By Karen Parry
SAN DIEGO — I want to make something abundantly clear.
Jewish pride is alive and well on college campuses. Jewish students are thriving despite a continued barrage of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the classroom, with peers, and across campus.
I want to share with you a story of resilience and strength. Reef is a hometown student. He grew up in our San Diego Jewish community, attended the San Diego Jewish Academy, and as such, was connected to Sha’ar HaNegev from an early age. He became best friends with Nitzan Libstein in high school, sharing a connection across the world.
I remember the fear and pain in his eyes on October 8th, 2023, as we were all gathered at the Melvin Garb Hillel Center, prepared to rally on campus, and we didn’t know what happened to Nitzan. I remember the heartbreak after we found out Nitzan, along with his father, Ofir, were murdered on October 7th
This year, Reef created a beautiful memorial for his friend, Nitzan, drawing on the strength of his community at Hillel. For Project Nitzan, Reef, along with many of his friends, passed out black poppy pins to hundreds of students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, with a link for people to learn more about the Libstein family’s story.
Then, a group of nearly 40 students participated in the community Yom HaZikaron event at the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs Family Campus, all wearing white sweatshirts honoring Nitzan and Ofir Libstein z”l and in support of Reef. All of this is funded by YOU, through Hillel of San Diego! Reef found resilience, moving through his grief, through the strength of his community at Hillel of San Diego.
He turned his pain into power.
Wednesday night, we hosted our annual Yom Ha’Atzmaut party. This brings together hundreds of students from all four of our campuses for a night of joy. Hillel was the place to be! Students danced, sang, laughed, and celebrated as one united Jewish community in joy and love of Israel.
This is what you fund when you donate to Hillel of San Diego. This is the community you are actively building, the joy you are creating, and the resilience you are establishing.
We are about to start Hillel Global Giving Week, taking place May 5-9, and the first $55,000 raised will be matched dollar for dollar by the Leichtag Foundation and Hillel International. But you don’t have to wait for May 5th. The matching starts right now!
We need to raise over $200,000 by June 30th to meet our ambitious goals, and we need your help to do it. If you’ve already donated to Hillel of San Diego, thank you. You helped fund this joy. If you are still waiting for the right moment, now is the time. Your gift will be matched and your impact will be doubled.
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Karen Parry is the executive director of Hillel of San Diego