2009-10 FIRST TERM PROGRAMMING REPORT

PROUD OF OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

The first term of the 2009-10 academic year saw Vancouver Hillel solidify the successes that has been realized in recent years. Anticipation is building as students watch the stunning new Hillel House: The Diamond Foundation Centre for Jewish Campus Life rise from the site of our old hut!

As we launch into the final term before we move into this monumental new facility, preparations are underway for significant advancements in the way programs are delivered to reflect the changed reality of this dramatic new operations and programming centre. The summer period will obviously be the prime period of adaptation and preparation for what is nothing short of a new epoch in the life of the organization. But contingencies and preparations have already been in process for months. Details will be forthcoming for future Board meetings.

Hillel – Jewish Continuity

Though a means, not an end, “continuity” has been a guiding force of Jewish civilization since ancient times. The necessity of ensuring the continuation of Jewish peoplehood and Jewish values -- and, through these, to share those characteristics collectively designated “a light unto the nations” or “the gifts of the Jews” -- has been an individual and collective priority, especially since the beginning of the Diaspora in the first century CE.

In contemporary contexts, continuity means ensuring that Jewish young people have the opportunity to explore this ancient heritage and the values and rituals that accompany it. For almost a century, Hillel has been at the forefront of continuity, engaging and empowering Jewish students on university campuses. This role has become more, not less, significant as old threats -- discrimination and exclusion -- have given way to contemporary threats – intimidation, demonization of Israel and Jews, intermarriage and assimilation.

Of the various Jewish values that are diminished during the process of assimilation, dedication to learning seems to be the last to succumb. An estimated 85% of Jewish young people attend a post-secondary institution, making campus the most fruitful place to connect unaffiliated Jews with the opportunity to experience the richness of our traditions and the unqualified best investment in ensuring Jewish continuity. 

We estimate Hillel is reaching out to 70% of the young Jewish Millennial Generation that did not have any formal Jewish education (religious, historical or cultural) by the time they reach university.

Hillel has traditionally encouraged students to explore Jewishness on their own terms, through whatever methods appeal to them. Our vision is to create a Hillel student population that is ‘distinctively Jewish and universally human’! To provide and validate Jewish students’ multiple windows of self-identity and enrich their lives with the understanding and expectation that they will simultaneously contribute to the Jewish people and the world!

Whether imbuing environmental activism with a Jewish perspective, participating in the arts through Jewish media or articulating Jewish values of tikkun olam through volunteering in Africa, Hillel encourages students to interpret their Jewishness individually.

This report provides an overview of the Vancouver Hillel student programming and advocacy achievements of the past term and the plans for the coming term. These achievements meet Hillel’s vision and mission goals for our students and the successes we are achieving, one student at a time, in building Jewish leaders of tomorrow and ensuring Jewish continuity!

Hillel Programming Highlights

In addition to the regular Hillel programming and advocacy activities that create an annual framework for our student-centred activities (detailed below), staff would like to draw Board members’ attention to several particularly exciting achievements …

Israel Advocacy continues to play a central and galvanizing force in Hillel activities. At all three campuses, standing up for Israel against continuing onslaughts of misinformation and propaganda is building confident, young Jewish leaders. The atmosphere on each campus differs substantially, with challenges at UBC and UVic being met magnificently by seasoned and new campus Israel advocates and with SFU presenting a second eerily quiet year in terms of anti-Israel campus activity.

Hillel's Young Jewish Urbanites (HYJU) continues to successfully engage a large network of Metro Vancouver Jewish young adults through social and professional development opportunities. Recent events included the "traditional" Christmas Eve Jewish Chinese dinner, a pub night and participation in the hugely successful Israeli entrepreneurship event in conjunction with UBC's Israel Awareness Club. Upcoming events include speed-dating and a number of tikkun olam events that combine social activities with social good. For example, plans are for an ice skating event to which participants bring winter clothing items for donation to Downtown Eastside agencies. The Urbanites continue to be a model of sustainable programming, with the ideal of participant-led program planning executed on a cost-recovery basis.

The centrality of Jewish identity programming is an area of emphasis determined by our national campus partners. The range of engaging Jewish identity programming is not only building stronger identification among young Jews to their peoplehood, but is also enhancing Vancouver Hillel’s already superb working relationships with many rabbis and community agencies.

