New Hillel Milwaukee director values safety, community

Forgive him: He’s also a Yankees fan

Students kept giving police a friendly wave, but the officers didn’t know anything about them, said Steven Resnick, who was the director of Jewish student life at Florida International University from 2022 to 2026. 

“Whether it was a police officer directing traffic or just walking by in the student union, our students would oftentimes wave, and give them like a quick greeting, or, “hey, what’s up,” and they didn’t realize it was our students,” said Resnick, recalling the specifics from his time at the Florida school. 

Now, police and Jewish students at FIU are more likely to know one another, thanks to a program Resnick created at the school, he said. He’s thinking about bringing programs like that and more to Wisconsin, in his new role as executive director of Hillel Milwaukee. He started in May. 

Resnick leads Hillel Milwaukee in the years after encampments and some aggressive pro-Palestinian activism roiled the campus. Resnick said he thinks safety is paramount, it’s important to him to create a welcoming space, and he wants to strongly connect the community with Hillel Milwaukee.  

“It’s really important that Jewish students feel safe, and I think part of that is knowing who they can go to, knowing who the officers are, what they stand for and that they really want to make sure every student on their campus feels safe,” Resnick said, referring to his police-student program in Florida that included lunch together.  

He said the sense of community provided by Hillel is important, and he wants to build on what already exists in Milwaukee. “It doesn’t matter if you are a commuter student and live at home or if you come from afar and you’re living in a dorm – college is like a great place to find people with like the same interests … and the similar backgrounds, and I think Hillel really provides that opportunity for Jewish students to find each other,” he said. 

He also said he wants to weave Hillel Milwaukee more with the fabric of Jewish Milwaukee. In Florida, he was also involved in connecting with those outside the Jewish community, as when he served on the school’s homecoming committee and on the executive board for a multi-faith council. 

Resnick is a serious sports fan, raised to be a Yankee fan. “My dad, when he was young and lived in the Bronx, he’d sit on his rooftop to watch games,” Resnick said. If you want an opinion on one of America’s sports teams, ask Resnik. He may have an answer. 

And if you’re a student at Hillel Milwaukee, be sure to inform your new executive director that Chronicle research has definitely determined that the Milwaukee Brewers are way better than the New York Yankees.