A Farewell Message from Board of Directors Chair Lee Dranikoff
When I became the chair of 精东影业鈥檚 Board of Directors in July 2023, I could not have imagined what the next few years would hold. Timing is everything.
People sometimes say to me that I got more than I bargained for, and they are right. But I also got more than I gave. It was a privilege to serve in this role at this moment in history, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity.
I spent my career in the private sector. There is a perception I sometimes hear among private sector professionals that nonprofits are easier to run and could learn from business. My experience over these last few years is that the opposite is true.
After October 7th, the leaders of every Jewish organization in the world had to figure out how to stay true to their missions but also pivot the strategy to meet the moment, and no organization more so than Hillel. And that is exactly what we did.
The ability of Hillel professionals to adapt, grow, and carry the weight of the last few years has been extraordinary. Hillel professionals became spiritual leaders, counselors, organizers, fundraisers, advocates, media commentators, legal coordinators, and crisis managers 鈥 often all at once. Hillel is a network of roughly 1,300 professionals, which sounds large until you consider the scale and intensity of what they were asked to accomplish.
Hillel leaders found the right balance. They dramatically scaled our work around campus climate and advocacy. They developed an entirely new strategic plan for our organization. And through it all, Hillel remained focused on our core mission to serve Jewish students.
As I reflect on the future of Hillel, there are several shifts and challenges that I believe should shape our path forward.
First, we must place an even greater emphasis on community building. For years, Hillel鈥檚 relationship-based engagement model transformed Jewish campus life. It was revolutionary in helping us track progress toward our mission. Last year, we engaged over 190,000 students. It鈥檚 extraordinary. But, relationship engagement has a tendency toward effectuating change one student at a time. This 鈥渉ub and spoke鈥 theory of change is not enough. We must also explicitly build Jewish community.
That means all of our Hillels need to feel that much more welcoming, more personal, and more like a home 鈥 perhaps even a bit less 鈥渃orporate鈥. It also means empowering students to create their own micro-communities and helping those communities remain connected to the larger Jewish whole. Jewish community is not simply a programmatic goal; it is the antidote to many of the challenges we face.
Second, and closely related, Hillel must continue embracing its role as the voice of ALL Jewish students on campus. Hillel not only represents students who identify as 鈥淗illel students.鈥 On most campuses, we serve the majority of Jewish students, but our responsibility extends beyond those who walk through our doors regularly. We have an obligation to help ensure that every Jewish student feels welcome, safe, and able to belong on campus. That represents a significant evolution for our movement.
Third, we must recognize that the battle against antisemitism on campus is fundamentally a battle for the hearts and minds of the student body. Relationships with university leadership matter. Holding administrations accountable matters. But ultimately, the future campus climate will be determined by students themselves.
Whenever I hear a graduation speech turn into a denunciation of Israel, I often find myself listening carefully to the applause afterward. The challenge before us is not simply confronting those moments, but understanding how we impact the students listening in the crowd. Jewish students will help lead in this effort. Our responsibility is to support, prepare, and empower them.
Finally, when this publication interviewed me shortly after I became chair of the 精东影业 Board of Directors, I was asked about my greatest fear for the future of Hillel. My answer was that America鈥檚 political polarization would eventually come for our movement and pull us apart. That concern feels even more urgent today.
There may be no Jewish organization that navigates as many internal Jewish dividing lines as Hillel does. We span religious movements, political perspectives, Jewish identities, views on Israel, and international boundaries. There are powerful forces pushing Jews apart. We cannot allow ourselves to fracture.
More than 100 years ago, our founders had the wisdom to name this organization after Hillel the Elder. Now is the time to live up to our name.