The traditionally Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, continues to experience exponential growth. The chapter is expanding not only through an increase in pledged brothers, but also by reaching out to Jewish men at the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University, which this year ended its prohibition on fraternity recruitment on that campus. AEPi continues to be an absolute backbone of every aspect of Hillel programming, providing leadership and volunteer support for every Hillel program, while enhancing the development of a generation of civically minded young Jewish men dedicated to tzedakah and tikkun olam.

Recognizing the values and benefits provided to Hillel and its students by the success of AEPi, a sister organization has been established for young Jewish women, called the Greek Chai Honour Society, a sisterhood welcoming young Jewish women from every sorority on campus. Initial establishment suggests this group could become as central to the success of Hillel as is AEPi.

Vancouver Hillel students on our three campuses continue to provide leadership to the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students. Not only are more B.C. students participating in more national leadership opportunities, our students are now being invited as presenters at conferences for emerging campuses in other provinces.

 A new student organization at UBC, launched by an active (non-Jewish) Hillel student, with the assistance of Vancouver Hillel students and staff is called Change for Change. The club describes itself as a grassroots organization intended to use spare change (from a cup of coffee, a donut, or just spare change) from UBC students to purchase brand new textbooks for students (elementary, secondary or post-secondary) in African countries such as Northern Uganda and South Sudan (to name a few). Change for Change UBC will also pick up used textbooks from students that are outdated in order to ship them to schools in Africa, as well as collecting textbooks for exchange at UBC Buyback, with revenue going to charities specializing in helping schools in Africa.

Recent Hillel alumni continue to achieve leadership positions in the Jewish community and elsewhere. A few of the many alumni who have filled positions are: Jeff Bradshaw, former Hillel SFU Director is currently the Director of Community Planning for the Ottawa Jewish Federation; Yael Amit, former Program Director for Hillel UBC is currently an Assistant Director of the American Jewish Committee in New York; and the newly appointed regional director of the Canada-Israel Committee is UVic Hillel alumni Daniel Schloss.

Hillel Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

Nonprofit organizations in general, but campus-based groups in particular, have constant challenges maintaining institutional memory and continuity over successive years. The situation this year is that UBC Hillel has a strong, exemplary team of student leaders, many of whom are in second and third year, meaning that many of the current leaders will remain active to initiate succeeding “generations” of student leaders.

At SFU, the graduation of the inaugural “class” of Hillel student leaders last year has been ameliorated by the arrival of several mature young leaders who will be in position for at least another year, but the development of continuity in leadership remains a foremost challenge. We are confident that another cadre of student leaders will develop within a short time propelling Hillel SFU to new heights. We are also proud that one of our two club presidents from this year is now preparing to make aliyah this summer.

The leadership continuity challenge for next year is most significant at UVic, where the majority of the most active student leaders are expected to graduate after this term; however, we are actively working with current student leaders in mentoring first and second year students.

To confront this ongoing challenge on a systematic basis, Vancouver Hillel is initiating a program intended to take first- and second- (and, in exceptional circumstances, third-) year students from all three campuses and create an inter-campus cadre of young leaders groomed to rise into leadership positions in Jewish identity and Israel advocacy programming. More details on this plan will be forthcoming, but the creation of what we envision as a mutually supportive, self-sustaining and tightly knit group of students from all campuses is to begin with a conference/social bonding weekend event titled “Preparation H.”

 An itemized overview of Vancouver Hillel’s programming achievements of the past term and plans for the current term follows.

 Regularly scheduled events continued last term, including:

• Welcome Back BBQs and other September events on all campuses
• Fourth Annual Welcome Back Party at Enigma
• Hillel attendance, volunteers and visibility at CJA Campaign Launch
• Student participation in CJA telethon
• Very successful clubs days on all campuses
• Monthly Talmudic ethics classes with Rabbi Baitelman
• Practical financial management classes with local Jewish businessmen
• Shabbat Dinners on all three campuses
• Regular weekly lunches on all three campuses
• Change for Change Club – a Student leadership initiative at Hillel UBC. This unique club collects pocket change from students on campus to purchase used textbooks for students in Africa, started by a Hillel student.
• Screenings of popular Israeli movies to educate Jewish and non-Jewish students
• Israel advocacy clubs /Jewish Students' Association board meetings on all three campuses
• Hebrew classes
• PUB night at Kollel
• AEPi Salsa Dancing Lessons at Hillel
• Weekly Hillel jogs around the UBC campus
• Weekly Hillel visits to the local UBC fitness facility
• Imagine UBC – (Showcase of Hillel activities on campus with thousands of passersby)
• Pizza & Parsha with Rabbi Shmulik
• Sukkah Decorating
• Israel Awareness Tabling
• Representatives of the Hebrew U, Tel-Aviv U and MASA, offering advice on educational opportunities in Israel
• Hillel student participation in the annual Kristallnacht Memorial Lecture evening

