engagement is the need to ensure thatthe unique voices of Jewish students areheard and valued. Universities are places forquestioning and experimentation, and wemust encourage our students to wrestle withtheir individual Jewish identities and Israel’splace within them. Fostering personal dia-logue and a safe space for students to expresstheir questions and concerns is particularly

important for students who feel conflictedabout Israel. We cannot afford to disenfran-chise Jewish students whose views may notbe in accord with Israel government policy,be they from the political left or right, at atime when Israel is being vilified internation-ally and on campus. That is why it is so significant that nearly 30 national organi-zations, representing the full ideological,political and religious spectrum, are workingtogether through the Israel on CampusCoalition (ICC) to provide programs,resources and a multiplicity of gateways forstudents to become involved with Israel. It isincumbent upon our community not only towelcome and embrace these diverse studentperspectives, but also to model and facilitatecivil and respectful discourse, and even col-laboration, among people of divergent views.

Without question, the most powerfultool for personally connecting young peopleto Israel and engaging them Jewishly is first-hand experience in the Jewish State. Here,the impact of birthright israel has been trans-formative, as evidenced by the results of sev-eral evaluation studies conducted by theCohen Center at Brandeis University. Inaddition to providing students with a mean-ingful, personal introduction to the country,birthright’s real genius has been in its abilityto use Israel as the spark to ignite the dor-mant Jewish identities of thousands of unaf-filiated young Jews and to launch them on a

Lisa Eisen is Program Director of the Charles andLynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Chair ofthe Israel on Campus Coalition.

WINTER 2005 13

Two thousand students across an entire college campussimultaneously eat Shabbat dinner. Scores of well-dressed Jewish students flow out of buses parked onWall Street to lunch with senior Jewish executives.

Hundreds of Jewish students sprawl on Penn’s CollegeGreen and wrap two thousand peanut butter and jelly sand-wiches for the hungry. These types of activities are common-place for Jewish Heritage Programs (JHP), a grassrootsorganization that has spread to thirteen college campuseson the eastern seaboard. JHP achieves such impact by lever-aging the power of Jewish social networks.

JHP functions by identifying Jewish social leaders,known as interns, and providing them with the infrastructureto plan and execute Jewish-themed programming for theirpeers. Organizational action is channeled through communityservice, mentoring, social activities and Jewish educationalinitiatives. JHP’s repeatedly successful events are attributa-ble not solely to the group’s effective management and cre-ative programming, but also to the sheer number of socialleaders rallying behind every JHP endeavor.

For example, JHP at Penn recently ran its annual ShabbatFor 2000. In week one, JHP interns began recruiting studentsaround campus to host Shabbat dinners for their social groups.In week two, JHP interns met for pizza and scrolled throughtheir cell phones to recruit every possible Jewish student toparticipate in the event. In week three, the recruited studentsattended Shabbat educational classes taught by JHP interns.The next week, students picked up pre-cooked Shabbat meals,candlesticks, “How to Shabbat” booklets, and wine, and asdusk settled in, over 2000 students observed Shabbat. Whilenot downplaying the significant planning that went into thisevent, Shabbat For 2000’s ultimate success hinged on the pow-erful social networks leveraged by JHP interns.

Shabbat For 2000, as well as many other JHP events,brings to mind a remark made in 1963 by Dr. Martin LutherKing, Jr. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutu-ality.” Today, through hosting Jewish socials, facilitatingShabbat dinners and organizing community-wide serviceprojects, JHP interns are enabling groups of Jewish collegestudents to recognize their mutuality rooted in a sacred her-itage. JHP is infusing Jewish life into Dr. King’s words.

As a senior looking back upon my JHP college years, Ihave seen firsthand the power of JHP’s social network. Ijoined JHP as a Freshman because I had a crush on a niceJewish girl. I have met a hundred nice Jewish girls. I joinedJHP with my best friend from high school. We have formedenduring friendships with many other Jewish students. Inow know how powerful the Jewish network can be when itis channeled toward meaningful action.

Joe Shapiro is a Lead Intern of Jewish Heritage Programs and a gradu-ating Senior at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

JEWISH HERITAGE PROGRAMS:THE POWER OF NETWORKSby JOE SHAPIRO

Jewish journey that will hopefully lasta lifetime. Today, the leadership ranksof Hillel and other Jewish and pro-Israel student organizations are filledwith birthright alumni. Our commu-nity must commit itself to ensuringthat this well-proven program is avail-able to as many students as possiblefor years to come.

