Shalom From MIT Hillel!

MIT Hillel Update

While Rabbi Michelle Fisher is on sabbatical this semester, the Hillel staff is taking turns filling in on her update column. We hope you enjoy getting to know us through the range of perspectives from the different roles we fill, and the range of our personalities!

To all our graduates and their families: Mazal Tov! To all our returning alumni: Welcome back! I love Commencement, as a bittersweet moment. Remembering all the students from when they were first-years, and seeing them now years later having accomplished so much, been through so much, and seeing in their eyes the excitement of so much yet to come – it’s heartwarming and inspiring, and a bit sad as they move on, and often away, to other experiences. We hope to see each of you graduates when you return for your own reunions over the years, and to hear how your journeys have progressed.

I wouldn’t be doing my job as Program Director if I didn’t use this as one last effort to remind you of our upcoming Commencement Receptions. If you are a graduate, a family member of a graduate, an alum returning for Reunions, or a faculty/staff member on campus, please stop by one or both of our Hillel Commencement/Reunions receptions. Even if you have not RSVPed, please still come. Every year, and especially now, these gatherings demonstrate the love, strength, and commitment of our community and I look forward to saying hello in person to many of you at one of the two receptions:

Thursday, May 29, 4:30 - 6pm: Ideal for new graduates and their families

Friday, May 30, 12 - 2pm: Ideal for reunion attendees of all eras

As commencement looms large for the class of 2025 I’m reflecting on my own professional path. I can’t believe it’s been sixteen years since I graduated from Hofstra University and fourteen years since I took a job doing Israel education & engagement work here at MIT Hillel. Of course, at that time, I didn’t realize that what started as a fellowship would turn into a career at MIT Hillel. Looking back now, I can see how lucky I was to be hired by Rabbi Michelle Fisher. She is an incredible teacher and mentor who has encouraged and supported my desire to seek out training, experience, and opportunities that have molded me into a life-long Jewish communal professional. She understands what it means to empower her staff, and nothing proved that more than her willingness to leave Jewish life at MIT in our hands this semester. It’s a testament to her planning and guidance that we’ve accomplished so much in her absence. And while we tried hard not to interrupt her sabbatical, I believe I can speak for the entire staff when I say we are all looking forward to her return later this summer.

Some highlights over the past month include our Yom HaAtzmaut Israel Day Celebration which featured not only what Americans generally eat as Israeli food – falafel and shawarma – but also took a page from how most Israelis celebrate: by grilling. Then, a week and a half later, one of our Jewish students involved in organizing the Spring philanthropy event for her sorority chapter (Theta), solicited help from Hillel to have, for the third year in a row, a kosher burger option as part of their annual Grill-Off fundraiser. The springtime fun continued at Boston’s Jewish Heritage Night at Fenway Park. MIT Hillel brought together 24 students (a mix of Grads and Undergrads) to watch the Red Sox play the Mets, while celebrating as a Jewish community.

Summer may begin a quieter season for those of us on campus, but Hillel is never silent. GradHillel is still planning Shabbat dinners and activities for the summer. And, if the past is any predictor, undergraduates who are around campus for the summer will find ways to socialize and celebrate.

As the seniors begin their professional journeys, I’ll share a lesson that’s been reinforced for me this year: of course, you should be interested in whatever jobs you take along the way, but do not underestimate the importance of working for and with good colleagues. These people are your partners, with whom you often spend the most time, and can help you to grow in ways you may never have imagined. My blessing for the seniors, and for all of us, comes from the first line of T’filat HaDerech, the traveler’s prayer. May it be Your will, Lord, our God and the God of our ancestors, that You lead us toward peace, guide our footsteps toward peace, and make us reach our desired destination for life, gladness, and peace.

A yashar koach/growth in strength, mazal tov, and b’hatzlacha/good luck to everyone moving ahead in life’s journeys!

Shoshana Gibbor

Director of Programming

[email protected]

Mentshn of Mention

My name is Sarah Pomerantz. I am a queer, patrilineal, Ashkenazi Jew from Long Island, New York. I came to MIT almost 4 years ago to study electrical engineering (I am a rare 6-1), and I am hoping to work on the clean energy transition throughout my career. Outside of Hillel, I am an active member of my dorm community at Simmons Hall, and I am a former electrical lead for the Solar Electric Vehicle Team.

