Hillel finds new home, will move in after renovation

Friday, April 12, 1996

New facility to offer Kosher dining, gym, place for prayerBy
Jennifer Louie

Daily Bruin Contributor

Members of Hillel, a Jewish student organization, have found a
new home.

Escrow was recently closed for the organization’s new location,
the former Young Women’s Christian Association building on Hilgard
Avenue.

Hillel is presently housed in the University Religious
Conference, located just down the street from its new offices.
According to many members of Hillel, the organization currently
does not have the space nor the equipment to accommodate all the
activities Hillel would like to provide.

"Among the campuses across the U.S., UCLA is one of the few
which doesn’t have a Hillel house. The need has always been there.
It’s something that’s long overdue at UCLA," said Joe Levin, a
fourth-year history student and member of the planning committee
for Hillel’s house.

However, the organization will have to wait before its facility
is updated. The building will undergo extensive renovation before
it will be ready for Hillel and renovation is expected to be
completed next year.

Advocates of Hillel’s relocation said they recognize the need to
provide a greater sense of community for Jewish students.

Rachel Miller, a second-year political science student, said
that the University Religious Conference does not provide an
environment adequately geared toward Jews because it caters to the
other religions it sponsors.

"It’s a little harder to get absorbed in the Jewish culture when
you’re surrounded by another religion’s paraphernalia," Miller
explained. "It’s important to form a community because you can feel
alienated as a minority."

Though many members of the University Religious Conference are
enthusiastic about Hillel’s new location, Charles Doak, president
of the conference’s board of directors, voiced his concern for
members of the organization whose religious involvement, like
Miller’s, is disrupted by surrounding faiths.

"I hope (the members) won’t abandon their interfaith life once
they change location. They will still be in an interfaith
neighborhood, with Saint Albans Episcopal Church and the Christian
Science Student Organization nearby," Doak explained.

Members of the planning committee also placed great importance
on providing an inviting Jewish community for its visitors.

"The new building will meet every need Jewish students have
­ social, cultural and religious," said Nikki Sieger, the
Jewish Campus Service Corps representative. "Almost every student I
know cannot wait for the opening of this building," Sieger
said.

Aside from serving as a new location for Hillel’s meetings and
activities, the facility will provide an auditorium, library, and a
place to pray and study. The house will offer Kosher dining
services ­ which are unavailable on campus ­ and workout
facilities, including a jacuzzi.

"The building will bring Hillel into the 21st century," Sieger
said, when it joins other campuses which have long since had large,
technologically-advanced Hillel houses.

Members of Hillel said they have faith that the building will be
seen as a more inviting environment for its visitors.

"The new location will revitalize Hillel in a lot of ways if it
is thought of as a hangout instead of just a place to go for
services," Miller said. "The separate building will make it easier
for people to come together other than on Jewish holidays and the
Sabbath."

In addition, members of the planning committee expect the
activities Hillel plans to provide to act as a "catalyst to
increase everything Jewish at UCLA," Levin said.