By Rita Weinstein, Special to JTNews
Over the past 50 years, thousands in Seattle’s young adult Jewish community have walked through the doors of the Greenstein Family Hillel Center at the University of Washington. Next month, those doors will close for good as construction begins on a new, expanded facility.
With approximately 2,000 Jewish students at the University of Washington and a large contingent of young Jewish adults in Seattle, the new center will be able to provide a focal point for connecting in a Jewish context. The planned lounge and café will be inviting spaces to make social connections. A performance hall will be available to local performers and to host cultural events. Jewish studies and special classes will take place in study halls. There will even be a workout room. When complete, the new Hillel Center will aim to meet the social, intellectual, cultural, physical, and spiritual needs of young Jewish adults.
The seed of the idea to construct a new center was planted three years ago. After a dinner event to honor Edgar Bronfman, Board President of Hillel International, it took Hillel student volunteers three days to finish cleaning up the dishes and the kitchen. Several people asked a logical question: why not install an industrial dishwasher? Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space in the kitchen to remodel. This predicament became the catalyst for Hillel’s Executive Director, Rabbi Daniel E. Bridge, and the Hillel board of directors to revisit their strategic plan to see where a new facility might fit in.
The primary goal of the plan was to create connections and build community. Hillel’s leadership envisioned many programs to support that goal, but it became clear that their building, constructed in 1953, wasn’t large enough space to do them all. With so many Jewish Seattleites in the transitional age range of 18 to 30, cramped quarters were a definite hindrance to creative opportunities waiting to happen.
As the leadership looked closer at the possibility of building a new center, Hillel President Amy Schottenstein led a tour of Hillel Centers at Yale, Harvard, Tufts, NYU, and Columbia University, all of which have relatively new facilities.
What they learned was that, although raising funds and constructing buildings was a long and difficult process, these new facilities had generated a three- to fourfold increase in participants. That, they decided, was well worth the effort. Because one of the strategic goals of the board was to be able to do the kinds of things that create community – to create a place where young adults and students could meet, connect, find partners, and then move out into the larger Jewish community – they believed that this project would prove to be more than just a new building. It would mean having the ability to raise programs to a new level of connection and involvement.
Once they made the decision to proceed with a capital campaign to raise the necessary funds, the leadership met with students and other participants to learn what they wanted in a new facility. The architect who spent 25 years designing the Yale Hillel became an active consultant as the plan for the building was created.
The capital campaign, chaired by Hillel Vice President Michele Rosen, kicked off two years ago with a benefit event at Benaroya Hall that featured Debbie Friedman. Since the campaign’s kickoff, the supporters of Seattle’s Jewish community have been very generous. In addition, a whole new group of young adults have become contributors. That supports the strategic goals of the new center.
The campaign is still going, having raised $10.7 million of the needed $12 million. When complete, the new facility will be named the Karen and Sol Gamoran Center for Jewish Life. Other major supporters made donations not only to fund the building, but to fund programs as well.
When the old Hillel closes its doors, programs and staff will move to a temporary home across the 17th St. boulevard. The temporary facility, incidentally, once housed the Campus Muslim Association.
In January, the temporary site will open its doors and programs will resume. The Hillel team has planned for a smooth transition so all of the current programs will continue, even though they may have to “shrink” a bit. Major events will be held as usual, although they’ll occur on campus in other university buildings. Work will begin soon after to tear down the old building and three adjacent buildings on land purchased by Hillel.
To help Hillel’s Capital Campaign reach their goal by making a donation, or for more information, contact Michele Rosen at 206-527-1997.