Hillel is a nation-wide Jewish organization with chapters at CU Boulder, and many other campuses across the nation. Hillel’s goal is to be a safe space for Jews of any and all kinds, and create an inclusive environment for Jewish students to learn more about their faith.
Ali Hernandez is a freshman at CU Boulder this year, and is already an intern on the “Buff Board”, Hillel’s leadership board. Ali found it super important to become active in Hillel, seeing as she never really had a community of Jewish people growing up, except for at temple.
“I didn’t grow up around a lot of Jews, so I would just go to temple and see other people like me, but then go back to high school and experience a lot of anti-semitism and just ignorance,” Hernandez says.
Because of that, Hernadez’s favorite part of Hillel is that it is an extremely welcoming and inclusive place for any and all Jews, as well as other people. She often brings her non-religious friends to Hillel events just to have fun and learn about Judaism. The advisors of Hillel are super friendly and engaged in the students’ success.
Every week, the students in Hillel observe Shabbat together (a weekly day of rest in the Jewish faith), as well as do activities such as hiking, going to TopGolf, or just eating food together and talking.
“It is important to have Hillel on college campuses because some Jewish kids don’t grow up with that experience, and Hillel is a place where you can feel included for your faith, not separated by it,” She says.
Hernandez’s job at Hillel is to reach out to other Jewish students and get them involved, invite them to activities, and just make them feel welcomed in the organization. You can learn more about Hillel on their Instagram, @CUBoulderHillel, or reach out to Hernandez directly on Instagram, @_ali_dory.