Back to school

Did you benefit from your campus Hillel experience?

Do you now live in Northern New Jersey?

Did you attend one of the four colleges served by the Hillel of Northern New Jersey?

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If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Hillel committee of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey wants your help.

“The people we know who were involved with Hillel have such great memories,” says committee co-chair Howard Chernin. “I’d love to bring all those people together, so Rabbi Allen can talk to them and they can all talk to the students. We would love to get people involved with Hillel activities and events.”

Chernin himself was not involved with Jewish life when he was a student at Fairleigh Dickinson; he is not certain whether there even was a Hillel there. As he moved his daughter into Tulane University last week, however, he was impressed by Hillel’s presence at the New Orleans school.

“We need to look at our program and see how we can improve it,” he said.

Co-chair Lauri Bader also sent her children to campuses with a larger Jewish campus presence.

“There were a lot of Jewish kids, lots of choices, Hillel and Chabad, plus there were so many Jewish kids that they didn’t necessarily need programs,” she said.

“On our campuses here in Northern New Jersey, there are not a lot of Jewish kids, and no other programs. Hillel is it. If you want to be connected to other Jewish kids and be doing Jewish things, Hillel is the only way to go,” she said.

To join the Hillel committee, or to find out how to get involved, contact Rabbi Ely Allen at (201) 820-3905 or ElyA@jfnnj.org.