Hillel Rabbi Position Secure

Harvard Hillel’s leaders quelled student concerns about a lack of rabbinic presence on campus last night at their second Coordinating Council meeting of the semester.

The meeting, designated “Priorities of the Community,” was an open discussion in which Hillel members voiced their concerns regarding their organization’s response to the current financial downturn.

Last night’s meeting was inspired in part by an e-mail sent by Hillel member Peter N. Ganong ’09 over the Hillel undergraduate mailing list in late February.

“Hillel is in a budget crisis,” wrote Ganong in the e-mail. Ganong also stated that Hillel leaders had expressed the possibility of not having any rabbis next year due to the poor economic climate.

The question of a continued rabbinical presence on campus was the first issue brought up in the discussion.

Religious life is “a very important part of my Hillel experience,” said Avishai D. Don ’12. “I don’t know how exactly the minyanim [set of Jewish prayer groups] is going to be affected by the financial crisis.”

Hillel Associate Director Michael Simon assured students during the meeting that there would definitely be a continued rabbinical presence in the Hillel community.

“There will be rabbis on staff [next year], and at least one who primarily serves undergraduate students,” he said.

Students also raised the issue of community building.

“It is important that people who come to pray and eat at Hillel have a community that they feel comfortable and excited about joining,” said Hillel undergraduate president Rebecca D. Gillette ’10 after the event.

Gillette added that there was a desire among Hillel students and staff to hear student feedback on spending priorities.

“We and every other organization are sitting in the middle of a difficult situation,” Gillette said. “We’re being very careful with money. Students leaders are sitting down with staff to prioritize and get creative with our programming.”

Official decisions about Hillel’s budget, which is proposed by student leaders and staff and later approved by an executive board, will not be made until later in the spring.

Hillel student leader Michael B. Pershan ’10 said that Ganong’s email was the result of a misunderstanding. Pershan said he believed Hillel is financially stable.

“The rate of programming is exactly the same; we’re going to have rabbis next year,” he said. “Nothing really has changed.”

“We’re not in a financial crisis,” Gillette said. “It was more of an opportunity for students to engage more in conversations of priorities, and how students could get involved.”

—Melody Y. Hu can be reached at melodyhu@fas.harvard.edu.