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for college students by college students

Home Away From Home

MSU Hillel's building marks 10 years of gathering students for Jewish life on campus.

Natalie Gray } jewish@edu Writer

his year commemorates the 10-year
anniversary of the Lester & Jewell
Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center at
Michigan State University. When the building
was built, it sparked a renaissance of Jewish
life on campus that now is thriving and more
vibrant than ever.
First appearing on campus in 1939, Hillel
at MSU has a rich history. After changing
locations several times, more than $400,000
was raised in the late 1970s to purchase and
remodel the former Alpha Epsilon Phi house.
In 1980, the Milton M. Weinstein Hillel Jewish
Student Center was born. The sorority-style
house not far from campus had a living room,
dining room and bedrooms. Participation was
low and so was Jewish life on campus; the
dining room would fill up on Shabbat with
only 40 students, and there were only 40 pro-
grams a year.
In 2000, Cindy Hughey took over as execu-
tive director at MSU Hillel. She immediately
dove into programming and began engaging
students. Even with the new spark Hughey
brought, the physical building was severely
lagging behind the growth taking place inside.
Hughey launched a capital campaign,
chaired by the late David Bittker of Orchard
Lake and guided by the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit. Thanks to the sup-
port and dedication of Jewish communities
throughout Michigan, more than $3.1 million

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dollars was raised for the new facility. With
a lead gift from the Prentis Family Support
Foundation, the Lester and Jewell Morris Hillel
Jewish Student Center opened in 2002. Today,
Hillel offers more than 200 programs a year.
As Hillel's communications intern, MSU
Hillel has provided me with many great oppor-
tunities. I'm passionate about Hillel and have
met many good friends through programs,
and also by hanging out and studying in the
building. For me, and for many students, Hillel
serves as a "home base" at Michigan State.
Whether participating in Taglit-Birthright
Israel, Alternative Spring Break, Sparty's Bar
Mitzvah Party or an intramural team, there
is truly something for everyone. Every Friday
evening, the dining room comes alive with the
energy of 200-300 students for Shabbat din-
ner and a line forms for the monthly Sunday
brunches.
"I come to Shabbat dinner every week,"
says junior Brandon Beigler of West
Bloomfield. "It's a great way to stay con-
nected with my faith in college and socialize
at the same time."
With 36 members on the Jewish Student
Union (JSU), Hillel's student leadership board
has more than doubled in 10 years. Jewish
student leaders also hold positions on ASMSU,
Michigan State University's student govern-
ment body.
JSU sophomore representative Lizzy Belsky

MSU students fill the Hillel dining hall for Shabbat dinner
each Friday night.

of West Bloomfield says, "Serving as a JSU
representative is a great way to be involved
and get others involved in Jewish life at
Michigan State. All of the programs are cre-
ated by students for students."
Hillel has come a long way since the days
when it was thought of as the "campus syna-
gogue." The Hillel Jewish Student Center now
is seen as the Jewish community center for

Jewish students at MSU, their home-away-
from-home. They say if you build it, they will
come — they did, and they still do! @

Natalie Gray of Bloomfield Hills is a

sophomore at Michigan State University in

East Lansing.

Joy Of Music

Being part of U-M Hillel's Kol HaKavod singing group
truly enhances college life.

Nathan Chesterman } jewish@edu Writer

he first time I ever heard of a cappella
music, I was a freshman at the Frankel
Jewish Academy. At one of our Friday
Town Hall sessions, Kol Hakavod (KHK), U-M's
only Jewish a cappella group, came to perform,
and it blew my mind.
I had always thought of choir as something
meant for church services or High Holidays, but
here was a group of cool young adults using
only voices to sing songs that I actually recog-
nized and liked. I was utterly mystified.
Now fast forward a few years to find me as
an awkward college freshman at Michigan try-
ing to find my way in the big college world. At
a Hillel student organization fair, I saw a guy
wearing a familiar-looking KHK shirt, and he
told me to write my email down on their list.
Unbeknownst to me, I had just signed up for
an audition that would alter the course of my
college life. Two years later, Kol Hakavod has

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become my core group of friends and primary
musical outlet.
More than that, Kol Hakavod has become my
main connection to Jewish life on campus. As a
U-M Hillel student group, we spend a lot of time
in the Hillel building around lots of other Jews,
and we frequently have Shabbat dinners togeth-
er. And though many of our performances are
short gigs at various student events on campus,
we get most excited when we get to perform
for the Jewish community.
Last year, we had the opportunity to sing at
Oak Park-based Congregation Beth Shalom's
Chai Life Foundation dinner and at a cham-
pagne brunch at Congregation B'nai Moshe
in West Bloomfield, and they were two of our
favorite shows of the year.
I know it sounds hokey, but it really is some-
thing special to be able to share our music with
other Jews, and the audiences are always so

appreciative.
Beyond Detroit,
though, we've become
part of a greater net-
work of Jewish a cap-
fa
pella groups. Two years
i
ago, we went to New
Members of U-M Hillel's Kol HaKavod a cap-
York and met other
pella group.
groups at the Jewish
Collegiate Festival of
Performing Arts hosted
together at our end-of-the-semester concert, it's
by the Jewish Theological Seminary, and last
all worth it.
year we traveled to Washington, D.C., to partici-
If you want to find more out about Kol
pate in Kol HaOlam, a competition between the
Hakavod, find us online at khkmusic.com . If
best Jewish a cappella groups in the country.
you'd like to hear us sing in person, come to
I won't lie: Being in Kol Hakavod is difficult at
our winter concert on Dec. 6 at Michigan Hillel,
times. We're a group comprised of 19 individu-
1429 Hill St., in Ann Arbor. @
als with different interests and priorities. Finding
time that the majority of the group can rehearse
Nathan Chesterman of Huntington Woods
is a weekly struggle and working on the music
is a junior at the University of Michigan in
is far from stress-free, but when it all comes
Ann Arbor.

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