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The Future of Jewish Belonging on Campus: Growing Jewish Joy and Connection

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November 17, 2025

Editor’s Note: In August 2025, ����Ӱҵ released a brand-new, three-year , “The Future of Jewish Belonging on Campus,” which focuses on building vibrant and joyful Jewish student communities and ensuring belonging for Jewish students on campus and for future generations. This article, focused on the first pillar of the plan, “Growing Jewish Joy and Connection,” is the first of a series of four posts highlighting the ways ����Ӱҵ is putting that plan into action.

Record numbers of Jewish students are participating in Hillel programs, seeking a warm and welcoming campus community, deep connection with one another, and the joyful, inclusive Jewish experiences th����Ӱҵ is known for.

When it comes to growing Jewish joy and connection, ����Ӱҵ focuses on four key strategies: enhancing Shabbat and other core Jewish experiences, expanding cross-campus student gatherings, scaling learning and interest-based student micro-communities, and creating joyful, movement-wide moments in time.

Here’s a snapshot of what that looks like for 190,000 Jewish students at 850 colleges and universities in North American and around the world: 

Expanding and Enhancing Shabbat Programming on Campus

Shabbat, a day of rest and community, is an essential part of life ����Ӱҵ. From Shabbat dinners to soulful Havdalah services that mark the end of Shabbat, campus Hillels offer a chance for students to pause, spend time together, and connect with deeper parts of themselves and their relationships. 

Nothing says “Shabbat ����Ӱҵ” like delicious food, and Hillel at Virginia Tech takes that one step further: combining great flavor with the Jewish value of sustainability. Led by husband-and-wife team Greg and Amanda Herring — Amanda serves as the Kurtz Family Executive Director, and Greg as the Hillel chef — Shabbat dinners include a talk from Greg about where the food came from, sharing the names of the farms and encouraging students to visit. 

“The students can pick apples at Rosh Hashanah… [and we’ll] make a ton of apple butter,” Amanda said. “And then every week… we’ll put apple butter with our challah, and the students will know it’s our apple butter. It’s one less thing we’re getting from a distributor — and students will see what an impact they can have.”

Planning a Shabbat is easier when most of your students live on campus. But how do you create meaningful Shabbat experiences when the majority of your student body commutes, and spends most Friday nights at home with their families?

At Hunter College, Hillel found a creative solution: hosting what they call their “Not-Shabbat Shabbat.” Held on Thursday nights, Hillel at Hunter offers students a chance to eat tasty food, hang with their community, sing songs, and experience the traditions and joys of a communal Shabbat — without worrying about the logistics of traveling on Friday nights. 

On the other side of the globe, gathering for Shabbat offers a respite and an opportunity to connect across not just lines of difference, but across lines on the map! Events like Shabbaton Across Borders, a weekend-long, multi-country Shabbaton, are bringing together Jewish students and young adults from countries including Poland, Ukraine, and Germany. Centering on Jewish learning, community building, and shared experiences of Jewish life, this Shabbaton emphasized leadership development by involving participants in planning and running the event.

No matter how a campus Hillel celebrates Shabbat, the new strategic plan ensures that the joy and belonging at the core of Shabbat will guide Jewish student life forward. 

Regional Student Gatherings and Initiatives

Gathering students together from different campus Hillels to connect around shared interests and identities is key to Hillel’s vision for fostering Jewish joy, connection, and belonging. ����Ӱҵ’s regional student gathering grant program offers financial and infrastructure resources to campus Hillels to design and host unique cross-campus experiences around leadership and relationship building. 

With funding from this grant, Hillels of Georgia launched the Leven-Silberman Leadership Institute (LSLI) — a new statewide initiative designed to cultivate a connected network of Jewish student leaders and to empower students to lead with “purpose, passion, and Jewish pride.” 

Further north, Hillel at Yale University hosted its first-ever Asian-Jewish Shabbaton in mid-October, bringing more than 500 students from 13 colleges and universities together to celebrate identity and belonging. The two-day gathering, organized by the Asian Jewish Union at Yale in partnership with ����Ӱҵ and Asian Jewish student groups, was headlined by Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the first Asian American rabbi ordained in North America and senior rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City.

“For me, the Asian Jewish Shabbaton was a profound opportunity to connect with a network of Asian Jewish leaders and their stories,” said Benjamin M. Nuland, Yale ’27. “It was more than just an event; it was a moment of… honoring our heritage and shaping a new mosaic of what a distinct Asian Jewish culture can be.”

With additional regional student gatherings planned for this fall and spring, including a Shabbaton Across Borders for Hillel participants in Poland, Ukraine, and Germany, Jewish students are taking advantage of the opportunities to connect with and learn from each other. 

National Movement-Wide Gatherings Provide More Opportunities to Connect

Anyone who has ever been part of a movement-wide Hillel gathering will tell you that there’s absolutely nothing like it. These convenings offer some of the most powerful opportunities for student growth, connection, networking, and Jewish joy you’ll find anywhere in the world.

The annual ����Ӱҵ Israel Summit, most recently held in February 2025 in Chicago, brings together more than 500 student leaders, speakers, stakeholders, and young alumni for a convening focused on skill-building, Israel-related education, and advocacy, with an emphasis on Jewish identity and pride in the people of Israel.

“I left Chicago not just with new knowledge, but with a clear sense of what I want to accomplish back on campus, from celebrating my community’s wins and building stronger relationships, to communicating with more intentionality,” said Julia Nikkhoo, Dartmouth ‘26, one of the student attendees at Israel Summit 2025.

Other students found connection at gatherings like the ����Ӱҵ Content Creators Forum, which brought together over 75 Hillel student leaders and 20+ Jewish content creators and journalists in New York City this year to educate students on Jewish culture and digital advocacy. 

“I flew to the Content Creators Forum not knowing what to expect, and I fell in love — not just with the program, but with the people,” said Shiri Gil, a recent Columbia University graduate.

Another important national student gathering was — a concert series, powered by ����Ӱҵ, that brought together thousands of Jewish students to sing, dance, and celebrate Jewish joy and belonging together. With concerts in New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston, Yallapalooza celebrated Jewish students’ resilience and pride. The series featured performances by Grammy-nominated musician Matisyahu, Eurovision winner Netta, and DJ Sasi and Yonatan Cohen, who both performed at the Nova Music Festival.

“We were thrilled to take our commitment to Jewish college students on the road and bring thousands of students together for a night of music, celebration and joy with some of the world’s top Jewish musicians,” said Hillel President and CEO Adam Lehman.” 

Natalie Ryba, a recent graduate of Hunter College and a host of Yallapalooza in New York City, shared about the impact that attending Yallapalooza had on her. She said, “The concert was absolutely magical — spiritual, special, and so joyful. The energy the Jewish student community has here in New York is unlike anything else I’ve experienced, with so much diversity, passion and hope, and there was so much love and support in that space: for Hillel, for Israel, and maybe most importantly, for each other.“

Investing in the Hillel movement’s ability to take students from “coffee dates to community,” from first hellos to deep friendships and connection, is critical to the strategic plan. Through the programs detailed above, Hillel is deepening Jewish students’ connections to their own identities, communities, and the world — all combined to make the perfect recipe for Jewish joy. 

Stay tuned for more on how we’re turning our strategic plan into reality, and check out the full strategic plan on !