Special Events that took place last term included:

• What can Israel do for you? A presentation by Liane Sela, the Aliyah Shlicha of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Canada
• UVIC Hillel hosting all three campuses for beginning of year IAC training conference (60 student leaders)
• Public screening of the Alan Dershowitz film "The Case for Israel."
• A new, regular Israel Current Events discussion and education series
• Special UVIC IAC movie nights
• UVIC Basketball team – called ISRAELITES
• UVIC Sukkot celebrations with Rabbi Kaplan
• UVIC Sushi Shabbat dinner called MISO HUNGRY
• UVIC Ice skating events
• Hugely successful Alpha Epsilon Pi (Jewish Fraternity) Party - which drew a crowd of over 900 students
• A visit from Sammy Katz, Canadian Campus Coordinator for Hasbara Fellowships
• UVIC Hillel dinner inviting ALL campus clubs to participate
• Second annual community memorial for the late former prime minister Yitzchak Rabin
• UVIC FEAST in the Middle East event
• Ongoing series on Jewish law with Rabbi Avraham Feigelstock
• Writing workshop for effective advocacy
• Israeli Entrepreneurship event featuring leading Israeli-Canadian entrepreneurs Amos Michelson and Gal J. Smolar
• An emotionally powerful, massively well-attended community vigil for Gilad Shalit, with community partners, at the JCC
• UVIC Hilleloween (Halloween) event
• Fundraising events for the Israeli charity Save a Child’s Heart
• Very active engagement of Hillel students with the Canada-Israel Committee’s BUYcott campaign, especially centred around the effort to counter an attempted boycott of Mountain Equipment Coop
• In addition to massive student involvement in the organization and execution of the annual Hillel gala, students organized and attended a speaking engagement by UN Watch Director Hillel Neuer at UBC

Planned Second Term Programming includes the following regular annual events:

• PB and J-a-thon with Ismaili Students Association
• Holocaust Awareness Week
• Arabic and Hebrew class taught at Hillel emphasizing phonetic and cultural similarities in a friendly apolitical environment
• Israel Week (iFest!)
• Ongoing Olympic event viewings in the Hillel lounge throughout the weeks of the Olympics
• Save-a-Child's Heart Foundation fundraiser
• UVIC Hillel panel with doctors, lawyers and rabbis discussing Jewish ethics
• Assisting with managing Birtright Program - ensuring students visit Israel
• Promoting and assisting students with traveling to Israel on specialized programs – Hasbara, MASA and any other program in Israel that students wish to attend.
• Interfaith Shabbat Dinner
• Classes on public speaking
• Classes on writing newspaper articles

Special Events already underway or lined up for this term include:

• Tu B'Shvat Shabbat Dinner featuring JNF Shaliach Micky Goldwein
• Tu B'Shvat UVIC Shabbat Dinner with Rabbi Kaplan
• Lecture and screening of “The Forgotten Refugees” at Uvic and UBC by Regina Waldman, a Jewish woman expelled from Libya at age 16.
• Introduction to Photoshop, a beginner class for students wanting to learn the basics or enhance their knowledge of this powerful image editing tool.
• Continuation of Basic finance class with an Introduction to Investments with Aeronn Zlotnik
• Visit to UBC, SFU and UVIC by Noam Bedein, Director of the Sderot Media Centre in Israel
• Large AEPi delegation of students attending Western Regional conference in San Diego for professional development and networking
• Timeless Wisdom for Timely Issues, a six-part series on Talmudic ethics with Rabbi Baitelman
• Hillel Havadalla Pub night downtown to let Hillel students relax after midterms and get to know each other better
• Kosher Wine Tasting event

This report is presented with great pride, not only in the achievements of our organization and our staff, but most significantly in the exceptional young leaders we have been honoured to help form.

Without the dedication and support of engaged, enthusiastic and supportive Board members, and the incalculable generosity of spirit from hundreds of members of our community, none of these achievements would be possible.

 We welcome your feedback and advice.

 Todah rabah … Thank you!

Eyal Lichtmann, Executive Director

Vancouver Hillel Foundation

Box 43, Student Union Building, UBC

Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

E-mail: eyal@vancouverhillel.ca

Phone: 604-224-4748

Cell: 604-220-6321

Fax: 604-224-2512

www.vancouverhillel.ca