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2021-2022 Highlights

Shabbat Dinners and Jewish Holiday Programs

In September, students enjoyed special Shabbat dinners to celebrate the Yom Tovim (holidays). During one Shabbat, we welcomed Jewish faculty and campus administrators to join with the students to get to know one another and enjoy the symbols of the high holy days (apples and honey, pomegranate seeds, new fruits, and much more.) As with every year, right after Yom Kippur, staff, and students came together to build our Sukkah in the backyard of the Hillel House to get ready for our celebration of the "Festival of Booths." Our students enjoyed multiple opportunities to learn about the holiday of Sukkot. Rabbi Shaya Bernstein from Chabad of SJSU co-hosted our "Sukkot & Ciders" event where students learned about the Four Species (Arba Minim) of Lulav, Etrog, Myrtle and Willow, and the mitzvah of hospitality (hachnasat orchim). Rabbi Shaya led the group in a Jeopardy-style game of Sukkot trivia and students tasted apple ciders and ate a festive meal. We welcomed students, alumni, and board members for our annual Sukkot Shabbat. Rabbi Ilana Baird and our staff taught more about the Sukkot rituals and we offered our ideas on who (living or dead) we would like to welcome to our sukkah. We concluded our Sukkot programming with "Pizza in the Hut". Of course, when we come to celebrate, we love to dance! We closed out the Fall with an abundance of Chanukah programs. Together with Chabad and campus faculty and administrators we lit the menorah on the campuses of SJSU and SCU on two different nights. Students learned how to make latkes and sufganiyot for our Chanukah Shabbat. A group of students went to Jewish Heritage Night at the Warriors game and helped to light the menorah as part of pre-game activities at the Chase Center. We hosted a breakfast at a lake to celebrate Tu B'Shevat. Students conducted a short Tu B'shevat seder and learned about mindfulness and the importance of reconnecting with nature.  Our Passover programming included a Passover Seder for the Jewish Law School Association at SCU and the Last Night of Passover Seder Shabbat Dinner on Friday, April 22. Our Passover programming concluded with a Mimouna celebration, the post-Passover celebration of friendship, brotherhood, and unity that is observed in Moroccan Jewish communities that begins at the end of Passover.    Our annual Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) observance featured Holocaust survivor George Elbaum at the at Mosaic Cross Cultural Center. We partnered with Club Z, the Consulate General of Israel, and Students Supporting Israel at SJSU on an inspirational program. We honored the memory of the Six Million through prayer, poetry, and a song led by students from SJSU, Club Z, and Cantor Leah Shafritz of San Jose's Temple Emanu-El. After the commemoration, we walked together to the Martin L. King, Jr. Library for the last opportunity to view the Beyond Duty exhibit before it closed.   In addition to the event at SJSU, students, faculty, and staff at SCU joined together for their own Yom Hashoah commemoration.   At the last Shabbat dinner of the school year, we hosted our students for Graduation ShabbatShehecheyanu and Debbie Friedman's L'chi Lach (Go Forth). We concluded our Spring Israel programs with our annual Yom HaZikaron observance (Israel’s fallen soldiers and terror victims remembrance day), and Yom HaAtzma'ut (Israel Independence Day).

Jewish Programming

In the Fall, we recruited a cohort of seven students to come together for four sessions to watch and discuss the four-part Israeli miniseries “The New Jew”. At our final session, the group met with the series creator Moshe Samuels and its star, popular Israeli comedian Guri Alfi. We had an animated discussion, including highly insightful questions dealing with Israelis' views of Americans, the diversity of American Jewish life, and the future of Jewish life in Israel and the United States.  We started the Spring semester by focusing on Jewish Heritage Month (JHM) at Foothill College and the holiday of Tu B’shevat. We partnered with Foothill on two of their JHM programs toward the end of January. The first event was a tree-planting ceremony to observe Tu B'Shevat. The other event Hillel planned with them was an observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day with Holocaust survivor Gabriella Karin. A highlight of the Spring Semester was the display of the Beyond Duty Exhibit throughout the month of April at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose. Community members came out in strong numbers to view the exhibit dedicated to righteous diplomats who saved Jews during the Holocaust. To inaugurate the exhibit, our top-level donors joined together with faculty and administrators from SJSU, as well as diplomatic representatives from consulates of Chile, China, Germany, Brazil, and Italy which are countries of origin of five of the righteous diplomats featured in the Beyond Duty Exhibit. Also participating in speaking at the event were Shlomi Kofman, Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Stephen Perez, Interim President of SJSU, Carrie Zeidman, President of the Board of Hillel SV, Sarita Bronstein, Executive Director, and Jasmine Haner from the Students Supporting Israel Club at SJSU. The featured keynote speaker was Manli Ho, the daughter of Chinese diplomat rescuer Dr. Feng Shan Ho who is one of the diplomats represented in the Beyond Duty Exhibit.

