The Hillel Foundation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has had an exciting fall semester.
The more than 40 students involved as leaders, interns, and board members strive to help make sure that the 5,000 Jewish students on the UW campus knew that Hillel is their “home away from home.”
Hillel hosts 25 active student groups, making sure that all students can get involved and find a niche on campus. One is UW Hillel’s chapter of Challah for Hunger, part of a national organization that bakes and sells challah and to raise money for hunger relief. This semester, students in this group have expanded their volunteer base, increased production, and are developing a new education curriculum.
Bringing the arts to the UW Hillel community is Hillel’s own Jewop, UW-Madison’s only Jewish a cappella singing group. It is a co-ed group with 16 full time members.
Their performances included the Parent’s Weekend “Badger Bash” and the UW-Madison Center for Jewish Studies 20th anniversary celebration. The group will head to Washington, D.C. in February to compete in a national Jewish a capella concert.
This past semester Hillel also hosted a seven-week, eight-team basketball league, the first of its kind in UW Hillel’s history.
Israel programming at UW-Madison has been due in large part to the hard work of the student leaders from the Israel education and advocacy coalition of MadPac and the Israeli Cultural Experience (ICE).
UW Hillel is leading a Birthright trip Jan. 8-19, where 40 students will get to experience Israel together.
Students also took part in a Spirituality Seminar this semester — a five-week series modeled on the Ayeka program, written by Aryeh Ben David, which combines text study, journaling and deep conversation.
UW Hillel sent seven students to the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Denver in November. These seven student leaders brought their experience from the GA back to the Hillel community by leading the final student leadership meeting of the semester.
This article was created and provided by staff members at the Hillel Foundation University of Wisconsin in Madison.
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