Affiericall Jewish Periodical 0

Thursday, June 29, 1950

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE •

Page 10

To Greet Convention

Jewish Youth Find Home,
Spiritual Values at Hillel

Hillel Activities
Embrace 50%
of Students

By RABBI A. J. LELYVrLD
National Hillel Director
URING THE LAST 27 years,
the Bnai Brith Hillel Foun-
dations have been working at
university and college campuses
in an effort to provide Jewish stu-
dents and the campus with a
knowledge of those Jewish val-
ues which were derived from our
past history and which have per-
meated our western civilization.
Staffed with professionally
trained Jewish leaders and op-
erated on a democratic basis with
student participation in the pro-
grams, the Foundation, has be-
come one of the leading factors
on the American Jewish scene,
and both university administra-
tors and leaders in the Jewish
field look to it for effective guid-
ance in determining Jewish com-
munity life in the future.
The need for such an institu-
tion as the Hillel Foundations
was long felt, though never ade-
quately met. What was needed
was a blending of the Jewish her-
itage with American culture and
traditions, and this the Hillel
Foundations have been attempt-
ing to achieve.
The challenge of our present-
day society, with its advancing
appreciation of the dignity of hu-
man life and with its insistence
on the great moral imperatives
inherent in man's role in the uni-
verse, places an added burden
upon those of us who desire to
see a positive Judaism operate
within our Jewish people.
We in Hillel have felt an obli-
gation to do what we can to sus-

D

GOV. WILLIAMS
MAYOR COBO
• • •
• • '•
Gov. G. Mennen Williams, on behalf of the state, and Mayor
Albert E. Cobo, on behalf of the city, will extend their greetings
to the approximately 400 delegates and their guests of the 82nd
annual convention of the District Grand Lodge 6 of Bnai Brith
the opening luncheon ses.sion at the Book Cadillac hotel on Sun-
day. Bernard Roman, first vice-president of the District, will
give the response.
\

Congratulations to

District Grand Lodge 6 B'nai Brith

on its

82nd Annual Convention

and to its host, the

Greater Detroit B'nai Brith Council

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THE
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These young men and women
have made excellent records and
Hillel is rightfully proud of the
work which it has been able to
do in this connection through the
contributions received from Bnai
Brith lodges and chapters as well
as from individuals and groups
through the cooperation it has
been given by Jewish fraternities
and sororities who have provid-
ed room and board for many of
our students.
Hillel also participates in the
publication of outstanding books
of Jewish interest through its Hil-
lel Library editions, and it has

provided resources and guidance
to many other organizations of
young people throughout the
country.
There are many who feel that
Jewish life is nothing more than
an "antique" to be placed on a
shelf as something beautiful to
look at but no longer useable.
The Hillel Foundations are at-
tempting to convey the positive!
phases of Jewish life so that each
new generation will be able to
drink at the springs of their past !
heritage in order to gain strength
with which to build a brighter

•

24 Colleges
Being Served
• •
• DI/strict
in
6

By SIDNEY J. KARBEL
District 6 Hillel Chairman
WHEN
WHEN THE CHRONICLE
me to write an article
on the Bnai Brith Hillel Founda-
tion, I welcomed the opportunity;
not because I expected those who
are active in Bnai Brith to read
it, for to'. them it is an old and
familiar tale.
Rather, I hoped that those who
are interested in the future of
Jewish youth, but are not fa-
miliar with this Bnai Brith ser-
vice, would take the time to learn
a little about its aims and
purposes.
It was in 1923 on the Univers-
ity of Illinois Campus at Cham-
paign, that the Hillel Founda-
tions were born. Strangely
enough, one of the two men
most responsible for its creation
was a Christian scholar, Dr: Ed-
ward Chauncey Baldwin, profes-
sor of biblical literature at the
University. Dr. Baldwin was ap-
tain and transmit historical val- palled that his Jewish students,
ues and to develop a high sense whose forefathers had given the
of responsibility toward those Bible to the world, knew so little
values.
about it. The other was a young
• • •
rabbi, Benjamin Frankel, who,
FIFTY PER CENT of all Am- while at Hebrew Union College,
erican Jewish young . men and was periodically assigned to the
women between the ages of 18 Champaign pulpit.
and 21 are now enrolled at our
It was their idea that it was
campuses. This means that the just as important, perhaps even
Hillel Foundations have increas- more so, to install in these Jew-
ed in importance and are a great- ish college youth, a knowledge of
er challenge to meet, since we their ancient culture and herit-
are dealing with the most for- age, to awaken in them a loyalty
mative years of these young men to their Jewish backg:ound and
and women.
to Judaism itself, as 4 was for
If Hillel should fail to accom- them to be concerned with the
plish its goals, it is hard to see p problems of anti-Semitism and
what program would be able td discrimination. For, with the
succeed. If Hillel succeeds, then knowledge of the contribution of
Jewry will be provided with a their people and Judaism to
reservoir of self-affirming, edu- civilization, and of its history, art
cated and interested Jewish lead-
ers capable of conveying to the
entire community that which is
essential, both to the personal ad-
justment of its individual mem-
bers and to its potentialities for
rich contributions to society.
In addition to this general
work, Hillel also has undertaken
special projects. We have our
foreign student service program
by means of which we have been
able to rescue approximately 100
young men and women from the
DP camps of Europe since the
end of World War II, bringing
SONATA
them to the United States and
providing them with the means
RENAISSANCE
of continuing and finishing their
education.

,

future.
•
and culture, would conic a feeling
of pride in being descended from

a people that had given so much
to mankind; in itself a shield
against anti-Semitism.
And so it was that at the next
Bnai Brith convention, Rabbi
Frankel requested the organiza-
tion to sponsor such a program.
• • •
TODAY, THERE ARE 199 such
Hillel Foundations and Counselor-
ships on the major college cam-
puses of the United States and
Canada (one being in Havana,
Cuba). Of these, 24 are in Dis-
trict 6, comprising eight states!
and four Canadian provinces. In
our immediate vicinity, we have
a Foundation at Wayne Univers-
ity, one at Michigan State Col-
lege, and one at the University
of Michigan. In our state alone,
approximately 4,000 Jewish col-
lege youth are served by these
Foundations.
We are proud of the fact that
the Hebrew University in Israel
requested that Bnai Brith sponsor
a Hillel Foundation there. Ap-
propriately, at the Supreme
Lodge convention held in Wash-

ington - last . March, this request
was granted
, and funds have
been made available for the cre-
ation of our 200th limo unit 'at.

the Hebrew University next fall.
• • •
THE DIRECTORS of these
Foundations are trained leaders,
usually rabbis, who stimulate
discussion and counsel with the
students, not only on general
problems affecting Jews, but also
on the personal problems of the
students.
Courses in Jewish history, lit-
erature and the arts are spon-
sored at these foundations or as
a part of the college curricula,
in many cases with appropriate
college credits. Noted lecturers
are invited to lecture on the cam-

pus, open to Jew and Christian.
Symposia and discussion groups

at the Hillel house are regular
events, and religious services are

Greetings Delegates of Distril
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COTILLION

Congratulations

on a Successful Con-
vention to District
Grand Lodge 6 B'nai
Brith on this, their
82nd Annual Con-
vention.

David C. Yokes

Judge of
Common Pleas Court

RALEIGH

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