In addition, an array of missions toIsrael specially designed for collegestudents with interests including artsand culture, business, communityservice and advocacy have used Israelas a tool for individual enrichment.They have also helped develop a cadreof pro-Israel campus activists who areamong the most informed, strategicand dedicated Israel advocates ourcampuses have ever seen. By defini-tion, long-term study programs inIsrael are even more valuable inenabling students to connect withIsrael on their own terms and in culti-vating lifelong advocates for Israel. Yet,the number of young people studyingin Israel has dropped 75 percent since2000, due in large part to university-imposed obstacles and outright banson Israel study. The ICC recentlylaunched a “Let Our Students Go”campaign to ensure that our commu-nity is no longer denied one of its

greatest strategic assets on campus dueto barriers to Israel study abroad. Stu-dents who have studied for a semesteror a year in Israel return with a per-sonal passion and nuanced under-standing of Israel that they arecommitted to sharing with theirfriends, classmates and professors.

But why are we waiting until col-lege to engage students with Israel?The impact of our work could beimmeasurably magnified, and the needfor such intensive assistance to thecampus mitigated considerably, if onlyour community would invest earlier inensuring that our young peopledevelop a personal relationship withIsrael. A negligible percentage of Jew-ish students enter college having beento Israel, and the vast majority —including day school students — havehad little formal Israel education,much less Israel advocacy training. Wemust start early in encouraging stu-dents to explore freely the role ofIsrael in their lives. A number of nas-cent and promising high school initia-tives are underway, and we mustmultiply their number and theirimpact. Equally important is linkingthese initiatives and their participantsto pro-Israel campus institutions tofacilitate a much more seamless hand-off of high school students and toensure that we are not starting from“aleph” when students enter college.

Personalized, tailored outreach.Proactive, positive programming. Mul-tiple gateways and approaches. First-hand experience in Israel. Without adoubt, it requires a greater investmentof time, staff and resources to engageour young people with Israel in thesehighly personalized and meaningfulways. But it is an investment that willpay handsome dividends for our cam-puses, our communities and for thefuture of clal Yisrael.

How can we utilize the same

dynamic that makes Israel

such a hot topic on campus to

capture the attention of these

students and engage them in

personally meaningful and

enriching ways?

14 CONTACT

It’s one thing to read about commu-nity change. It’s a completely differ-ent matter to be a part of it. Thatwas one of the reasons I joined 30

other college students during my springbreak last year to volunteer with the Hil-lel/KESHER/spark Alternative SpringBreak (ASB) program in the small, pri-marily African-American, low-incomecommunity of Utica, Mississippi. Eversince I was a little girl, my family hasinstilled in me the belief that commu-nity service and social justice activismare critical components of being a Jew.My grandparents fondly described themarches for civil rights in the 1960s. Myparents told me stories about protestingnuclear power in the 1970s. I’ve alwayswanted to live up to their example. Solast year I decided to step out of myelite, bubble-like college to see whatpoverty in the Deep South was really allabout, and to try to make a small differ-ence, even if only for a week.

Our team of volunteers was drawnfrom states all over the country —Texas, California, Wisconsin, Massachu-setts and more. Most of us were alreadyhooked on Judaism and on tikkun olam.Many of us taught Sunday School orHebrew School. We participated in com-munity service on campus and with Hil-lel or KESHER. We gave tzedakah. Butwe did all this within the comfort of ourclosed, tightly-knit Jewish networks orcollege communities. For the most part,we weren’t hitting the streets workingfor social justice with the multi-ethnicmembers of our local inner cities.Instead, we would sit at tables in ourcampus centers, collecting money to

help their causes. The Alternative SpringBreak last February gave us a chance tostep out of our comfort zones.

That spring break trip was the firsttime I’d ever been in the South, andthe heat, emptiness and poverty wereoverwhelming. After a long drive ondirt roads past beaten down shacksand mobile-homes with yards out frontand laundry blowing in the wind, wearrived at the URJ Henry S. JacobsCamp, an oasis of Jewish life. Over thenext few days, the Henry S. JacobsCamp would become a site for spiri-tual exploration and textual discovery— through prayers, Jewish sing-a-longsessions along the waterfront, medita-tion, Israeli dance and group learning.As a Conservative Jew, this was thefirst time I had ever attended Reformservices, and the music was inspiring. Iloved the melodies and the commen-tary in the siddur. In the evenings, Ispent hours debating Jewish theologyand politics with one of the ReformJews in our group. It was the begin-ning of a fantastic friendship, and eventhough he’s currently studying inIsrael, we still keep in touch.

