Jewish Student Leadership Opportunities at an International Scale

By Avery Adelman '24

Last year, I was fortunate to work with Emory Hillel as the head of our Keshet council, a Hillel student club advocating for and creating safe space for Jewish LGBTQ+ students at Emory.

In the spring I decided to apply to the Hillel International student cabinet and felt very lucky to begin serving on it this summer.

The Hillel student cabinet “serves to connect the global Jewish student community, and also serves as an advisory council to Hillel International’s leadership in its efforts to engage Jewish college students worldwide.” It is a great honor to have been selected and for the chance to represent Emory Hillel and Hillels of Georgia on this international committee representing over 850 global campuses.

I initially decided to apply to the cabinet because I was looking for the opportunity to connect with other Hillel campuses. I was also inspired by the previous campaigns I’ve seen run through Hillel International, like the Own Your Star campaign encouraging students to proudly embrace their Judaism, and the work that Hillel International does to fight antisemitism. To me, being on the backend of this critical work sounded thrilling.

It is extra exciting to be representing the whole of Hillels of Georgia and making sure there is a Southerner’s voice in the room! The Emory campus is about 20% Jewish which brings with it its own set of advantages and challenges. I am glad to be able to represent Jewish students from Emory and work to create a better campus life for Jewish students. I hope that in the student cabinet I can work to create a more inclusive Hillel that truly serves all members of our community.