Hillel Global Giving Week 2023
Help Jewish Life at Duke reach our goal of raising $15,000 to support the Israel Program Fund!
Support Israel Programs at Duke
This Hillel Global Giving Week, from May 1-5, support Israel engagement, education, and experiences for Duke's Jewish students by making a gift to Jewish Life at Duke's Israel Program Fund!
About the Campaign
From May 1-5, Jewish Life at Duke joins more than 150 Hillels around the world in participating in the fourth annual Hillel Global Giving Week. During this time, all gifts made to Jewish Life at Duke will be matched, dollar-for-dollar for a total match opportunity of $5,000! (up to $2,000 per gift)
Help us reach our goal of raising $15,000 for our Israel Program Fund. Read on to see the impact Israel programs have on the Duke Jewish community.
100% of JLD's operating budget comes from individual donations from alumni, parents, and friends. It wouldn't be possible without you. Make your end-of-year gift during Hillel Global Giving Week today!
Make an Impact
Cultural Connection
Provide opportunities for students to make meaningful lifelong connections with Israel's people, culture, and language.
Israel Speakers
From heads of state and policy makers to activists and journalists, ensure students hear from diverse and interesting speakers.
Educational Experiences
Provide engaging learning opportunities for the next generation of Jewish leaders.
Your Support in Action
Over this past year, we have hosted the following programs, activities, and events for our students:
- The Kol Yisrael Jewish Learning Fellowship: a six-week, cohort-based, conversational seminar exploring Israel's ethnic diversity and questions of identity.
- A lecture and special meet and greet with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
- Our annual Birthright Israel trip, a free 10-day trip to Israel.
- A virtual conversation with Ohad Tal, Knesset member, to discuss the current and future state of Israeli-American relations. Students had the chance to share their experiences of being Jewish on campus.
- A conversation and meal with Yossi Klein Halevi, renowned Israeli journalist and author of "Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor."
- Opportunities for students to travel to and attend national Israel policy and advocacy conferences such as the Hillel International Israel Summit and JNF's Global Conference for Israel.
- Students have written op-eds for the student newspaper, attended events that taught skills on how to be an advocate for Israel, educated student leaders and policymakers about the issues, and much more.
- The opportunity to meet a Holocaust survivor, and learn firsthand about Jewish identity and history.
- A meet and greet with Jewish-American diplomat, Ambassador Dennis Ross.
- A Yom Ha'atzmaut party celebrating Israel's 75th Independence Day.
- Israel Gap Year Cohort, a community for our students who spent a gap year in Israel.
- Cafe Ivrit, where students gather to practice conversational Hebrew. Themes have included voting/elections vocabulary, children's books, and Hebrew slang.
- A special event with Israeli-Ethiopian Jewish activist and influencer Ashager Araro, who discussed her intersecting identities as a Black Jewish woman and presented on the history of Ethiopian Jews.
- A conversation with Israeli activist Noa Tishby, inaugural Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel.
- A special Yom HaZikaron cooking class in which students learned about the life of two fallen soldiers and heard from Duke students who themselves served as lone soldiers in the IDF.
- Involvement with our Israel-focused student groups
- A partnership program between Hillel International and The Jewish Agency for Israel, the Jewish Agency Israel Fellow is the crux of and catalyst for Israel engagement on campus. This full-time Jewish Life at Duke staff member, an Israeli young professional who has served in the Israeli Defense Forces and earned a college degree, spends one to three years serving Duke’s Jewish students and inspires individual students to develop meaningful and enduring relationships to the land, people, culture, and society of Israel.
- And more!
Thank you to our donors!
- Andy & Cheryl Halpern
- Shruti Desai
- Ron Rothblatt & Rachel Simon
- Aviv Sheetrit
- Tracy & Alan Wise
- Marc & Jodi Ganz
- Lisa Vatch & Jonathan Wilner
- Henry & Juliana Lowenthal
- Stevan & Adrienne Pardo
- Karen & Edward Hirshfield
- Savyon Amit & Gali Oren-Amit
- Lisa & Neil Wallack
- Joy & Judd Kleeger
- Jeremy & Deena Schwartz
- Samuel Rabinowitz
- Alan & Daniele Baklor
- Lisa Harpel
- Alana Serota
- Karen Gottlieb & Jason Rosenfeld
- Anne Dowling
- Amy Meltzer
- Cheryl Morgenstein
- Elizabeth Caswell
- Susie Moskowitz
- Caroline Smilowitz
- Zari Ginsburg
- Robert and Robin Waldman and Family Fund
- Lynn Baklor
- Nanette de Andrade
- Kristina Marakov
- Allison & Ken Jacobs
- Marcia Mitre
- David Rabiner
- Jason Ader
- Dana Goldsmith Needleman
- Barry Rotman
- Robert Gutman
- Babak & Jessica Azizzadeh
- Jorge Kotelanski & Marina Feldman
- Hannah Boston
- Erika Rosenzweig
- Matthew Schorr
- Jerry Rubin
- Amy Schorr
- Ken & Lisa Kornblau
- Caryn Gomez
- Nathan Schleifer & Marlene Stulbach
- Brigit Van Praag-Cornelissen & Bart Van Praag
About Jewish Life at Duke
Jewish Life at Duke (JLD) is the hub for all things Jewish on Duke’s campus. An accredited Hillel as well as a department within Duke University’s Division of Student Affairs, Jewish Life at Duke is guided by a mission to empower Jewish students to learn and grow intellectually and spiritually; to inspire and nurture personal paths to Jewish identity; and to cultivate community and friendship. Comprising the Freeman Center for Jewish Life and the Rubenstein-Silvers Hillel, JLD takes a pluralistic approach to Judaism to ensure that all Jewish students, regardless of affiliation, are welcome and included.
100% of JLD’s operating budget comes from donations from alumni, parents, and friends.