I have been asked to tell you about what brought me to the Jewish community at MIT, but it is a bit more complicated than just showing up in my first semester. I grew up going to a Conservative Shul, and since I was an over-achieving child, I was also very good at being Jewish. But as I went through high school, I lost faith in the God of my childhood. I also began to find critiques in the Jewish community I had been a party of. The community with flags next to the holy ark and the community that made me, the valedictorian of the Hebrew School, convert just because my mom is not Jewish.

So, while I did what I could to distance myself from being Jewish, I never went too far as long as I stayed on Long Island. Even in my first year at MIT I stayed close to my culture unknowingly as I called my very Jewish grandmother in Monsey, NY every day. But then my grandmother passed at the end of my freshman year, and I spent the next year realizing that I really needed my Jewish culture. So, in September 2023, I attended Rosh Hashanah services at Hillel. But soon after, things changed, and Hillel became, for a time, a place which I felt deeply uncomfortable in.

Fast forward past many conversations to the start of my senior year. With the support of some amazing Hillel staff members, I decided to create the Jewish community on campus that I really needed. I started a Reform and Reconstructionist Minyan where we speak about every week’s Torah portions in a modern and queer-affirming way. With some great friends, we are working to bring a new and more progressive Judaism to Hillel, and I cannot be prouder of this. I am also now prouder of and more in touch with my Jewish identity than ever. It is different than the Judaism I have known for most of my life, but it has been perfect for me.

Nowadays, I do not work on Fridays after sunset, in my own observation of Shabbat. I have a great community of Jewish friends through Hillel, and I feel super loved and valued there. I am at almost every event. Being Jewish is now one of my favorite hobbies, and I hope people have enjoyed seeing Judaism in this new light.

Sarah Pomerantz '25

[email protected]

Torah From Tech

Tamara Litwin, Ph.D., M.P.H. (and MIT '09) is an epidemiologist at the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program. She works on data linkages, survey development and implementation, and other aspects of the program’s data and scientific agenda. She is also on the board of DC Minyan, a traditional egalitarian minyan in Washington, DC. Tamara lives with her husband Colin (CME'07) and three kids, Hadar (8), Maya (6), and Orly (2) and enjoys hiking, swimming, and reading fantasy novels.

The practice of counting the 50 days from the second night of Passover to the beginning of Shavuot is called “sefirat haomer,” or the counting of the omer. Traditionally a blessing is said and a day is added to the count each night. A few years ago, I traveled to Australia during this period, crossing the Jewish dateline in both directions, which had some interesting implications for sefirat haomer.

The Jewish dateline is not the same as the international (secular) dateline, which is 180 degrees from Greenwich, England (with some deviations). There are (of course!) several opinions about where exactly the Jewish dateline is, but Sydney, Australia is west of it according to all opinions. Issues still arise from crossing the dateline.

Counting a particular day of the omer is an example of a mitzvah that is tied to a specific “date” on the Jewish calendar. My flight left Los Angeles late on a Sunday night, so I was able to count the 9th day of the omer as normal before takeoff. The 10th day was supposed to be counted Monday night, which is the night I "skipped" on my flight (which landed on Tuesday morning). However, if the flight crossed the Jewish dateline while it was still dark outside, it would officially be Monday night and I could have counted the 10th day on the plane even though from my perspective it was still the same night that I counted as the 9th day. (One can also count the omer without a blessing the next day, a practical but unsatisfying solution.)

Some mitzvot, rather than being tied to the date, are instead tied to the lived experience of sunrises and sunsets ("days"). One example is prayer: Every time an individual experiences the sun rising or setting, it's time to pray the morning or evening service, respectively. When flying from Australia to America, one would say the morning prayers before boarding the flight. On the flight it will get dark, then light again, at which point it’s time to say the morning prayers again for the same day! This phenomenon is what leads to the old joke about the observant astronaut orbiting the earth frantically praying "on with the tefillin, off with the tefillin, on with the tefillin, off with the tefillin..."

The difference between "date" mitzvot and "day" mitzvot is interesting philosophically as well as practically. One possible unifying theory is that date-linked mitzvot are communal, while day-linked mitzvot are personal. Everyone has to be on the date in order to observe Shabbat and holidays as a community. However, while prayer often happens in a community, its essence is a private experience. 

I hope everyone has a meaningful omer period, wherever in the world your travels may take you.

