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April 29, 2005/Nisan 20 5765, Volume 57, No. 35
Hillel at Emory University receives $3 million grant
FRAN NACHMAN PUTNEY
Atlanta Jewish Times
ATLANTA - An old corner house converted into office space is the only physical building that Hillel at Atlanta's Emory University can call its own.
An estimated one-third of Emory's student body is Jewish, but until now a central gathering place for those students has been but a dream.
That's about to change.
Emory Hillel is going forward with plans that will enable Jewish students to schmooze, dine, study and worship in a 17,000-square-foot facility - thanks to a $3 million kickoff challenge grant from the Marcus Foundation.
One board member estimates the facility could be ready by fall 2007.
While the building will be a welcome component at Emory, new or refurbished Hillel centers are on the increase on campuses all over the country
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Twenty-three new Hillel centers have been built within the last five years at campuses including Brown, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt and UCLA.
Some of the new centers, according to Jeff Rubin, a vice president with the national Hillel organization, have replaced older, outdated structures, while some are bringing Jewish centers to campuses that never had them.
"Since 1994, Hillel has really undergone a massive transformation across the country where we've dedicated a lot of time to building up each individual campus," said Rubin.
The combination of a building and "an outstanding staff," said Rubin, can mean Hillel and Jewish life "involvement that increases exponentially."
Pointing to the University of Maryland Hillel, which did a "massive renovation" to an existing facility in 1998, Rubin said: "That university is now a magnet for (Jewish) students across the East Coast."
Rabbi Barton G. Lee, executive director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, said the organization has "outgrown" its 3,600 square foot facility, which was built in 1981.
"Someday in the not-too-distant future," he said, "we would love to expand our building."
For example, no more than 85 people can be seated for a Passover seder, said Lee, "and we end up having to turn some people away."
"We have three or four people doubling up in offices that were designed for one person," added Lee. "We have a computer in the lounge instead of in a computer room."
He estimated that ASU's 52,000-member student body includes between 2,000 and 2,500 Jewish students.
Alan Cohn, president of Hillels of Georgia, believes bricks and mortar will go a long way in furthering the organization's goal of doubling Jewish student involvement on campus.
"It's very important that this (facility) will be called the Marcus Jewish Life Center at Emory University," said Cohn. "Jewish life incorporates much more than just religious aspects. It will be the heartbeat of Jewish life on campus."
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus thinks a place for Jewish students to assemble is important in an era where anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiment is increasing on campuses. Jewish students need a place, he said, "to gather and find strength together."
The Marcus Foundation matching grant and the start of a $3 million capital campaign were announced on April 12 at the finals of Hillel's SuperStar program. SuperStar, which began last year, put Hillels of Georgia on the map and gave the organization the momentum and justification it needed to seriously pursue its own address on the Emory campus.
In the last two years, Hillel has begun roundtable and mentoring programs that engage students focused on various professions like law, business, or medicine; Shabbat programs; and events that involve students more strongly in Israel and Israeli culture.
The organization has completely revamped its staffing, and Emory Hillel will soon have its own director, Michael Rabkin, who will take charge July 1.
"There are about 2,000 Jewish students at Emory," said Schreiber. "Emory Hillel deserves its own staff, facility and director."
The new building will sit on a tract including the area presently occupied by the existing structure, which will be demolished. Hillel already owns all the land, purchased with an allocation for capital improvements from the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta in 1996.
The very next step, according to Hillel officials, is fund-raising because, according to the terms of the Marcus Foundation grant, no construction can begin until the matching funds are raised.
The gift is structured as a matching grant because, according to Cohn, both organizations wanted others, including the Atlanta community, alumni and parents of students, "to be committed" to the cause.
Contributing Editor Hank Neyer contributed to this article.
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