During the week that we were inUtica, our team of student volunteersworked with a civic organization calledthe Friends of Utica, which hadreceived a Housing and Urban Devel-opment grant to convert a desertedshirt factory into a community centerwith social services. Some of our vol-unteers also spent time cleaning upand repairing an old concession standin a community park, making the areasafer for neighborhood kids. Othersplanted trees, flowers and plants in thecenter of town, literally bringing newlife and energy to the city center. My

Leora Maccabee is a Senior studying Politicaland Economic Justice at Amherst College.

Spring Break in the

DeepSouthby LEORA MACCABEE

Ever since I was a little girl,my family has instilled in me thebelief that community service andsocial justice activism are criticalcomponents of being a Jew.

WINTER 2005 15

strongest memories are from our work onthe old factory.

Armed with paint cans, hammers,scrapers, weed-whackers, brooms andscrewdrivers, we led an all-out assault onthat building, tearing down entire woodenwalls, scraping up old floor tiles, and tear-ing down pipes, lights and boards from theceiling. Outside, we weed-whacked alongthe edges of the building and repainted thewhite trim, plastering each other withhandprints as we went. Taking a break atlunchtime, we compared our tans, whichwe’d acquired through hard work in thesun, and laughed about how they would bemuch more interesting than those of ourfriends who were spending their springbreaks sunning by the beaches in Mexico.

As college students, we rarely get theopportunity to do the kind of work thatbuilds and shapes things. Our summerjobs are often at desks in windowlessoffices. It was amazing to feel the sun onour backs as we lifted boards and metalgratings, cleaning up the factory. Thephysical exertion helped us feel connectedwith the work we were doing. And as wesat on the roof in the sun, scraping pebbles

out of drainage pipes and singing everysong we could remember from plays likeChorus Line, Fame and Hair, we knew thatwe were a part of something greater andmore beautiful than we had ever imagined.

During that week of volunteering, wemet many individuals from the Utica com-munity who were committed to making adifference. The mayor of the town joinedlocal builders and construction workers tolabor alongside us in the dusty factory. Themayor talked to us about his past, his fam-ily and the community, and he charmed usby knowing something about every one ofour hometowns. When we planted treesand flowers in the center of town, childrenfrom the community stopped by, and uponlearning what we were doing, joined us tovolunteer for the afternoon.

I would have liked to have done morework side-by-side with community mem-bers, whether on the factory or in beautify-ing the town. But after talking to themayor and other representatives from theFriends of Utica, it became clear that wewere intended to be catalysts for change inthe community. Our alternative springbreak was designed to motivate the com-

munity’s own involvement in those proj-ects in the upcoming months. Our initialboost of volunteerism will hopefully leadto many more months of volunteer workfrom the town’s residents. As a result, theFriends of Utica hope that the communitycenter will open within two years.

Looking back on a week filled with somany experiences of friendship, spiritualexploration and physical labor, one mes-sage sticks out. We spent our lunchtimeand rest breaks discussing Judaism andcommunity service. One of the many passages that we studied was Hillel’s observation, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now,when?” It’s so easy for college studentsand working adults alike to look at ourbusy schedules and say, “not now.” Butthere are many things that we can do tohelp repair our communities, even withthe little bit of time that we have to spare.Let us all be catalysts of change in ourown communities this year. “It is not yourresponsibility to finish the work [of per-fecting the world], but neither are you freeto desist from it” (Pirket Avot: 2:16).

jewish life network/steinhardt foundationhome vision programs journal about usjewish life network/steinhardt foundation

home vision programs journal about us

jewish life network/steinhardt foundationhome vision programs journal about us

Please see our website, which includes information on the programscreated and supported by Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation,as well as past and current issues of Contact.

www.jewishlife.org

jewish life network/steinhardt foundation

home vision programs journal about us

jewish life network/steinhardt foundation

Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation6 East 39th Street, 10th FloorNew York, NY 10016212 279 2288info@jewishlife.org

home vision programs journal about us

Our philanthropy seeks to revitalizeJewish identity through educational,religious and culturalinitiatives that reachout to all Jews, with an emphasis on thosewho are on the margins of Jewish life.

Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation

was founded in 1994 by Michael H. Steinhardt to

strengthen and transform American Jewish life so

that it may flourish in a fully integrated, free society.

Our philanthropy seeks to revitalize Jewish identity through

educational, religious and cultural initiatives that reach out to

all Jews, with an emphasis on those who are on the margins

of Jewish life.

The long-term goal of Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt

Foundation is the emergence of a thriving, dynamic and

creative Jewish community whose contributions to American

culture are informed and inspired by distinctive Jewish values

that are fully compatible with life in the open society.

Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation6 East 39th Street10th floorNew York, NY 10016

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