JLIC Overview
(From The JLIC Website)
The university environment is a marketplace of ideas and experiences that can pose both challenges and opportunities to an Orthodox Jew's observance and commitment. In recognition that the overwhelming majority of Modern Orthodox college students are being educated at secular universities, the OU, in partnership with Hillel and with assistance from Torah Mitzion, administers the Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), a program that helps Orthodox students navigate the college environment, and balance their Jewish commitments with their desire to engage the secular world. In addition, JLIC provides avenues for spiritual development and exploration for Jewish students from varied backgrounds; JLIC presents a positive, sophisticated and welcoming face for Orthodox Judaism on campus.
JLIC places Orthodox Rabbinic couples to serve as Torah educators within the Hillels on local college campuses. Now on fifteen campuses in North America, the JLIC educators strive to enhance the learning opportunities available to students, and also to bolster an infrastructure for Orthodox life to flourish. The educators offer weekly Shiurim and classes, bring guest speakers and events to campus, and make key Orthodox necessities, such as Kashrut, Chagim and Shabbat, easier to observe and more meaningful.
However, instead of taking only a generalized approach, JLIC families strive also for a more individualized touch. Students grace their Shabbat tables as regular guests, interact with them in informal settings, such as the cafeteria, and learn with them B'Chavruta. The regular ongoing availability of the families creates a comfort level that enables students to confide in them and seek advice for their more serious issues, whether of a Halachic, personal, or intellectual nature.
Educators are considered full members of the Hillel staff, and they interact with a large number of students both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Hillels are often thankful for the presence of JLIC, not in the least because it enables them to better serve the Orthodox populations on campus, but also because it bolsters their ability to offer educational/spiritual services to all of the Jewish students. While the primary impetus of JLIC has been to serve the Orthodox, rather than Kiruv in a classic sense, we have found that the educators have had a substantive and positive impact on a broader population as well.
The university environment is a marketplace of ideas and experiences that can pose both challenges and opportunities to an Orthodox Jew's observance and commitment. In recognition that the overwhelming majority of Modern Orthodox college students are being educated at secular universities, the OU, in partnership with Hillel and with assistance from Torah Mitzion, administers the Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), a program that helps Orthodox students navigate the college environment, and balance their Jewish commitments with their desire to engage the secular world. In addition, JLIC provides avenues for spiritual development and exploration for Jewish students from varied backgrounds; JLIC presents a positive, sophisticated and welcoming face for Orthodox Judaism on campus.
JLIC places Orthodox Rabbinic couples to serve as Torah educators within the Hillels on local college campuses. Now on fifteen campuses in North America, the JLIC educators strive to enhance the learning opportunities available to students, and also to bolster an infrastructure for Orthodox life to flourish. The educators offer weekly Shiurim and classes, bring guest speakers and events to campus, and make key Orthodox necessities, such as Kashrut, Chagim and Shabbat, easier to observe and more meaningful.
However, instead of taking only a generalized approach, JLIC families strive also for a more individualized touch. Students grace their Shabbat tables as regular guests, interact with them in informal settings, such as the cafeteria, and learn with them B'Chavruta. The regular ongoing availability of the families creates a comfort level that enables students to confide in them and seek advice for their more serious issues, whether of a Halachic, personal, or intellectual nature.
Educators are considered full members of the Hillel staff, and they interact with a large number of students both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Hillels are often thankful for the presence of JLIC, not in the least because it enables them to better serve the Orthodox populations on campus, but also because it bolsters their ability to offer educational/spiritual services to all of the Jewish students. While the primary impetus of JLIC has been to serve the Orthodox, rather than Kiruv in a classic sense, we have found that the educators have had a substantive and positive impact on a broader population as well.
The JLIC Educators
Sharon Weiss-Greenberg
Sharon is a doctoral candidate in Education and Jewish Studies at New York University. Her research for her dissertation will focus on gender studies in the Jewish summer camp setting. She is a Wexner Fellow and Davidson Scholar. During the summers of '07 and '08, Sharon was the Rosh Moshava (Head of Camp) at Camp Stone in Pennsylvania. Prior to assuming the position of Rosh Moshava she had spent many summers in different leadership roles in Camp Stone. She has taught at Yeshiva University High School for Girls in New York and Yavneh Academy in New Jersey. She has also taught at and developed fascinating curriculum for the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies in New Jersey. She spent the academic year of '08-'09 studying Talmud and Halakha at The Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. She received her Masters in Education from the Azrieli Graduate School of Yeshiva University and received a B.A. in Sociology and Jewish History from Yeshiva University. While as an undergraduate at the Stern College for Women, Sharon served as president of the student council during the academic year of '02-'03. She also served as both freshman and sophomore class president, respectively. She was center in the Stern basketball team and a deejay on WYUR.
Rabbi Ben Greenberg
Rabbi Ben received his semikha/rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in June of '09. While at YCT, he interned at both The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in New York and The Hallel v'Zimrah Minyan of The Jewish Center of Teaneck in New Jersey. He has also held rabbinic fellowships at The HealthCare Chaplaincy and The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. Before beginning his rabbinical studies at YCT he studied for four years at The Lander College for Men in Queens, New York where he received a B.A. in Psychology. In 2007 Ben published an article entitled, "The Exodus as the Foundational Paradigm for Social Justice" in the third volume of the journal Milin Havivin. Also in 2007 Ben organized and led a relief mission to Southern California during the wildfires.