Samuel Cohen is the Engagement Associate at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University. He recently attended this year's Hillel Institute that convenes Hillel professionals and college students from around the world. The conference is supplemented with a variety of trainings, including New Professionals Institute, New Directors Institute and a student training component. 

Imagine a week-long conference for 400 people whose full-time profession is to meet new people each day, listen to their life stories and share their own love of Judaism. This is the Hillel Institute: an exuberant annual gathering for Hillel staff members to celebrate, share and rejuvenate their work. The result of this conglomeration of professionally jovial personalities is a truly unique conference.  

I knew this conference would be different when I received the packing list: “Wear casual summer clothes—shorts, t-shirts, jeans” it read. “Do not bring suits, ties or dress shirts.” This admonition was heeded by the majority of the conference participants; even new Hillel president Eric Fingerhut could be seen at breakfast in slacks and flip flops.

Hosted at Washington University in St. Louis, Institute participants were asked to choose two “Majors” and one “Minor” to study for the week. Staff attended the first half of the week and student engagement interns attended the second half, with an evening of overlap. I chose to double major in Jewish Professional Development and in Engagement and minored in “Being a Data-Driven Organization.” Additionally, having just started working for Hillel three weeks ago, I and 55 other newbies attended a day-long training session on how to be a new Hillel employee. Taught by Hillel staff and experts from the Schusterman International Center, sessions covered topics especially pertinent to our work, including how to be interested and not interesting, methods for building Jewish texts into engagement conversations and how to set and evaluate goals for the unquantifiable mission of enriching lives.

Not unlike college, I learned just as much outside the classroom as I did inside the classroom. By meeting with other Hillel staff members, I could ask questions like: What works on your campus? What have you already tried and what are you concocting for next year? I was amazed to see how even though campus structure and personality differs widely across Hillel’s 550 American locations, there is a typical “Hillel personality” in staff members, namely energetic, positive and dedicated. This made every conversation both enjoyable and educational, just like a good Hillel relationship should be. Mr. Fingerhut’s induction ceremony and grin-filled arrival in the Hillel community was a central focus of the week. “Be my teacher,” Mr. Fingerhut requested during his rousing keynote address, having shared that true leadership comes from both teaching and being taught. Listening to Mr. Fingerhut, I embraced his vision of Hillel as a movement, a dynamic project, a living experiment with profound impact. I am hopeful that he will maintain the same electricity and energy in Hillel as he did in the crowd.

I “graduated” from Hillel Institute with Mr. Fingerhut’s conviction still ringing in my ears: Through the Hillel movement, we can cultivate a pluralistic Jewish future. After all, as Mr. Fingerhut stated, “we are doing the most important job in the Jewish world—maybe even the world.”

For four years, many American Jews will be in college. After they graduate, they will spread out to the four corners of the globe and raise families in a wide variety of locations, observance levels and styles. But for those four years, the future of the Jewish people lives together, learns together and grows together on campus. With its focus on education and relationship-building without any ulterior agenda, Hillel is the organization best suited to support and empower college students in their Jewish journey. I am proud to be a part of that process.

The Schusterman Philanthropic Network is proud to empower emerging leaders to explore their values, identity and new ways to strengthen their communities. We believe that as we work together to repair the world, it is important to share our diverse experiences and perspectives along the way. We encourage the expression of personal thoughts and reflections here on the Schusterman blog. Each post reflects solely the opinion of its author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Foundation, its partner organizations or all program participants.