A Message from Leadership

When I first arrived at Berkeley Hillel in the summer of 2009, I did what any new director probably does in those early weeks. I walked through the building, opened drawers, looked in closets, perused the library, and tried to understand what I had become a steward of. At some point, I found my way up to the attic, and there, tucked among boxes of old program materials, forgotten glass plates, and worn file folders, I came across a box with a stack of old albums.

I almost set them aside, assuming they were just trash from years ago. I am glad I did not.

They were copies of the Hillel Happenings, our newsletter, from the very first year of Berkeley Hillel’s existence — 1927. The pages were brittle and the language was formal in the way that writing from that era tends to be, but what struck me immediately was how familiar it all felt. Welcome events for new students. Friday night services and dinner. Conversations about what it means to be Jewish on a university campus in a complicated world. The details had changed but the animating questions had remained timeless.

I have thought about that moment in the attic many times since. I think about it especially now, as we stand at the threshold of our Centennial.

Berkeley Hillel was founded in 1927, and in the hundred years since, the Jewish students who have walked through our doors have lived through some of the most consequential chapters in modern Jewish history. The Great Depression, World War II, and the devastation of the Shoah, the establishment of the State of Israel, the Free-Speech Movement born on this very campus, the Six-Day War, the Soviet Jewry movement, and September 11th. And most recently, the weight of October 7th and its long aftermath. Through every one of those moments, Berkeley Hillel was here, holding space for Jewish students to ask the questions that mattered most to them, to find community, to figure out what it meant to be Jewish in an ever-changing world.

That legacy is something I do not take lightly. I understand my role as one chapter in a much longer story, and the artifacts from 1927 have never let me forget it. They remind me daily that I am just a steward to the legacy of Berkeley Hillel and the thousands of Jewish students who have benefited from our holy work.

We are at an inflection point right now for the American Jewish community in ways we have not seen in nearly a century. Jewish students are asking questions about identity that feel more urgent and more personal than they did just a few years ago. They are also navigating the ordinary pressures of college, building friendships, preparing for careers, finding out what it means to be an engaged person in society and the Jewish community.

Berkeley Hillel exists to be the place where all of that is held together, where Jewish identity is not a burden to be managed but a tradition to be explored, celebrated, wrestled with, and loved.

What gives me hope as we enter this centennial year is not just what we have accomplished, but what I see ahead of us. The students who come through our doors are extraordinary. They are curious and craving a community and a place to experiment with what it means to be Jewish in the modern world. They want a place where they can fully celebrate their whole selves. And they deserve a community and organization that has earned, over a hundred years of faithful presence on this campus.

The albums from the attic are now part of our centennial archive. They remind me every day that I am not building something new. I am tending to something old and extraordinary, and trying to pass it on, a little stronger and a little wider, to the next generation of stewards who will carry Berkeley Hillel into its second century.

In thinking of the students over the past hundred years who have been impacted by the work of Berkeley Hillel, I’m reminded of the teaching by Rabbi Hanina from the Talmud. He said, “I have learned much from my teachers and even more from my friends, but from my students I have learned more than from all of them.” May we all be blessed in the next century of Berkeley Hillel to learn from one another and may we go from strength to strength.

— Adam Naftalin-Kelman
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Executive Director, 2010–Present

Dear Friends,

As Berkeley Hillel approaches its centennial, we have an opportunity to reflect on the lasting impact it has had on Jewish campus life at UC Berkeley, alongside the Hillel movement as a whole.

For 100 years, Berkeley Hillel has helped shape the story of Jewish life in higher education. As one of the earliest Hillel foundations established, it helped create the blueprint for how an organized Jewish community could flourish at a major public university. Over the decades, Berkeley Hillel has continued to push the envelope on the values that have defined our movement at its best.

Berkeley Hillel has demonstrated a willingness to rethink how we engage students, invest in leadership development, and build community in ways that respond to the needs of Jewish students across generations. Its commitment to innovation has influenced not only Jewish life at Berkeley, but engagement strategies throughout the Hillel movement.

One powerful example is the Schultz Engagement and Leadership Fellowship, recipient of Hillel International’s Eleanor Meyerhoff Katz Innovation Award. The fellowship pioneered a model of student engagement centered on relationship building, community organizing, and peer leadership, encompassed in a 10-week educational experience. This approach has influenced engagement strategies across the Hillel movement, fostering creativity and impact. Berkeley has shown that when students are empowered to build relationships and create community, Jewish life and belonging become deeper.

Under Rabbi Adam Naftalin-Kelman’s leadership, Berkeley Hillel has also demonstrated the value of investing in strong professional staff to build highly scalable student engagement teams, creating a model that has informed Hillel talent development strategies across the country.

Throughout its history, Berkeley Hillel has thrived in one of the most intellectually vibrant and complex campus environments in the country. From its role during the Civil Rights and Free Speech movements, when Jewish values and commitments to social justice were actively lived out on campus, to the challenges facing Jewish students in a post-October 7 world, it has demonstrated how a community can remain deeply rooted in Jewish values while fully engaging with the world around it.

Today, Berkeley Hillel models pluralistic Jewish life at its best through initiatives such as the Berkeley Beit Midrash, vibrant Shabbat communities, and diverse Israel learning and travel experiences. Together, these opportunities help students explore their Jewish identities, build meaningful relationships, engage deeply with Jewish learning, and find a strong sense of belonging and purpose.

For Hillel International, Berkeley Hillel represents the power of vision, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to Jewish students. The ideas, leaders, programs, and communities built at Berkeley over the past 100 years have strengthened not only Jewish life in Berkeley, but shaped the broader Hillel movement and the collective Jewish future.

As we celebrate this milestone and look toward the next 100 years, we share deep gratitude and kavod with the countless professionals, student leaders, lay leaders, university partners and donors who have shaped Berkeley Hillel’s remarkable legacy, positioning Berkeley Hillel for an even more impactful future.

Mazel tov on this extraordinary centennial!

— Adam Lehman
President & CEO, Hillel International

As we celebrate Hillel’s Centennial, I am reminded of how deeply Hillel has shaped my family’s story across generations. I was actively involved in Hillel as a student, following in the footsteps of my grandfather, my parents, and my older brother, each of whom found community at Hillel during their college years. Knowing that my grandfather served as President of Hillel in 1948 makes my own involvement in Hillel even more meaningful.

For my family, Hillel has always been more than a campus organization. It has been a place of community, leadership, Jewish identity, and lifelong friendship. The values I gained through Hillel continue to influence my personal and professional life today.

Reaching this Centennial milestone is a powerful reminder of Hillel’s enduring impact on generations of students and families. I am grateful for the role Hillel has played in my own journey and excited to see how it will continue to inspire future generations.

— Oren Gabriel
President, Berkeley Hillel’s Board of Directors