A lot of people are asking me why I, as Hillel Class of ‘99 (and completely “distant” from Hillel in that respect as well as geographically), created this site. Let me provide a few reasons behind this decision.
First of all, I want to preface by saying that this was mostly inspired to be an extension of the Facebook group. From what I can already see (and I will post the incredible statistics later), the community impact is far greater than on a membership-only site. I took this initiative myself, and I am incredibly moved by everyone’s responses. I also did not promote the site at all. I simply told three people, and within hours, knowledge of the site’s existence had grown to hundreds. Today, the site had over 1,000 unique visitors.
A number of students (and people who have heard of my involvement) are impressed at the dedication that I am putting towards this site. After all, nobody made me do this. It was a decision I made at 3AM on Friday morning, because I simply could not sit idly after learning what happened. I did this because I think we have a commitment to our educators. This community exists and is flourishing with that goal in mind.
Mrs. Galitzer chaperoned my class when we went on the Panim el Panim seminar in 1996. According to their site, this is the mission of Panim el Panim:
The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values is dedicated to the renewal of American Jewish life through the integration of Jewish learning, values, and social responsibility.
The goal of Panim el Panim is to reinforce the idea that Jewish activism is critical for our survival. I think we have a responsibility put this idea into true practice, especially within our own “Jewish” day school.
I may no longer have anything to do with Hillel in terms of academics, but I am still part of the Hillel Community. Whether we are attending Hillel or not, nearly every contribution to this site comes from the hearts of numerous students who have been touched by some incredible role models. We all deserve to have a voice.
To revisit my original question, why did I make this site? I created this site because I think that as a member of the Hillel community and the Jewish community, it is the morally right thing to do.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Site Statistics // Mar 27, 2007 at 10:35 am
[…] I mentioned in an earlier message, I did not verbally promote this site and truly didn’t know what would happen when I created […]
2 Anonymous // Mar 28, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I still cannot beleive the things that were said about a specific individual, this iste is just lashon hara at its best
3 admin // Mar 28, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Anonymous: You and I can agree to disagree. The comment of lashon hara that you specifically refer to was removed shortly after its discovery and I explained my rationale behind it in my comment here.
This site is merely a conduit for discussion about Hillel, but it initially stemmed in support of our faculty. I am sorry if you feel that it has degenerated to a bunch of comments laden with loshon hara, but there’s a big difference when it comes to disagreeing with an action (promotion of a new vision which affects the employment of several esteemed faculty members) and attacking an individual (which I have tried to explicitly avoid). We disagree with each other and we are adults.
Assuming you are a board member (and I really don’t know for sure), thank you for stepping out. However, I think that you should have foreseen that the people will oppose your new vision. I am also pretty sure that when the board made its decision to fire the teachers, a lot of loshon hara surrounded the those discussions.
With respect to your mention of loshon hara, I guess neither of us can win.
4 anonymous // Mar 29, 2007 at 1:07 am
i just would like to say that i am happy someone took the initiative to do something, this school has been m home for thirteen going on fourteen years, and to see such integral elements of the faculty being laid off, so that more inexpensive teachers can be brought in is disgusting. Hillel is a Jewish school and should remain a jewish school, no one should be able to tarnish the morals, and life lessons it imparts on it’s students.
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