Jewish life at UR receives $3 million dollar endowment

Earlier this year, the University of Richmond’s Office of the Chaplaincy received a $3 million donation from Alumni Carole and Marcus Weinstein to support the Jewish life programs offered on campus.

The donation to the chaplaincy will be focused on supporting Jewish life programming. This type of extra funding will allow Hillel, the organization responsible for Jewish life programs on campus, to provide even more opportunities to its students from on-campus celebrations to excursions into the city of Richmond.

The Jewish life program on campus is a chapter of a nationally recognized program, Hillel. The goal of this program is to provide college students with opportunities and spaces to practice and learn about the values of Jewish life, according to Hillel International’s website.

One of the primary goals of the organization is to provide a safe space for Jewish students to engage with one another and find a community on UR’s Campus. Leaders of this group work diligently to plan social outings, run Shabbat services each week, and create engaging events to encourage students to celebrate Jewish Holidays throughout the year, according to UR’s Chaplaincy website.

“The biggest part that we are working on is just creating a safer place for Jewish students to gather,” UR sophomore and Hillel’s social programming intern Zoe Epstein said. “I think that also, there is an educational aspect too, we are trying to teach people and help our community grow in the sense that there isn’t one type of Jewish.”

The UR chapter of Hillel is supervised by Jewish Chaplain Josh Jeffreys. Jeffreys plays a major role in making decisions for Hillel on campus and is aided in this task by four student interns who take on the responsibility of planning events, providing support for Jewish students on campus and creating a welcoming space for all students to learn and practice Judaism, he said

“We have four student interns who can help me and their peers to sort of actually make these things possible,” Jeffreys said. “We are working together to do different things to maximize the amount of programming and support we’re able to provide.” 

Hillel provides UR students with a plethora of opportunities to get involved with the Jewish community on campus and in the Richmond area. The group coordinates events such as Shabbat on the town, apple picking in Charlottesville and the chance to listen to the lectures of scholarly speakers who focus their attention on Judaism itself, according to sophomore Hillel intern Kate Chasin.

“We’re very fortunate to be a program at the university,” Jeffreys said. “We are funded just like any other office through university resources and have been endowed in various ways over the years both as a chaplaincy and now through the chaplaincy to promote Jewish life along with a couple of other sources.”

This program is funded similarly to most other organizations within the chaplaincy. UR allocates a certain amount of money each year to the programs within the chaplaincy, and this money can be utilized to host events, supply materials or provide food for its members. According to Jeffreys.

“We on campus want to provide a space for Jewish students and Jewish exploring students to be able to sort of navigate that,” Chasin said. “But we are also a part of a larger organization called Hillel International, and so there are parallel programs in most colleges within the country that all have similar goals.”

Hillel is open to all students on campus and encourages anyone interested in Judaism to join in on their events and explore the culture and faith.

“It’s just been a really comfortable space to be Jewish on campus because it's kind of the only space where I have my Jewish identity and can express it fully,” Chasin said.

Contact news writer Abby Ioannou at abby.ioannou@richmond.edu.