We start-off this week by introducing you to Hillel International.
Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally. Hillel is represented at more than 550 colleges and communities throughout North America and globally, including 30 communities in the former Soviet Union, nine in Israel, and five in South America. The organization is named after Hillel the Elder, a Jewish sage who moved from Babylonia to Judea in the 1st century and is known for his formulation of the Golden Rule – Do onto others as you would do onto yourself. Hillel International’s mission is “enriching the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world” through its on-campus network. More than 800 colleges and universities are connected to a local Hillel community that serves as a faith community, Jewish educational resource, social network and a place to develop leadership and professional skills. Hillel uses what it calls a relationship-based model to engage students in need of a community.
Currently, Shalom Corps has three ongoing partnerships with Hillel – Minsk, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. While Hillel Minsk was our partner for our Heritage project, restoring heritage sites in Belarus, Hillel Buenos Aires and Hillel Rio are our partners for our local initiative, implementing our Virtual After School project. We are very happy to be working together in so many locations and we hope to expand our collaborations in the future.
