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for college students by college students
Focused On Needs
Biennial conference gives U-M students fuel
to engage other Reforms Jews on campus.
Zoe McCoon
jewish@edu writer
At The Reform Biennial: U-M sophomore Zoe McCoon,
Flint; junior Alyssa Gorenberg, Vernon Hills, Ill.;
sophomore Jake Levine, Ann Arbor; and junior Daniel
Pearlman, Cleveland.
alking into the University
of Michigan Hillel for the
first time, I was excited and
scared to start from scratch in a new Jewish
community that regularly has more people in
attendance than High Holiday services at my
home congregation in Flint.
There were so many people, each seeming
to have more desire to make a difference
than the next about any range of issues: the
environment, business, equal rights, even
the city of Detroit. Not only were individuals
interested in such a wide array of topics, but
Hillel itself had student groups centered on
creating communities to cultivate these pas-
sions. Having discovered my own passion for
the U-M Hillel Reform community, I was very
excited to attend Union for Reform Judaism's
(URJ) biennial conference in San Diego this
past December, where I was surrounded by
5,000 Reform Jews with just as much, if not
more, passion and desire to make a differ-
ence as I had experienced during my first
Shabbat at Hillel.
During the biennial, every session I attend-
ed talked about what seemed to be the hot
topic of the event: engagement. There was
talk especially of youth engagement, teen
engagement and young adult engagement
— but attention to college student engage-
ment was lacking.
For students ages 18-22, the campus
environment creates a completely different
experience compared to their teenage or
young adult counterparts. College is a unique
time that allows individuals to grow into the
independent adults they want to be. As such,
Jewish communities within college should also
be regarded in the same manner. Also, stu-
dents should get the same amount of prepara-
tion for joining a new Jewish community as
W
Opportunity knocks. Research,
internships, study abroad, and
service learning are built into
nearly all of Grand Valley's 200+
areas of study. These, along with
our liberal education foundation
that fosters critical thinking,
creative problem solving, and
cultural understanding, prepare
you well to answer the call of a
24
February 20 • 2014
JN
they do starting their college careers. Without
having developed a connection with the new
community before leaving a familiar home
Jewish community, joining a new Jewish com-
munity on campus often seems intimidating
and foreign.
In the midst of all of the hustle and bustle
at Hillel, it is easy to forget that, although
there are rarely less than 200 students at
Hillel for Shabbat dinner, there are thousands
of Reform Jews on campus who miss out on
Hillel's countless opportunities because they
haven't had a smooth transition from congre-
gational to campus Judaism.
Since Biennial, our Reform community has
put on some successful events to engage
more college students and to create con-
nections with Michigan congregations. We
hosted a Jewish rock concert featuring Dan
Nichols – reaching out to the campus com-
munity, Michigan congregations and local
youth groups. Before the concert there was
a prospective student dinner for high school
students to ask questions about Jewish life on
campus and become comfortable at Hillel. We
also had our first Shabbat Sha-Learn, where
we learn a new tune to a familiar prayer dur-
ing Shabbat services.
Biennial provided many priceless experi-
ences, such as participating in Shabbat services
whose music moved me to tears, meeting other
universities' Hillel representatives to compare
notes and listening to URJ President Rabbi Rick
Jacobs' vision for the Reform movement.
Above all, the most valuable thing I gained
was the time to focus on the needs and poten-
tial of my Reform community at U-M Hillel. @
Zoe McCoon of Flint is a sophomore
at the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor.