Matt’s Menschifesto: A Surprising Gift
Every so often, Hillel 818 Executive Director Matt Baram will share the latest chapter of his “Menschifesto,” thoughts and lessons learned during his time as Executive Director.
With the occasional exception, amazing news from your professional colleagues is not usually conveyed in text messages sent after 9 p.m. And so last week when I received a 9:30 pm text message from Hillel 818 Associate Director Evan Levental, I’ll admit that my first reaction was, “Ugh, what now?”
Evan’s message screamed, “WHAT?!?! This has to be a mistake.”
I carefully examined the screenshot Evan had attached and then checked my email to make sure she wasn’t pulling a prank. Sure enough, one of our current students had made a $1,500 donation to Hillel 818.
“Wow! She must’ve accidentally added a 0 or two,” I responded. “I’ll give them a call tomorrow.”
The next day I called the student – let’s call them Shira.
Shira chose to attend CSUN mostly for financial reasons, and in addition to her full-time schooling, she works a significant part-time job. Like many of our students, Shira entered college focused on her degree and her career - student life and community were an afterthought at best. Luckily, in the Fall of 2019, Shira met a Hillel staff member on-campus at CSUN and then attended their first Hillel 818 event – a board game night. From then on, Shira was an active Hillel student attending Shabbats, Israel programming, making new friends, and so much more - when her demanding job allowed.
I thanked Shira for making a gift to Hillel 818 and then gently asked if $1,500 was, indeed, the intended amount.
“Yes,” Shira responded, matter-of-factly.
A few additional statements of gratitude later, I asked Shira what inspired this surprising gift. Her response left me floored.
“I got a promotion at work, and now that I’m able to afford tzedakah, I thought it was important that I start giving back to the places that helped me. And plus, I figured Hillel has spent way more than $1,500 on me these past few years.”
These are our students. They are special, they are deserving, and they are grateful. This Rosh Hashanah, Shira’s example is the food for the soul that will inspire me and Hillel 818 to continue doing this important work throughout 5784 and beyond. I hope you’ll join us.