”I had not previously done a lot of study about spirituality. Working with faculty members Rabbi Michael Shire and Susan Morrel during my first two years helped me realize what an important aspect of a well-rounded Jewish education this is. My understanding of spirituality has changed from my time working with them. We talk a lot about our connection to something bigger than ourselves, which I think can mean a lot of different things—it doesn’t have to be the God of the Torah, it just has to carry deep personal meaning. That exploration has really resonated with me, and I’m thinking about ways to work with our teachers to incorporate spiritual exploration into our teaching.” — Eliana Stein, MJED student

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Over the past year and a half, campus rabbis have navigated the controversy and turmoil roiling college life. Between the rise in antisemitism and post-October 7 protests and strife, the role of campus rabbi can be fraught. As the challenges continue to mount, we reached out to some of the Hebrew College rabbinical alumni who work on college campuses to hear their perspective, wisdom, and insight on navigating this moment. We are grateful to these Hebrew College alumni for sharing their thoughts: Rabbi Jordan Braunig`14, Jewish Chaplain, Emory University; Rabbi Aaron Fine`09, Executive Director of Hillel at UMass Amherst; Rabbi Talia Laster`22, Campus Rabbi for Grinspoon Hillel at Cornell University; Rabbi Stephanie Max`19, Executive Director of Texas Hillel; Rabbi Lisa Stella`14, Senior Rabbi at University of Michigan; Rabbi Seth Wax`13, Jewish Chaplain at Williams College.

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We are the ones being addressed in this parsha. Be’haalotkha (“in YOUR elevating”), means that by elevating our conduct during the periods of uncertainty in our lives, we have the potential to move toward sacred redemption. Each of us has the power to elevate our personal behaviors, to strive for a more awe-inspired way of relating to one another and to G?d. How can we act to build one another up (leha’alot) toward a more redeemed reality? The Kedushat Levi teaches us that we must cultivate a disposition of (and actions toward) holistic awe in the desert of life.

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This past weekend, more than 30 alumni of the Dignity Project, Hebrew College Miller Center’s interreligous fellowship for high school students, gathered for the first official Dignity Project Reunion. Alumni from all five years of the annual program attended the event on Hebrew College’s shared campus. They shared about the ways that participating in the Dignity Project's interreligious community expanded their perspectives, from discovering new ways to approach difficult situations and relationships with sensitivity, to extending empathy and recognition across lines of difference.

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