Rutgers Hillel
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Rutgers Hillel is an independently-governed affiliate of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, the largest Jewish campus organization in the world. It serves the Jewish student community on the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus of Rutgers University.
Rutgers has the 4th largest Jewish population of any campus in the United States. According to published estimates there are 5,500 Jewish students in residence at the New Brunswick-Piscataway campus of Rutgers—4,500 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students, out of a total of approximately 28,000 undergaduates and 7,500 graduates students.
Rutgers Hillel was founded in 1943, and has had several locations since that time. The current Hillel facility is at 93 College Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey on the College Avenue Campus. It is a former residence, leased from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary.
On October 17, 2006, the New Jersey Jewish News reported that Rutgers Hillel purchased property for a new facility. The parcel of land is located on the corner of George Street and Bishop Place, directly across from the Route 18 off ramp. It is considered a gateway to the Rutgers College Campus. Currently the location of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, the site is easily accessible from both College Avenue and Route 18.
Preliminary plans call for a new three-story facility of approximately 35,000 square feet on the 27,000 square foot lot (nearly ⅔ of an acre). The planned Rutgers Hillel will be of similar size to other newly-constructed Hillels at similar sized post-secondary institutions, such as Boston University, the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania.
The reported announcement begins a $15 million capital and endowment campaign that will finance Hillel’s new state-of-the-art facility to be built in the next two-three years.
Rutgers Hillel is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federations of Central NJ, Greater Middlesex, Greater Monmouth, Princeton, Southern NJ, Somerset, Hunterdon, Warren, UJA-Northern NJ, and UJC-MetroWest.
The mission of Rutgers Hillel is to create opportunities for all Jewish students to deepen their connection to Jewish identity and community at Rutgers University’s New Brunswick/Piscataway campus.
The mission statement of Hillel globally is "to enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. Hillel is dedicated to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all Jewish college students, where they are encouraged to grow intellectually, spiritually and socially. Hillel helps students find a balance in being distinctively Jewish and universally human by encouraging them to pursue tzedek (social justice), tikkun olam (repairing the world) and Jewish learning, and to support Israel and global Jewish peoplehood. Hillel is committed to excellence, innovation, accountability and results."
All students are welcome at Hillel and no membership is required.
[edit] Staff
The following individuals staff the Rutgers Hillel for the 2006-2007 academic year:
- Andrew Getraer, Executive Director
- Rabbi Esther Reed, Associate Director for Jewish Campus Life
- Jamie Shiffman, Associate Director of New Initiatives
- Erik Kessler, Development Director
- Rabbi Ori Melamed, JLI Director
- Lea Melamed, JLI Educator
- Melissa Loeffler, JCSC Fellow
- Laurie Zinberg, Office Manager
- Shelee Saal, Jewish Student Leadership Coordinator
- Noah Arnow, Rabbinic Intern
- Corie Guberman, Social Work Intern
[edit] See also
- Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
- Rutgers University
- Rutgers University student organizations
