Hillel Int’l launches educational winter initiative amid coronavirus

More than 1,200 students worldwide have already signed up for the free classes.

Hillel International will be launching an initiative to connect students virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Dubbed “Winterfest,” from the start of the spring semester until the end of next January, Hillel will be organizing 170 small-setting experiences that will be held at universities in nine countries across the world.

”The story of our namesake, Hillel the Elder, being brought in from the cold, snowy roof to be warmed by the hearth of the Beit Midrash (House of Learning) within speaks to the ways the rabbis imagined that Torah could warm the soul and the body,” Hillel’s Vice President For Jewish Education Rabbi Benjamin Berger said. “With Hillel Winterfest, we can create cozy environments of learning that warm the soul, the mind and the body.”

“While this moment doesn’t allow students to be together in the ways they need and we wish they could be, we can still leverage the expertise we’ve built over the past year to create small groups that, even over Zoom, foster community and learning,” Berger added.

Read the full story: “Hillel Int’l launches educational winter initiative amid coronavirus,” Jerusalem Post, January 6, 2020