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Bowdoin College Hillel History
The Leah and Samuel Osher Hillel Fund is named in memory of Mr. Osher's parents, immigrants from Europe who felt that a college education was one of the most important legacies they could give their children. With the creation of a Hillel fund at Bowdoin, Mr. Osher wished to provide Jewish students with the opportunity to explore their Jewish identities through Bowdoin Hillel as part of the college experience his parents viewed so dear.
"This endowment is very, very impor-tant to Bowdoin College," says fundraising committee member and trustee emerita Rosalyne Bernstein P'77 H '97, "because Bowdoin has not always been a welcoming environment to Jewish students. Many Jewish alumni see this fund as affirmation of their own identities. It enriches the Bowdoin community as a whole, and it is proof that institutions, like people, grow and change, and in this case, very much for the better." Mrs. Bernstein and her late husband, Sumner, established the Harry SpindelMemorial Lectureship Fund at Bowdoin twenty-five years ago in memory of her father and his "lifelong devotion to Jewish learning." The fund supports an annual lecture in Judaic studies or contemporary Jewish affairs and Bowdoin Hillel is now closely involved with the widely popular Spindel series.
"This endowment means that we can sustain active Jewish life on campus every year," explains College Librarian Sherrie Bergman, who, with Professor of Economics Rachel Connelly, serves as Bowdoin Hillel faculty advisor. "These resources assure that, among other things, we can have a rabbi on campus for the High Holidays, send students to Hillel student leadership conferences, and purchase a Torah and ark to keep on campus.
How the College fills its commitment to meet the spiritual needs of every student differs among different student religious groups," explains Bergman. "One of the most meaningful ways we can support our Jewish students is to regularize the process of bringing a rabbi to campus. The religious needs of some of our other students can be met through local churches. There is no synagogue in Brunswick."
"The endowment has a lot of symbolic value in nurturing a Jewish community on campus," comments Steve Postal '05, Bowdoin Hillel co-president. "It is also significant from an admissions standpoint; Jews looking for a liberal arts experience while wanting also to engage in the Jewish community, their ethnicity, and spirituality can be assured that Bowdoin College has an active Hillel program."
Many alumni share the excitement about the Osher Hillel Fund, including fundraising committee member Joel Sherman '61. "I graduated at a time when there was no Jewish life at Bowdoin," Sherman says. "There was a void on campus for Jewish students. This fundraising effort has had tremendous support across a broad section of alumni because it has given them another way to connect to the College-Bowdoin Hillel was a long time coming."
"There's no need to be shy about being Jewish at Bowdoin," asserts Neal Urwitz '06, who interned this past summer for a rabbi in Maryland and aspires to rabbinical studies himself after Bowdoin. He is one of two current Bowdoin students contemplating that course. "People get enjoyment from many different things; if Judaism is it, great-we now have that option here. Anyone who wants to be Jewish at Bowdoin can. If the endowment continues to grow, the program can also expand," Neal continues. "There is talk of hiring a part-time director to facilitate the activities of Bowdoin Hillel, as well as continuing the sponsorship of guest speakers, and other events. If we have money for these things-personally, it's enormous-but, it's nice for everyone else, too; it adds to the dialogue and diversity of the campus."
Rachel Kaplan '06 summed up the feelings best when she wrote to thank Neal and the other organizers of the Passover seder last spring: "I didn't really know how I would feel being away from home for Passover…I felt really proud to be Jewish at Bowdoin."