Dear Friends,

Along with all of you, I have been struggling to make sense of the horrific events of this past week. Never in my lifetime could I ever have imagined that I would bear witness to the senseless acts of murder of the Jewish people. Even in these moments of extreme darkness, however, there are flickers of light that shine through. For me, one point of shining light has been the way in which our Hillel staff and students, University administrators and partners, local Ann Arbor authorities, parents, and alumni have embraced our Jewish community. As we head into Shabbat and prepare to light candles in our homes, I want to share these points of light with you.

Highlights of our Hillel’s work this week:

• The building has been open for students to drop-in as needed and soup, snacks, and hot beverage stations are available to provide care and comfort each day to students in need.

• Senior Rabbi, Rav Lisa Stella, is providing pastoral care, and all program team members have made themselves fully available to students for one-on-one support, sharing their Calendly links to schedule meetings as needed for additional support. 

• Michigan Hillel, in partnership with the Jewish Resource Center and Chabad, quickly organized a vigil on Monday, October 9th - one of the largest gatherings to take place on a campus nationwide. The event began at Hillel where approximately 700 students gathered and continued with a solidarity walk to the Diag. Over 1,000 people joined the vigil on the Diag where students and organization leaders shared prayers, songs, words of support, and reflections from those in Israel. Several students have shared that it was the most powerful event they have ever attended on campus. 

• Following the vigil, over 100 students returned to the Hillel building where they sang in solidarity with one another. Rav Lisa, Assistant Director Haley Schreier, and our new JLIC-OU couple Uri and Abby Lorkis who recently arrived in Ann Arbor from Israel shared that it was simply a beautiful showing of togetherness and support for the community. 

• We have also increased educational opportunities. Rav Lisa and Haley Schreier, have offered courses on how students experience connection to the Jewish community in Israel and around the world, particularly in moments of challenge and crisis, and opportunities to unpack the events.

• Launching shortly, Hillel will offer one free month of telehealth therapy support through Cerebral to ensure students have opportunities and outlets to process their feelings during this time. We are grateful to parents-alumni Harris and Nicole Schwartzberg for their generous support of this service.

• There are tables in the main hallways where students can write notes to IDF soldiers and student-leaders are leaving information about the collection of goods and ways to contribute funds to support the war effort.

• And of course, we have enhanced security of the Hillel building to ensure students' and staff's safety and well-being.

Needless to say, our staff have been hard at work serving the needs of our students. If you do not follow already, I suggest joining the Michigan Hillel Parents Facebook page where we provide updates and resources. We will also continue to communicate with you more frequently to share updates about what is happening on campus. 

All of us at Hillel are deeply grateful to all those who have or wish to aid in Hillel's efforts of support to our student community. Please know that our support will continue as long as needed.

With all of you, I pray for the safety and well-being of the Israeli people and all impacted by this violence. Our thoughts are with so many, but we are especially thinking about my fellow Board of Trustee member, Captain (Res.) Shimon Levy who returned to Israel earlier this week.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Abbey Frank

Chair, Board of Trustees