Chag Sameach

The Hillel JUC wishes you and your family a Chag Sameach. If your child is not able to come home for the holiday, we will be having seder tonight in our building, where over 100 students will be gathered together. Second night seder will be held on Pitt's campus at the Cathedral of Learning. For more information on these seders, please visit our website. To make a donation to our Passover efforts, please click here.

Organic Farming on Spring Break??!!

Six students and one staff member journeyed to the Oz Farm in California for their spring break this year. This was part of the Hillel JUC's Alternative Spring Break program, where students learned how to live in a more environmentally friendly world. They spent their days working hard - cooking all-organic recipes and working on the farm. Everything on the farm was "off the grid," meaning no running water or electricity! This was an experience that was life-changing for all of the students who participated. There will surely be more trips like this one planned for the future!

Spring Break in Guatamala! 

For eleven students and one staff from the Hillel Jewish University center, this past spring break was truly life changing.  Partnering with American Jewish World Service, they spent eight days in a small rural farming community called Paraxaj, about two hours south of Guatemala City, Guatemala.  The mission of the trip: cultural exchange and Tikkun Olam. 

One of our talented students wrote a brilliant three-day piece in The Pitt News documenting the trip.  Please enjoy his inspirational account of their journey and learn about our student’s unique and deeply moving experience.

Not Your Average Spring Break in Israel

by Pam Eichenbaum, Hillel JUC Alum 

While many recent college graduates must adjust themselves to the concept of a real world schedule, I did not have to give up one of the perks of student life - Spring Break! But don't be fooled - this was no party on the beach in the sun.

10 Hillel JUC students joined 70 other college students and young professionals from across the U.S. to participate in a life-changing experience dedicated to community development and social action in Yerucham, a small development town, a short distance from Be'ersheva, in Israel's Negev. My fellow participants and I painted the interior of apartment buildings, worked the fields of a farm, painted fences, pulled wire from a chicken coop, moved rocks for a retaining wall, pruned trees, weeded a forest, helped organize a Purim carnival, and delivered mishlach manot. Most importantly, we learned how much need exists in Israel's Negev and what we, as students and recent graduates, can do to help fulfill that need. The physical impact of our collective efforts has already helped those in need in Yerucham and the Negev, and it will continue to make an impact for years to come.