What Makes This Jewish? Inside Hillel's Keshet Audit, Climate Justice Deep Dives, and Abortion Committee

Part of Olam's Hillel International audit series. Companion coverage: Who Runs Hillel? Auditing 1,269 Campus Professionals and Hillel's $73 Million Machine.

Racial Justice Deep Dives, Climate Action Plans, a Year-Long LGBTQ+ Organizational Audit, an Abortion Committee, and the Question Nobody Asked: What Makes Any of This Jewish?

Hillel International's Social Impact page lists the programming the world's largest Jewish campus organization chose to build at the national level. This study examines what that programming actually contains, not its titles, but its curricula, frameworks, partner organizations, training requirements, and institutional commitments.

This study asks one question: What percentage of Hillel International's identifiable national programming addresses a distinctly Jewish concern, and what percentage could be run by any secular progressive nonprofit?

Jewish Students Were Hiding Their Stars of David. Hillel Was Publishing Climate Action Plans.

Hillel Handed Its Policies, Website, and Curricula to an LGBTQ+ Organization for a Year-Long Audit.

Hillel entered Shivyon: Keshet's Equality Project, a year-long program run by Keshet ('working for the full equality and inclusion of LGBTQ+ Jews').

What Keshet's published materials say it includes:

Full-day launch training. 'Core terms and concepts related to LGBTQ+ identities.'

Institutional Self-Assessment. 'A comprehensive checklist to check how inclusive their institution is of LGBTQ+ people and their needs.'

Website audit. Keshet reviews web presence for LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Materials and policies review.

Assistance developing LGBTQ+ affirming curricula.

Customized Action Plan. Per Hillel's own page: 'concrete objectives and a timetable for implementation.'

Ongoing Keshet coaching. 'Maintaining accountability and continued learning.'

Capstone gathering. Year-end.

4 to 6 organizational members on a task force with Keshet accountability.

What the Keshet audit did NOT examine: Jewish literacy. Jewish identity. Israel education. Hebrew. Antisemitism. Campus security. Shabbat. Holidays.

Hillel's Racial Justice Guide: Multi-Year Antiracism Plan. No Mention of Sephardic or Mizrachi Jews.

Per Hillel's materials: teaches 'how best to be allies' to minorities in 'pain, turmoil, and fear.' Commits to 'multi-year plan for DEI and antiracism.' Includes 'measurable goals to combat racism and diversify leadership.' Framed through secular DEI/antiracism, not Jewish texts.

Not addressed: Sephardic and Mizrachi inclusion, 10% of American Jewry, higher engagement and Israel connection.

Hillel Trains Interns in 'Climate Justice' and 'Disability Justice.' Zero Deep Dives on Jewish History, Law, or Israel.

Service Engagement Internship (with Repair the World) trains interns in: Racial Justice, Climate Justice, Disability Justice, Food Justice.

'Climate Justice' links climate to systemic inequality. 'Disability Justice' centers 'anti-capitalism and collective liberation.' None reference Jewish texts, law, history, or communal priorities. The ACLU could run identical sessions.

The 2024 Climate Plan Was Published After October 7. It Commits to Emissions Reduction. Not Jewish Education.

Published through the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition. Commits to 'reducing greenhouse gas emissions.' Does not commit to Jewish educational content on environmental ethics in Jewish law.

Hillel Formed an Abortion Committee, Opposed Dobbs, and Partnered With NCJW on 'Gender-Affirming Health Care'

Jewish law contains a range of views, from permissive to restrictive. Hillel's position aligns with one side and the Democratic platform. It does not present the range.

14 of 19 Program Components Are Not Distinctly Jewish. The Planned Parenthood Test.

14 of 19 not distinctly Jewish. Three partially Jewish. Two present one side of internal Jewish disagreement.

No Multi-Year Plan for Jewish Literacy. No Year-Long Audit of Jewish Education. No Sephardic Infrastructure.

• No multi-year plan for Jewish literacy, Talmud, or Hebrew

• No year-long external audit of Jewish educational quality

• No intern deep dives on Jewish history, law, or Israel

• No Sephardic/Mizrachi self-assessment comparable to LGBTQ+ audit

• No measurable Jewish literacy goals comparable to Climate Action Plans

At the national level, progressive policy infrastructure is more developed, formalized, and externally accountable than Jewish educational infrastructure.

Hillel Was Offered an Opportunity to Respond

1. Does Hillel consider these programs Jewish programming or broader advocacy?

2. What makes the justice deep dives Jewish rather than secular?

3. Has Hillel conducted a comparable audit of Jewish educational quality?

4. Is there Sephardic/Mizrachi infrastructure comparable to LGBTQ+?

5. Does the Racial Justice guide use Jewish texts or secular DEI?

6. What Jewish content is in the intern deep dives?

As of this writing, Hillel has not responded to these questions.

Methodology

Published content of every identifiable national Hillel broader-policy program examined from hillel.org, Keshet program descriptions, InfluenceWatch, JTA, and Hillel Climate Action Plans. Each component coded distinctly Jewish, partially Jewish, or not distinctly Jewish. Full data published alongside.

Read the series: Who Runs Hillel? Auditing 1,269 Campus Professionals and Hillel's $73 Million Machine.