This year Goucher Hillel has made a concerted effort to help our students experience life outside campus.
As part of the Jewish adulting grant, in November 2025 a group of eight Goucher students traveled to the Jewish Museum of Maryland, located in downtown Baltimore. Before lunch they toured an exhibit titled Modernisms, which highlighted the works of 13 Baltimore artists, mostly Jewish, who were active in the mid-to-late 20th century. The students were delighted to see how many of the artists had Goucher connections. Following a deli lunch, the students met with two alums, Gabriel Stuart Silkowitz ’13 and Rebecca Mark ’14, to hear about Jewish life after college. Students then attended the opening of an exhibit titled Upon Thy Gates, which showcased 73 mezuzahs collected by Elaine and Norman Winik from Jewish communities all over the world. The exhibit was produced by the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. The students enjoyed the excitement of attending an exhibit opening.
An intergenerational program at Edenwald was closer to home, but still another world from Goucher. Edenwald is a continuing care community located next to Goucher College that has a large Jewish population. On December 10, Rabbi Josh presented an edition of Torah on Tap to the Edenwald community. About 30 Edenwald residents and four Goucher students listened to Rabbi Josh talk about the origins of Hanukkah. Students enjoyed speaking with the seniors and one resident reciprocated by gifting Goucher Hillel a collection of tzedakah boxes that he had made. On March 25, Goucher Hillel will return to Edenwald as Rabbi Josh presents a Torah on Tap talk on Passover. Hopefully, this partnership will continue to grow.
Hillel International, Blue Square Alliance, UNCF (United Negro College Fund), and Robert K. Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism are partnering to sponsor a series of Unity Dinners. The purpose is to bring together Jewish and Black students from area colleges to share a meal and have meaningful conversations about Black-Jewish relations that will hopefully build a sense of community. The Unity dinners alternate between predominantly White and historically Black colleges and universities. This year, Towson University and Morgan State University were the hosts. The Goucher students who attended enjoyed seeing a different campus and meeting other students. They found the Black students to be very welcoming and interested in both learning about Judaism and sharing their perspectives. Students who attended the recent Unity Dinner were invited to a tour of M&T Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens football team plays. This gave students an opportunity to interact again with the students they met at Morgan State.
The Baltimore-area Hillels are reaching out to other colleges and universities in the area who do not have Hillels. The goal is two-fold—to serve the Jewish students at these campuses and to serve as goodwill ambassadors to partner with non-Jewish people and to create allies. Rabbi Josh was assigned the Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University, and McDaniel College. Because of his new connections at Morgan State, Rabbi Josh took the lead for the area Hillels in helping to plan the Unity Dinner at Morgan State.
Goucher Hillel will continue to look for ways to get our students outside the Goucher bubble.