Israel Programming

In October, our Israel Fellow, Amit Hasson, led the first in a series of "Speaking with Impact workshops.” Amit used the skills learned in her military service to offer practical tools to convey persuasive messaging and effective communication. Amit taught students about the use of verbal and non-verbal messages, body language, and developing rapport. Students understood that these are all important skills in their daily lives, at school, in the community, and when they speak about Israel with others.   In November, the Students Supporting Israel clubs at both SJSU and SCU co-sponsored a panel discussion by members of Sharaka, an organization dedicated to deepening ties and building bridges between young Israelis and Arabs. The panel's local tour was arranged by the Consulate General of Israel for the Pacific Northwest. The delegation consisted of Israeli Jews, Druze, and Muslims, as well as peace activists from Syria, Morocco, and the UAE. They discussed the historical importance of the Abraham Accords for the future prosperity of the region and how they are hoping to turn their vision of peace into a reality.    We offered an outstanding lineup of scholars, educators, and speakers for our 7-session signature Israel Learning Fellowship Program. The programs and speakers included:  For this semester’s Book Club, the group read “The Lies They Tell” by Tuvia Tenenbom. The author joined the group for the last Book Club session of the year.    For Valentine’s Day, the students of Hillel SV and Students Supporting Israel at SJSU held a bake sale on campus with proceeds from the cookies sold being donated to Save A Child's Heart, an Israeli NGO that provides cardiac care to children in need around the world.

L'Dor V'Dor 2022

In February, our community gathered virtually to watch L’Dor V’Dor 2022, our annual fundraising event. Some of our students gathered at the Hillel House for a watch party.   The event was viewed by over 300 individuals, including many community members who are new to our Hillel. The event featured a micro-documentary that gave viewers insight into our students' trying experience combating the anti-Israel resolutions last spring. The keynote speaker for the event was Radio Personality John Rothmann who delivered a passionate and powerful message that “Anti-Zionism is nothing more than a mask for modern antisemitism, Jew-hatred pure and simple."

Raising Awareness About Antisemitism and Improving Campus Climate

Because of the encouragement from Hillel SV, Foothill-De Anza Community College District’s Chancellor Judy Miner recommended that the District Board of Trustees adopt a resolution denouncing antisemitism. In February, the Governing Board voted unanimously to adopt Chancellor Miner’s Resolution Condemning Antisemitism. It was reassuring that the district has committed to integrating antisemitism work within the district’s broader commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.   In addition to our Executive Director’s efforts in working with the Community College District, she established a close working relationship with De Anza College’s Faculty Director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education. One result of this relationship was the creation of multiple programs to encourage greater learning and exploration. The program topics were:   Community Forum Panel on Defining Anti-Semitism featuring representatives from the National Jewish Advocacy Center and The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law Community Forum Panel on Protecting Freedom of Expression on Campus in the Face of Intolerant Behavior with Representatives from AMCHA Initiative Film Screening of "Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus" Discussion Co-Moderated by Dr. Tabia Lee and Dr. Ron Kleinman of De Anza College  Community Forum Panel – Intersectional Identities: Diverse Student Voices from the Jewish Community   Hillel of Silicon Valley has been leading a concerted effort to raise awareness with administrators at the schools we serve about the increase in antisemitism and the harassment and intimidation Jewish students have been subjected to endure. We will continue to collaborate in every way possible with our campuses’ administrators to create a campus climate in which Jewish students will feel comfortable expressing their identities and values. We will continue to educate our students and the campus communities we serve about the richness of Jewish life, our heritage, and Israel. We will also stand firm to advocate for equal and adequate protection for Jewish students from discriminatory, bullying, and harassing behavior that threatens their safety or prevents their full participation in campus life.

As we approach the end of our fiscal year on June 30, we hope we can count on you to support our work to connect Jewish students with Jewish life and Israel, if you haven’t already. With inflation and rising costs, it’s more expensive than ever to run our program. If you can, we’d be exceptionally grateful if you’d consider increasing your gift this year. And if you have already donated this year, thank you again!

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