It was a chicken night in the Yale chapter of Hillel, a Jewish student group. The underground dining hall was packed with noisy, hungry students, attracted by the enormous expansion of kosher fried chicken and mac and cheese.
Some students kissed Mezuza along the way. The other students were not even Jews, but came for food and dating.
But beneath the surface, there were signs of tension after months of divisive protests on campus over the war in Gaza. A quiet question was asked in the air, and several students said: “Which side are you on?”
As Hillel has, few American organizations have been moved by the conflicts in the war. Founded at the University of Illinois in 1923, the movement now has 850 universities and universities chapters from around the world, ranging from highly selective private schools such as Yale to large universities such as Texas A&M. The Hillel movement, which includes Hillel International and the Campus Hillel Chapter, generated $200 million in 2003 and received it from tens of thousands of donors.
The Hillel Center is a place where university students cement and discover a sense of Jewish identity. The slogan is “Jews of all kinds” and aims to welcome everyone.
However, as the conflict in Gaza continues, some Jewish students believe Hillel is not important enough to the Israeli government's act of war and is too defensive in supporting Zionism, a belief in Jewish rights to the Jewish state in the lands of Israeli ancestors.
Hillel is part of it acquiescence. “Hilel as an institution is reliant on and remains committed to Israel's support as a Jew and democratic state to fulfill the Jewish rights to self-determination in our ancestors' homeland,” Hillel's chief executive Adam Lehman said in an interview.
The shock of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 led many Jewish students to explore the meaning of being Jewish, and fostered a great growth in Hillel's interest on campuses around the world. The organization said that during the academic year between 2023 and 24, conflicts in the Middle East escalated, resulting in a record 180,000 students taking part in a record 12,000 more than in one year. There was also an increase in the number of “superusers” who visited Hillel at least six times.
But for half of last year, the solidarity associated with that identity has been cracked.
The cracks can be felt in public life and in synagogues. And more generally, divisions among Jews are unfolding among Jews on campus. Some complain that Hillel is way too close to Israel, while others say it's too open to Israeli critics.
Many students find it difficult to get a full divorce from Hillel, especially at this time when they don't feel safe expressing Jewish faith and identity outside their community.
Some students, like Princeton senior Emmanuel Sippy, are looking for a middle ground. She still goes to Hillel for prayer services, meals and lectures. But in search of a more compatible left-wing political environment, she also helped revive the Jewish progressive alliance, a small group of rivals on campus.
“There's a group of people like Hillel who are fighting within these institutions (very close friends, people I admire and respect),” she said. “They may be showing up in the events. Hillel may be counting them. That doesn't mean they have no criticism.”
This is not the first time there has been a division among Hillel students.
Harvard students launched the Open Hillel movement in 2012 in protest of parental organization policies towards partnering with anti-Israel groups. In December 2013, students at Swarthmore Hillel declared the country's first “open hillel” chapter, pledging to promote open research, regardless of ideology.
The current ideological division feels more keen as campuses protest and protest against Israel led to arrests, suspensions and lawsuits. Regarding Hillel on campus, “Many students are not comfortable for political reasons,” said Danya Dublow Compine, a senior Yale Jewish student and co-founder for the Cerez-Finan.
There is also a gap between growing generations. In a Pew survey conducted in February 2024, 38% of adults under the age of 30 said the reason for the Israeli war had fallen from 41% two years ago. This raises some points from previous surveys compared to 78% of people over 65 who said the same thing.
Sophomore Elijah Bakar, a Yale Jewish organizer for the ceasefire, said that the institutional leadership at the Srivka Centre is slow to adapt, as Yale's Hillel is known.
“To be honest, I think there's something true, so there's nothing touched at all,” Bakar said.
Hillel is one of the first places Jewish students go to arrive on campus, meet others, do their homework and enjoy a meal with friends.
“I was looking for a place where my intellectual life would not be silent in the classroom, but would flood the wider community,” said Yale senior Medad Lytton.
Since October 7th, he said he “feeled a strong sense of people.” Slifka's singing circle helped him connect and express himself with others His sadness. “It's like a second home for me,” he said of the center.
Nili Fox, a junior at Washington University in St. Louis, grew up in a religious Jewish family and immediately searched for Hillel upon his arrival on campus. Since October 7th, Hillel has been her “rock,” she said.
“It really helped me knowing there is a place where I was supported and loved whenever I felt uncomfortable,” Fox said.
Other students are disappointed by what Hillel perceives as an uncritical view of Israel in the face of complex and morally challenging reality.
Some students oppose Hillel's house, which flys Israeli flags. The Israeli flag is considered to be a symbol of the country that committed war crimes from Ms. Shippy's perspective.
Uricohen, executive director of Yale's Srifka Center, says the flag represents Hillel's value.
“Some people don't come because it crosses the line for them, and there are a lot of people who come,” Cohen said. “Srifka is very clear. We are a Zionist institution. We also don't check anyone's credentials at the door.”
In January, Yale Hillel held a speech by Naphtari Bennett, former Israeli Army commander, defense minister and prime minister, who was once considered the protégé of Israel's current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many Jewish students opposed Mr. Bennett's Hawkish politics.
(In a later lecture at Harvard Business School, Bennett joked that according to Harvard Crimson, he would give people who opposed him an explosion of potency.)
Bakar, a Yale Jewish organizer for the ceasefire, helped lead a peaceful protest against Bennett in the lobby of the Srifka Centre. He did not object to Mr. Bennett's right to speak, Bakar said, but he did not see why the event was held in a spiritual place.
“Because the university's Jewish community should welcome, welcome and represent all Jews on campus, wherever they come from,” he said.
Another senior student, Netanel Crispe, said he was against Hillel's permission to protest against him, not the speaker. Krispe said Srivka staff had stopped him and several others from filming the protest.
He said: “I took responsibility for Yale Hillel for trying to play both sides in a way that didn't reflect core values.
Cohen, director of Srifka, defended the invitation the Centre had expanded to Bennett, noting that his story attracted 300 people to a space that only had 100.
To explain Hillel's dilemma, protest leader Bakar recalled that he was respectful of leading Shabat Services for the first time. His parents came to town to be there, and friends were present. However, it took place around the time of the Naphtari Bennett event, and one of his friends was protesting.
She told Bakar that she wasn't comfortable walking into Srifka that week. “I fully understand that,” Bakar said.
Alain Delacheriere, Susan C. Beach and Sheila McNeill Contributed research.
