Hillel leaders in Rhode Island reflect on past year and look ahead to new initiatives

As a new school year unfolds in Rhode Island, campus Hillels are reflecting on the turbulent year behind them and taking stock of the ways in which Jewish life on college campuses continues to thrive.

On Oct. 29, Hillel directors from Rhode Island colleges and universities gathered virtually with the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island to reflect on a year of growth and challenges and share their aspirations for the upcoming school year. The Zoom meeting gave community leaders a chance to hear from directors of Hillels at Brown RISD, Bryant University and the University of Rhode Island (URI). The gathering highlighted the progress and resilience within Rhode Island’s Jewish student communities.

Rabbi Josh Bolton, executive director of Brown RISD Hillel, cited the significant growth in Jewish life at Brown and RISD in recent years. “Over the past three or four years, the number of students coming from Jewish day schools to join Brown and RISD has grown in a really exponential way,” he said. “The university has built kosher dining in the main food halls; the largest Shabbat minyan is the Orthodox minyan.”

“You know, the past year has been very difficult,” he acknowledged. “It has been, as I know [...] my colleagues in Rhode Island know, it's been kind of all-hands-on-deck, really deep strategic thinking required, a lot of crisis management.”

But that does little to dull Jewish life on campus, argues Bolton. “The fact of the matter is,” he added, “from a very visible perspective, or a very visible metric, Jewish life has been growing on campus.”

Rabbi Steven Jablow, Hillel director at Bryant University, spoke passionately about the unique experience of Jewish students on his campus, which he witnesses directly as the director of Campus Ministry. “As odd as it might be when you hear only the negative stuff in the media, [...] Jewish life at Bryant is really thriving,” Jablow said.

Jablow’s position as director of Campus Ministry is a unique one. “In the great majority of our campuses across the country,” he explained, the position is “usually [...] held by a Christian minister or priest. But as the rabbi on campus who’s also here, the only chaplain who’s here full time, it gives an opportunity for full-time engagement with the Jewish community, as well as the entire community.”

Jablow described a recent day on campus that underscored the sense of belonging Hillel fosters. “Just down the hall from the room that I’m in right now, there are eight students hanging out,” he said. “There was a chemical leak in the other building, and [...] classes were canceled. There’s no danger, no huge risk, but classes got canceled, and all of a sudden there were eight kids who are Hillel members hanging out in the campus ministry office. Of those eight, five are first-year students. The engagement is really what has me very excited. The students are getting actively involved in leadership roles, in creating new programming, and saying, ‘Why don’t we do this?’ To which my response is, ‘Why don’t you help me make that happen?’”

Amy Olson, director of URI Hillel, also expressed her enthusiasm for new initiatives on her campus, particularly an upcoming interfaith “Friendsgiving” event. “One of the things that we’re excited about this year is a student has really come on board to champion an interfaith Friendsgiving program that we’re working with the Chaplains Association,” Olson explained. “She’s putting together a team of students to do a program the week before Thanksgiving, kind of a potluck-type of thing that we received a grant from Hillel International for interfaith programming to do.”

In addition to Friendsgiving, URI Hillel has introduced community service opportunities through its service engagement interns. “We have a team of students who are serving as service engagement interns,” said Olson. “Each of them [...] have picked community service projects that they’re working on throughout the year. Sometimes they’re working with Jewish students, and other times they’re just working with organizations in town, providing meals to the homeless, doing environmental work – things that really speak to them.”

Olson highlighted a particularly meaningful collaboration with Repair the Sea, a Jewish environmental organization. “We joined with one of the URI alums from a few years ago who’s now working for Repair the Sea,” she explained. “They spearhead the Reverse Tashlich program around Rosh Hashanah [...] instead of throwing things, throwing their sins into the water – to gather up garbage that’s on the beach and take it away from the water.”

Stephanie Hague, chief strategy officer at the Jewish Alliance, shared a personal connection to Hillel, adding warmth to the discussion about its role in building connections. “I actually met my husband at Hillel during our time at NYU,” she recalled with a smile. “Hillel has always been a powerful force for connection, not only in religious or cultural terms but in lifelong friendships and even families.”

As the meeting concluded, participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to connect and learn from one another. The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island looks forward to supporting the state's Hillels in the year ahead, uniting in their mission to foster a vibrant, welcoming Jewish community across Rhode Island’s college campuses.

EMMA NEWBERY (enewbery@jewishallianceri.org) is a staff writer and podcast host for Jewish Rhode Island.