 With students finally back on campus, this semester we launched our first-ever Social Impact Series in order to foster new opportunities for Jewish and non-Jewish students to work together and to make a difference right here in Tempe.
The goals of this initiative are multi-faceted. First, our goal is to empower student leaders, like Zach Bell, to follow his passion for Tikkun Olam (repair the world) and to create unique opportunities for ASU students to pursue social action from a Jewish lens. Second, our hope is that Hillel students will get to know students from different faith backgrounds in a much deeper and more meaningful way by volunteering together to create a more fair and equitable society. For example, during MLK Jr. Week of Remembrance and Action, Jewish students worked alongside students from the Muslim Student Association making bookmarks for the local United Way. Third, our goal is to integrate Hillel more seamlessly into the broader university community by introducing students to unique opportunities on campus they might not have known about otherwise. This happens through partnerships like the one we’ve built with Changemaker Central, the ASU Arboretum, and the ASU Art Museum this spring. One of the coolest opportunities this semester was creating an out-of-the-box “Freedom Shabbat” at the ASU Art Museum. Given that Shabbat is all about celebrating our spiritual and physical freedom, we partnered with the museum to learn about the art and history of mass incarceration by interspersing prayers, songs, and silent meditation while we viewed different art installations on this important topic. This 360-degree experiential prayer service was followed by a powerful first-person testimonial delivered by Reverend Rock Fremont, a Christian minister who has worked Arizona’s death row. Fourth, we want to illustrate that Judaism is not limited to the walls of Hillel or any other Jewish institution. This series is meant to encourage students to integrate their secular interests and their Jewish values in a way that brings more visibility and pride to the Jewish community. Just last week, during Purim, our students packaged over 200 meals to deliver to those in need in the surrounding Tempe community. By focusing on the tradition of matanot l’evyonim, giving charity to the poor, on the Shabbat right after Purim, we enabled students to see that Purim can both be fun and meaningful. We can dress up, let loose, and make the world a better place at the same time! Last but not least, these projects were created as a way to foster more camaraderie and understanding between students from different faith backgrounds. We hope this will act as a kick-start for our students’ interest long-term in relational work to create a more peaceful and pluralistic society. While many students traverse down Palm Walk, a staple path on campus, on a daily basis, they never stop to think about the beautiful date palms growing right above them. Therefore, we partnered with the ASU Arboretum to create an Interfaith Palm Tree Project in which Jewish, Christian, B’hai, Muslim, and Hindu students worked together to preserve date pollen so that we can harvest the dates again this fall, just in time for the high holidays. We ended the afternoon over snacks while discussing the religious significance of the palm tree from our different faith traditions. We are thrilled with the outcome of these programs; they allow our Jewish community to come together and continue to build stronger relationships across campus. The projects encourage students to spend time outdoors and allow them to experience their campus and faith communities in new ways. Through all that we do, our students are gaining the tools to understand what it means to be a Jewish citizen in the world. They can recognize that social change starts with relationship building and while that can take time, it is worth it!  The Social Impact Series began as an effort to bring different religious groups together. C3 (Campus Christian Center) is next door to Hillel yet we haven’t had many recent opportunities to collaborate. This series has allowed us to learn about one another as religious individuals and as organizations. I appreciated being at the Palm Tree event with representation from every major faith! It was a moving experience to have meaningful conversations at Freedom Shabbat as we looked deeper into incarceration and its relationship with religion.
I hope that the Social Impact Series can continue to grow and be a platform to engage in conversations to ease disagreements between faith groups. We can create a more united ASU community and build allies who truly understand one another. I am grateful to Hillel at ASU for helping to expose me to new people from different backgrounds.
It had been a VERY long time since we hosted a huge social gathering and we wanted to bring as many people within our community together as possible before the end of the semester. We are thrilled to have successfully hosted our largest event in Hillel at ASU history with over 200 students in attendance at our Food Truck Fest.
By creating this low-barrier social opportunity, we were able to bring an incredibly diverse group of students to Hillel to just enjoy being together. Our staff personally texted an invite to nearly 800 students, we raffled off prizes to students who brought friends, and ran an entire social media campaign to help spread the word. We had students from nearly every social sphere including music, Greek life, athletics, social justice, Israel education, and advocacy, as well as many non-Jewish students who are an integral part of our community. Unfortunately, there were antisemitic fliers found on campus just days before the event. While the Food Truck Fest took weeks of intentional planning, it wasn’t initially meant to be a community-building opportunity so soon after our students experienced antisemitic acts on campus, but it succeeded in doing so. Our students were appreciative of the safe space we provided where they could celebrate their Jewish identities and be with their friends. This event was immensely popular with students, as you can tell from our overwhelming attendance, and we’ve heard from students that it re-solidified their love for Hillel. It was an integral part of building back our presence on campus as we’ve seen a full return from COVID and created a spike in attendance for all our programs, including Shabbat.
Every week Hillel at ASU hosts a Shabbat experience, complete with services and a free meal, for all students. We create opportunities for those in attendance to connect with their Hillel community and different groups across campus through collaborative efforts led by our student leaders. Earlier this month we partnered with Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) and Alpha Epsilon Phi (AEPhi), the Jewish fraternity and sorority on campus, to host Shabbat in the Hillel parking lot. They both worked with our staff to offer a unique ‘camp-style’ service for those in attendance. Everyone then came together for an Italian-inspired dinner catered by Hillel at ASU alum Chef Amber Sampson. We were thrilled to welcome both Greek chapters, especially the over 20 students who joined us for the first time at Hillel.
“Hillel helped establish AEPhi at ASU and the partnership between the two is still strong today. It was so fun for AEPhi to host Shabbat with ASU Hillel! Most of our chapter members were able to attend which provided a great reminder of how impactful the relationship between AEPhi and Hillel can be. The sisters of AEPhi know that if they ever need anything, from chapter development to personal development, the Hillel staff and community are always there for us. I have no doubt that the important relationship between Hillel and AEPhi will continue to grow and flourish for years to come.” - Bella Schneider ‘23 “AEPi had a great time cosponsoring Shabbat with Hillel. Having the opportunity to gather our brothers for a Shabbat experience with other members of the ASU Jewish community in a COVID safe way was amazing. Hillel has always been supportive of our brotherhood, helping us grow and strengthen our organization, and we’re always excited for the opportunity to continue partnering with Hillel to create social and educational programs. I am grateful to be a member of AEPi and that Hillel is invested in us as an organization and as individuals.” -Ian Lockwood ‘22 |
FOLLOW US!Supported by the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix
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