The need of young people to be involved in activities related to Jewish society, culture and tradition is responsible for the rapid expansion here of an active Hillel program. In answer to that need Hillel on campus chapters now number 33 in Los Angeles County and throughout most of Southern California. After a humble beginning two years ago with one staff director and three part-time workers, the Hillel expansion program now entails scores of rabbis, student coordinators and administrators who cover eight intercollegiate areas.
Mrs. Sylvia Simon, Los Angeles Hillel extension program administrator, said “The first extension campus proved a great success in terms of the numbers of Jewish students who were eager to participate in Jewish-oriented activities, to meet each other and become part of a community feeling.” She added that the initial efforts triggered development of the other Southern California Hillel chapters.
She explained that the students participating in the extension program have a wide range of interests, including a “deep commitment” to the plight of Soviet Jewry, and a genuine desire to stay abreast of the social, political, economic and other problems facing Israel today. Rabbi Henry Rabin is executive director of the Los Angeles Hillel Council, an agency of the Jewish Federation-Council and the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation.
Staff personnel come from varied backgrounds and contribute a myriad of individual talents while working from 25 to 30 hours a month planning and organizing Hillel programs.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
