The Leah and Samuel Osher Hillel Fund is named in memory of Mr.
\nOsher’s parents, immigrants from Europe who felt that a college
\neducation was one of the most important legacies they could give their
\nchildren. With the creation of a Hillel fund at Bowdoin, Mr. Osher
\nwished to provide Jewish students with the opportunity to explore their
\nJewish identities through Bowdoin Hillel as part of the college
\nexperience his parents viewed so dear.<\/p>\n
“This endowment is very, very important to Bowdoin College,” says
\nfundraising committee member and trustee emerita Rosalyne Bernstein
\nP’77 H ’97, “because Bowdoin has not always been a welcoming
\nenvironment to Jewish students. Many Jewish alumni see this fund as
\naffirmation of their own identities. It enriches the Bowdoin community
\nas a whole, and it is proof that institutions, like people, grow and
\nchange, and in this case, very much for the better.” Mrs. Bernstein and
\nher late husband, Sumner, established the Harry Spindel Memorial
\nLectureship Fund at Bowdoin twenty-five years ago in memory of her
\nfather and his “lifelong devotion to Jewish learning.” The fund
\nsupports an annual lecture in Judaic studies or contemporary Jewish
\naffairs and Bowdoin Hillel is now closely involved with the widely
\npopular Spindel series.<\/p>\n
“This endowment means that we can sustain active Jewish life on
\ncampus every year,” explains College Librarian Sherrie Bergman, who,
\nwith Professor of Economics Rachel Connelly, serves as Bowdoin Hillel
\nfaculty advisor. “These resources assure that, among other things, we
\ncan have a rabbi on campus for the High Holidays, send students to
\nHillel student leadership conferences, and purchase a Torah and ark to
\nkeep on campus.<\/p>\n
How the College fills its commitment to meet the spiritual needs of
\nevery student differs among different student religious groups,”
\nexplains Bergman. “One of the most meaningful ways we can support our
\nJewish students is to regularize the process of bringing a rabbi to
\ncampus. The religious needs of some of our other students can be met
\nthrough local churches. There is no synagogue in Brunswick.”<\/p>\n
“The endowment has a lot of symbolic value in nurturing a Jewish
\ncommunity on campus,” comments Steve Postal ’05, Bowdoin Hillel
\nco-president. “It is also significant from an admissions standpoint;
\nJews looking for a liberal arts experience while wanting also to engage
\nin the Jewish community, their ethnicity, and spirituality can be
\nassured that Bowdoin College has an active Hillel program.”<\/p>\n
Many alumni share the excitement about the Osher Hillel Fund,
\nincluding fundraising committee member Joel Sherman ’61. “I graduated
\nat a time when there was no Jewish life at Bowdoin,” Sherman says.
\n“There was a void on campus for Jewish students. This fundraising
\neffort has had tremendous support across a broad section of alumni
\nbecause it has given them another way to connect to the College-Bowdoin
\nHillel was a long time coming.”<\/p>\n
“There’s no need to be shy about being Jewish at Bowdoin,” asserts
\nNeal Urwitz ’06, who interned this past summer for a rabbi in Maryland
\nand aspires to rabbinical studies himself after Bowdoin. He is one of
\ntwo current Bowdoin students contemplating that course. “People get
\nenjoyment from many different things; if Judaism is it, great-we now
\nhave that option here. Anyone who wants to be Jewish at Bowdoin can. If
\nthe endowment continues to grow, the program can also expand,” Neal
\ncontinues. “There is talk of hiring a part-time director to facilitate
\nthe activities of Bowdoin Hillel, as well as continuing the sponsorship
\nof guest speakers, and other events. If we have money for these
\nthings-personally, it’s enormous-but, it’s nice for everyone else, too;
\nit adds to the dialogue and diversity of the campus.”<\/p>\n
Rachel Kaplan ’06 summed up the feelings best when she wrote to
\nthank Neal and the other organizers of the Passover seder last spring:
\n“I didn’t really know how I would feel being away from home for
\nPassover\u2026I felt really proud to be Jewish at Bowdoin.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Leah and Samuel Osher Hillel Fund is named in memory of Mr. Osher’s parents, immigrants from Europe who felt that a college education was one of the most important legacies they could give their children. With the creation of a Hillel fund at Bowdoin, Mr. Osher wished to provide Jewish students with the opportunity … Continue reading “History”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/hillel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}