Today is the day: watch, and give

Dear fellow member of Harvard’s Jewish Community,

I hope my message finds you, and those you love, well.

Before anything and everything else, I invite you to take 3 minutes – and watch this video. If you care about, and especially if you are worried about, the Jewish future – you’ll be glad you did:

Everything else, as they say, is commentary.

Every day, Harvard Hillel is a home, a place that both nurtures and inspires: for Nathan, Isaac, Miriam, and for hundreds of other students. What you saw in that video is a reflection on the past and a foretaste of what’s to come – we have so much more in the works for the class of 2030, who will arrive in just a few weeks, and who will forge the next links in our forever-unfinished story.

Thanks to the generosity of one of our board members, every gift we receive before midnight tonight, up to the first $25,000, will go twice as far for next year’s students. When students arrive in September, you can help ensure that they will find their friends, broaden their horizons, and experience the dignity of supporting and taking responsibility for one another – as Jews, guided by our tradition’s wisdom. Your generosity and dedication set the tone for the virtues we hope students will encounter and internalize here at Hillel – as you heard from Miriam, Isaac, and Nathan.

One of the most uncannily moving elements of my work is when I speak to alumni from the early 80’s, the mid-90’s, or a decade ago – and they describe the same things you’ve just heard from today’s students. We are the stewards of a great Jewish community, one that believes in Judaism and believes in our students, with a distinctive and flinty spiritual DNA that has shown itself the equal of everything the world can throw at us.

I cannot thank you enough for the opportunity to give back this community – and I hope you will join me.

With gratitude,