Your Hillel Global Giving Week Gift DOUBLED: Help Jewish Students Find Home at Harvard
Dear fellow member of Harvard’s Jewish community,
It’s Hillel Global Giving Week! This is our biggest fundraising moment of the year: thanks to Hillel International and our generous parent community, every dollar you give Harvard Hillel from now until Friday night will matched up to the first $25,000.
Throughout this special week, we want to share exactly what your doubled gift will mean to our Jewish Harvard students – in their own words.
Where Every Jewish Student Has a Seat at the Table
Every Shabbat, more than 100 students gather at Rosovsky Hall, each finding their own path to celebration through Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform services. Our festive Friday night Shabbat meals are a highlight of the week for the many students who attend weekly.
“Hillel is the first place I go on Shabbat. The dinners are warm, lively, and where I can see all of my friends. Also the food is amazing!! Whenever Jewish students come to tour Harvard and stay for Shabbat, they’re always welcome and love the Hillel Shabbat environment.”
- Adina Lippman ‘27
“After what is always a busy and hectic week of school I love knowing that I can come to Hillel for a relaxing, fun, and meaningful Friday night with friends. I look forward to Shabbat dinner at Hillel every week— a time which I especially cherish as a respite from the business of the week.”
- Miriam Goldberger ‘28
Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers
This spring, we extended our table beyond campus walls to Lehrhaus in Somerville, hosting intimate dinners for 50 graduating seniors and 50 law students. The impact was profound.
Our Executive Director, Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, witnessed something extraordinary during the undergraduate dinner: former adversaries – students with very public, bitter, and long-term political disagreements – sharing wine and conversation, putting aside past conflicts. At the same table, students who had faced dramatic institutional disputes were breaking bread together.
"I've been very involved with JLSA for the past three years. This is certainly one of the best events I think we've ever had. I really can't express enough like what an amazing, amazing event it was. Everyone just had such a lovely time. People are still raving about it... Everyone left very full and very happy."
- Hannah Hyams, co-president of JLSA (Jewish Law Students Association)
"We found a way of being that could hold and soften all of our conflicts and contradictions. We spent a significant part of dinner with wine glasses in hand, wide smiles, revisiting, reconsidering, joking and laughing about the at-times, adverse interactions we'd had with one another."
- Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, Executive Director of Harvard Hillel
“Dinner at Lehrhaus was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a Shabbat dinner with my classmates — and make some new friends — as the year began to come to a close. The food was delicious with a full dairy menu. I hope Hillel is able to continue this tradition for future senior classes!”
- Zach Buller '25
Empowering Students to Lead Their Own Jewish Journey
Aside from these large, spirited gatherings, we also encourage students to convene in smaller, more intimate groups to build tight bonds that will last forever.
During Passover 2025, we supported 72 undergraduates in leading their own seders in Harvard houses, while bringing together over 60 graduate students for a university-wide celebration. Students didn’t just attend these events – they led discussions, guided singing, and created inclusive spaces where classmates across disciplines could connect through shared tradition.
Your Gift Creates These Moments
During Hillel Global Giving Week, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to the first $25,000. This means your gift creates twice the impact – more challah baking sessions, more barrier-breaking dinners, more student-led celebrations, more senior Lehrhaus outings.
“Shabbat at Hillel is a very special part of the week. I'm always looking forward to spending time in the building. You really feel a sense of community when you walk in. There is always so much going on—board games, singing, food, and the general sense of warmth that never goes away."