Dear fellow members of Harvard’s Jewish community,

I hope my message finds you, and those you love, well.

The two most cherished Jewish holidays - Yom Kippur and Passover - crisply contrast in their visions of Jewish community. On Yom Kippur we gather by the hundreds - in synagogues and theaters and rented halls - to be moved by a liturgy that plumbs the depths of our individual souls. Our intuitions are those of our Rabbis of blessed memory, who drew again and again on the proverb, “The King’s glory is in the multitude of people” (Proverbs 14:28): amidst, and only amidst, a large multitude can the transcendence of the day of atonement lodge itself in our minds and our hearts.

Passover is something of the opposite, “A lamb for each household, a lamb for each family” (Exodus 12:3). On Saturday night we will reenact the Exodus not only through foods and songs and stories, but also by recreating its social groupings: an entire nation, united around countless tables in countless homes. We became a nation, paradoxically, not as an undifferentiated mass of individuals, but as a constellation of families - and it is as a constellation of families that we raise another generation of children to proudly bear the memory of the mighty hand that delivered us from Egypt.

The ethos of Passover does not end with the holiday - because it expresses a truth about the bonds that matter, the ones that deepen and sweeten our lives. For nearly everyone I know, it is not the hundreds of casual acquaintances that we treasure from college, but the handful of life-long friends. While there is great pride in being a member of the Harvard community, there is vastly greater significance in the hundreds of hours hanging out with blockmates, the spring breaks with friends, and the late nights studying and arguing with intellectual soulmates. For so many of us, it is a half-dozen or dozen life-long friends who become the greatest gift of a Harvard education.

That spirit is alive and well in Harvard’s Jewish community - not just on Passover, but throughout the year. In February each of the three minyanim - Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox - created a retreat for its members, crafting the small, intimate spaces where life-long friendships take root and flourish. As you read about each below, I hope you’ll see that Hillel is more than a building, more than just Shabbat dinners or even conversations - Hillel is an ethos of connection and care, the material out of which students create Jewish communities of meaning with and for one another.

“The reform retreat was a meaningful and terrific way to connect to my Judaism. I loved experiencing Havdalah as a group” - Caroline, a sophomore and member of the Reform minyan at Harvard Hillel.

Students traveled together, studied together, watched movies together - and thought together about what a vibrant Reform community could look like, week in and week out, back on campus.

“The SCM Shabbaton was absolutely one of my favorite Hillel moments this year,” says Judy, a sophomore and SCM member. “It was wonderful to have the chance to spend time with my friends and get to know the new members of SCM better. It was also incredibly meaningful organizing our davening and Shabbat experience together as a group. And, of course, walking along the beach together was gorgeous!”

SCM decamped to Cape Cod for a weekend of davening (prayer), good food, and friendship. The conversations continued long after students had returned to campus, beginning with dinner fueled by leftovers from the trip—and extending over the two months since.

Yona Sperling-Milner ‘27 captured the essence of the retreat: "The highlights of the Shabbaton were how honestly and thoughtfully people shared during the group reflection, the beautiful singing during seudah shelishit, and sachnashim (deep meaningful conversations) on Friday and Saturday night."

The annual OSM Shabbaton brought almost 30 Orthodox undergraduates together for an off-campus Shabbat focused on community building. Students shared dimensions of their spiritual lives, sang Shabbat zemirot, studied Torah together, and enjoyed hours together free from the hustle of campus.

As we approach Passover—the season of freedom, renewal, and responsibility—please know that what you most treasure about this time is happening here and now in Harvard’s Jewish community. Your support sustains the retreats, the Shabbat dinners in common rooms, the Seders in the houses, and countless other touches that nurture and inspire Harvard’s Jewish students.

This community’s generosity affords students from every background equal access to authentic and inspiring Jewish experiences. Whether you give $18, $180, or $1,800 - your contribution helps Jewish students find meaning and connection in their college years.

There is a glory in our multitudes, uniting the Jewish people from Cambridge to every corner of the world - and there is a richness that can never be translated beyond our closest confidants. Our community holds both of these truths, as we have for three thousand years. Thank you for contributing, from around the world, to create a space where students form life-long, life-defining friendships. Your participation makes you a coauthor of this chapter of our people’s story, so that today’s Jewish students will write the next one, from one generation to the next, forever.

May you have a sweet and redemptive Passover,

Rabbi Jason Rubenstein

Executive Director

Harvard Hillel

As an independent 501(c)(3), Harvard Hillel does not receive any financial support from the University. We rely on the generosity of our alumni, parents, and community to support Jewish life at Harvard.