Tamara Litwin '09

[email protected]

MIT Hillel's 2025 Annual Fund

To Our Current and Future Supporters,

Last month I closed with “Wishing you a meaningful end to Passover, and hopefully more evidence of the Festival of Spring than we are currently experiencing at 39 degrees in Boston.” As I write today, it is 47 degrees here, hardly what I’d call evidence of spring! And yet, classes are done, Commencement and Reunions are next week. We are on day 39 of the Omer, with Shavuot fast approaching. In one way, it feels like the season has barely budged, in another way the secular and Jewish calendars propel us forward. 

In my work, this means a mere 5-6 weeks (39 days) remaining in the fiscal year. I always strive for us to have wide participation, to be synergistic with each other, as many donors as possible, each according to their own giving level. And of course, we have financial / budget goals to meet, a fundraising target to reach, all made possible by you, Hillel’s community of support.

THANK YOU for another strong year. Some EOY reminders:

• If you are an end-of-year June donor, please do NOT wait until June 30. Leave a little space to ensure your gift is received and counted in this timeframe. This applies to all organizations you support with the same fiscal year.

• If you have made a gift by securities transfer at any point this year and have not heard from me, please let me know ASAP. Sometimes the Recording Secretary’s office does not receive enough information to match a gift to the donor, and we need your help to identify it, to credit you and to make sure your gift is allocated where you want it to go.

• If you have recently turned 70 – Happy Birthday! And at 70.5 you can use your IRA to make gifts, a preferred philanthropic method for many in our community.

• If this is a reunion year for you, it is not too late to make a five-year reunion pledge to Hillel or any other area on campus of interest to you. I believe the entire pledge counts toward your class giving total, and your class reunion rep can tell you more. And, a multi-year pledge provides stability and helps recipients plan / budget better. 

• Two graduating seniors wrote a beautiful letter for our end-of-year appeal. This will be in mailboxes in June, and we will also send an email so that every donor, whether you have already made your gift or have yet to do so, can know the impact of your gift.

On behalf of the Hillel team, including Rabbi Michelle Fisher in absentia, THANK YOU for moving us forward, propelling us through this year and the years, helping us achieve our counts and being counted. You enable MIT Hillel to be a strong presence on campus and to serve our students in so many ways: on individual Jewish journeys of learning and observance, in helping develop leadership skills, in building ritual knowledge and ability, in growing community and communal responsibility. L’dor v’dor!

Marla Choslovsky SM '88 (XV)

MIT Hillel Director of Development

[email protected]

Be a part of strengthening Jewish life at MIT!

Your generous support allows us to help keep Jewish life vibrant on the MIT campus!

Hillel’s FY24 donor report

Tamid Initiative - Planned Giving @ MIT Hillel

We invite alumni and friends who care deeply about Jewish life at MIT to consider joining the Institute's Katharine Dexter McCormick (1904) Society (KDMS) and be part of the Tamid Initiative by making a bequest to MIT, for the benefit of MIT Hillel. Your generosity will help MIT Hillel engage tomorrow's students, securing our Jewish future with confidence.

MIT and MIT Hillel are eager to help you meet your objectives. For more information, or to inform us that you have already planned such a gift, please contact MIT Hillel Director of Development, Marla Choslovsky, [email protected].

From the Archives!

20 years ago, Hillel celebrated 60 years at MIT. The anniversary celebration was hosted by former MIT President, Susan Hockfield, at Gray House. That now makes MIT Hillel 80 years old...

On the Calendar

3-D Printed Mezuzahs

MIT Hillel has created specially-designed, 3-D printed MIT mezuzahs! Many thanks to Bob Gurnitz '60, SM'61, PhD'66 for his design, printing, and start-up support, and to Terrascope Associate Director Ari Epstein PhD'95 for further design and project support. We offered the first batch of mezuzot (with parchments) for free to current students, faculty, post-docs, and staff. Having commercially 3-D printed more, we are happy to now offer the mezuzahs to alumni, parents, and friends — also as our gift. Please let us know if you would like one.

If you've received your mezuzah and hung it up, feel free to share a picture with us!

Most orders have already been shipped. We are currently processing the orders recently received.

If you already filled out the form to get a mezuzah, please do not fill it out again.

Mazal Tov!

Mazal Tov to the class of 2025!

If you have life-cycle events (a marriage, receiving an award, writing a book, etc.) to share with the MIT Hillel community, please let us know.

MIT Hillel

40 Massachusetts Ave

Building W11

Cambridge, MA 02139

[email protected]