The leadership of Dartmouth Hillel announced yesterday the group's members had voted unanimously to affiliate with the national Hillel organization -- Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life -- located in Washington, D.C.
The affiliation will connect Dartmouth Hillel with a wide network of other campus Hillel organizations as well as provide Dartmouth Hillel with individually catered administrative assistance and feedback.
Rabbi Edward Boraz said "This is an opportunity to confer with and share in joint programming across the country." The national organization assesses the budget and program objectives of the individual Hillel organizations. It also provides additional resources and opportunities such as leadership conferences.
Boraz further stated that "the wide range of consulting services will place us within their guidelines ... there will be objective measures to determine growth and development of Hillel here by a group of experts devoted to enhancements of Jewish life."
The affiliation comes in a year of change for the Jewish community at Dartmouth -- the decision follows the dedication of a new building and the appointment of Rabbi Edward Boraz, who assumed his position at the beginning of the 1998 school year.
Boraz told The Dartmouth that affiliation with the national organization has been a topic of discussion since Fall term.
The announcement comes just one year after the construction of The Roth Center for Jewish Life which Hillel treasurer Jesse Cook-Dubin '01 said "has proven to be a wonderful focal point of Jewish life on Dartmouth." The Roth Center has also increased attendance at Hillel meetings and services -- Cook-Dubin estimated that the attendance at both have more than doubled.
Cook-Dubin said that the Roth Center "provided us with a juncture for us to reaffiliate with the national Jewish community."
Boraz stated that the affiliation with the national organization "will help us to make Hillel a more integrated part of the Dartmouth College community. Not only will Jewish life at Dartmouth grow but we will also contribute to the growth of Dartmouth College."
Dartmouth Hillel will not be formally recognized until next fall, when the national organization's board of directors will vote on the subject.
