Programs

Our students, like many Jews all over the world, were deeply affected by the events in Israel on October 7, 2023. Our staff was quick to action, planning a Candlight Vigil with one of our student leaders, organizing a group trip to the Israel Rally at the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, and holding our own Hillel Community Gathering. Hillel at FIU is committed to ensuring that FIU continues to be a safe place for all students, especially Jewish students.

Each year, FIU welcomes new students to both of our main campuses…and we’re right there with them! Welcoming new students and their families with ice pops and water, showing Jewish students to the amazing Jewish finds from all over Miami, and giving freshman a tour of FIU while jamming out on a party bus introduces them to just some of the new Jewish friends and new Jewish experiences they can have with Hillel at FIU.

Annually, we bring together some of our strongest, female-identifying leaders to develop their skills with sessions, including Women in Florida, kickboxing, and Girlboss: Starting Your Own Nonprofit, led by some of Miami’s fiercest Jewish women, like Michelle Eiger, Yulia Guseva, Rebecca Russ, Lisa Jerles, Mara Geronemous, Nicole Erdfrocht, Amy Bloom, Deborah Apeloig, Rachel Unger, and Amber Barbach. This weekend empowers the next generation of Jewish, female-identifying leaders in Miami!

Our annual fundraiser, Rosh Hahaha brings in world class, Jewish stand-up comedians for a night of entertainment in one of Miami’s premier locations! In the past, we’ve featured Jewish comedians like Matt Friend, Flip Shultz, Jessica Kirson, Ben Gleib, and Steve Guttenberg! Donations raised during this fundraiser enable our staff to make direct impact on Jewish students at FIU.

A week-long, Spring Break Jews Cruise! This cruise includes engaging Jewish learning sessions each day on topics students want to learn about, Jewish connections at ports like learning about the Jewish community at Chabad Cayman Jewish Center in Grand Cayman, as well as amazing excursions like climbing Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica.

Our week+ of events educating the FIU and Miami communities on the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, and the genocides still going on around the world. We’ve brought in impactful speakers like Michael Berenbaum, founding Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, social media influencer Danielle Yablonka, model and actress Hannah Masi, and entrepreneur Shannon Allen to speak with over 900 students annually!

A week of teaching the FIU community about Israel through food with events like Fajitas and Falafel where students learned about the Sephardic Jewish experience with SAMI, speakers like World Cup athlete for Israel’s Bobsled & Skeleton Team Jared Firestone, music and more! Showing students other aspects of Israel may open their minds to the fact that Israel is more than what they see online!

Students and community members can find a different way to impact the Miami community through visiting our sukkah on the Graham Center Lawns at FIU! Making care kits for the homeless, partnering with Repair The World to pack menstrual kits for students in need, and focusing some time on the mental health of students are a just a few ways we give back during this influential week.

A FREE ISRAEL ADVENTURE