SEPTEMBER 7 • 2023 | 25

me as a freshman in college 
that I would come to lead 
one of the strongest Hillels 
in the country, I would have 
laughed at you and asked, 
‘What’s Hillel?’” she recalls.
It was only when Shemer 
gave Hillel a chance as 
a student herself at York 
University in Toronto, where 
she was born and raised, that 
she saw how meaningful the 
work could be. Her first-
ever trip to Israel during her 
junior year of college also 
didn’t hurt.
“I pursued this career 
because I could invest my 
time, energy, knowledge 
and passion into helping 
young people discover what 
being Jewish, finding Jewish 
community and exploring 
Jewish values meant to 
them during this incredibly 
formative time of being a 
college student,” she says. 
“To me, that is the most 
meaningful work that I can 
do.”
With her education 
focused on environmental 
studies, Shemer also 
discovered that Hillel could 
allow her to work as both 
a Jewish professional and 
with an organization that 
had groups that cared about 
the environment and social 

justice issues.
The conclusion was simple. 
“Hillel felt like the right 
home for me,” Shemer says.

SETTING A VISION
Shemer began her career with 
Hillel of Greater Toronto 
(now Hillel Ontario) in 
2003 as director of Israel 
affairs. Through a colleague, 
she met Michael Brooks 
from Michigan Hillel and 
embarked on a journey to 
grow with the organization 
into the next executive 
director.
“When I first arrived at 
Michigan, my focus was to 
work with student groups 
to really get to know the 
student-centered approach of 
this Hillel,” Shemer recalls.
As she continued to 
grow her career with the 
organization, her focus 
shifted to setting — and 
upholding — the vision 
for Michigan Hillel. This 
included supervising senior 
staff and maintaining 
relationships with a broad 
spectrum of partners and 
stakeholders.
“Over my time at Michigan 
Hillel, we nearly doubled 
the budget and tripled our 
endowment,” Shemer says. 
“This enabled us to build out 

our staff team in targeted 
areas.” 
Michigan Hillel began to 
offer its own Hillel trip to 
Israel for campus leaders, 
seeking to instill in them a 
greater compassion for the 
complexities of Israel. 
The organization also 
launched new wellness 
programs under Shemer’s 
leadership, as well as career-
focused groups for pre-
med, pre-law and business 
students. 
Still, some things remained 
unchanged, including 
the warm and welcoming 
communal space for Shabbat 
and holidays, student-

led groups that allowed 
students to discover their 
communities and delivering 
chicken soup to sick students.

NEXT STEPS
Looking back on her vibrant 
career and time at Michigan 
Hillel, Shemer says she feels 
truly proud of the work that 
was done by staff, students 
and supporters.
As she leads the 
organization through 
mid-September before 
transitioning to her new role 
at Shalom Hartman Institute 
North America, Shemer will 
be saying her goodbyes and 
thank yous.
She’s also raising money for 
the Tilly Shemer Leadership 
Fund, an endowment that 
will invest in students’ 
and young professionals’ 
growth and leadership 
through immersive learning 
experiences.
“I’ve loved the staff that 
I’ve gotten to work with, and 
I feel really proud that we’ve 
been able to grow the team 
to better meet our students’ 
needs,” Shemer says. “I’ve 
always appreciated having a 
front row seat to watch our 
students grow during their 
four undergraduate years on 
campus.” 

Tilly Shemer 
and U-M 
students

Tilly Shemer 
leads students 
in discussion.

