Nicole Samuel

Masterclass: Israel (MCI) and Masterclass: Israel Xperience (MCIX) are initiatives of Hillel International’s Center for Jewish and Israel Education that aim to strengthen and improve campus professionals’ knowledge, skills, and confidence related to contemporary Israeli society and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both MCI and MCIX are small cohort-based programs that emphasize teaching multiple perspectives and narratives about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The report is based on findings from a multi-year, multi-method study of MCI and MCIX designed to assess change and growth over time in three core areas of professional learning: knowledge of contemporary Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, skills related to campus pluralism and educational pedagogy, and confidence engage in this work with students and colleagues. The study focuses on three cohorts of MCI: Cohort III (spring 2022), Cohort IV (spring 2023), and Cohort V (spring 2024), as well as one cohort of MCIX participants (August 2023).

The evaluation highlights the meaningful impact of MCI and MCIX on participants’ development as Hillel professionals and Israel educators. Participants consistently reported gains in content knowledge, skills, and confidence. MCI and MCIX helped equip professionals to better support students seeking an alternative to a polarized campus environment by creating a space for respectful and multi-faceted conversations. These outcomes are especially important given the heightened tensions on campus following October 7 and the Israel-Hamas war.

This report is the most recent in a program of evaluation of Hillel International’s Springboard Fellowship, their flagship program for early career professionals and the largest career incubator program in the Jewish community. Designed to serve as a talent pipeline for both Hillel and the broader Jewish nonprofit sector, Springboard places recent college graduates on North American college campuses to build relationships with students and develop participants’ skills as Jewish leaders and educators. This early career experience is intended to inspire participants to pursue a professional path in Hillel or other Jewish nonprofit organizations.

This report includes the findings from the annual survey of Springboard alumni from seven cohorts (Aleph through Zayin, 2016-24), along with participants of Hillel’s Ezra Fellowship (2014-18). The findings offer a snapshot of Ezra and Springboard alumni as of December 2024, including employment status and sector, graduate school enrollment, indicators of career advancement, and a description of their participation in Jewish life and leadership.

The report also focuses on the post-Fellowship experiences of alumni from Springboard’s Ezra Jewish education track, or specialty area. The Ezra track, modeled in part on the original Ezra Fellowship, was designed for early career professionals interested in Jewish education. To better understand participants’ professional trajectories, interviews were conducted with Ezra track alumni from four cohorts to ​explore their career decisions and their considerations in pursuing roles in the Jewish community, including in Jewish education and the rabbinate.

Leaders for Tomorrow (LFT) is American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) seven-month cohort-based education and advocacy program for Jewish high school students. The programs aims to prepare teens with advocacy skills, increased content knowledge about Israel and antisemitism, confidence discussing these issues, and strengthened Jewish identities. This report describes LFT participants in the 11 AJC regions and one national virtual cohort offering the program in 2024-25. To measure growth and change over time, the study examined participants’ views and knowledge prior to beginning the LFT program and at the end of the program.

This report explores the impact of financial insecurity on the college trajectory of Jewish young adults. The findings are based on survey data collected in spring 2024, from 2,164 Jewish respondents, and from 19 in-depth follow-up interviews conducted in spring 2025. All respondents were 23-24 years old at the time of data collection.

The report examines how those who grew up with the most financial need (16% of all respondents) compared to their peers who grew up in more affluent circumstances with respect to their journey from high school to college and beyond.

CMJS has studied Hillel International’s Springboard Fellowship for early career professionals since 2017. The Springboard program is part of Hillel’s efforts to build a talent pipeline for the movement and the Jewish nonprofit sector overall. Alumni outcomes are critical for understanding the Fellowship’s impact, both on individual participants and the field.

This report includes findings of alumni surveys fielded in winter/spring 2024 to Ezra Fellowship alumni and to participants in six Springboard cohorts: Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Hey, and Vav.

The report focuses on participants’ post-Fellowship professional growth and leadership trajectories, including on employment, graduate studies, career advancement and considerations, professional development activities, continued connections to Hillel and the Fellowships, and participation in Jewish life and leadership.

In addition to the winter/spring 2024 findings, the report uses result of alumni surveys from prior years for point-in-time comparisons across the cohorts. The comparisons show the experiences of different cohorts at the same point in time from the Fellowship. The report also examines survey and interview data from alumni of Springboard’s second cohort, Bet, to explore changes over the five years since the end of their Fellowship experience. 

This report explores how October 7, the Israel-Hamas war, and the hostile climate on campus affected the day-to-day lives of Jewish students. Jewish students and Jewish campus professionals discuss the various responses to events on campus and how successful they were in addressing student concerns during the 2023-24 academic year. Drawing primarily on data collected through long-form interviews with Jewish students and Jewish campus professionals, the report also includes survey data from Jewish undergraduates collected in fall 2023 and spring 2024.

The Maccabiah Games, which have taken place in Israel nearly every four years since 1932, draw thousands of Jewish athletes from around the world to compete for their respective countries, develop connections with their peers, and deepen their relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. For the US delegation, the Maccabiah experience is accompanied by a multi-day educational and cultural travel program called “Israel Connect,” which is designed to strengthen athletes’ Jewish identities and knowledge of and connection to Israel.

This report follows up on our earlier 2018 study and focuses on the athletes who applied to compete in the U16/U18 and in the Open divisions of the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel. In addition to examining the impact of participating in the Maccabiah on athletes’ connections to Israel, their Jewish peers, and the Jewish people, the report aims to evaluate how the challenges identified in the 2018 study were addressed in the 2022 program.

The Springboard Fellowship is Hillel International’s flagship program for early career professionals. As the largest early career incubator in the Jewish community, Springboard aims to cultivate and identify emerging professionals who will apply their talents on campus with Hillel for two years and may be inspired to continue on a professional path in Hillel and/or the Jewish nonprofit sector.

This report looks at where Ezra Fellowship and Springboard alumni are as of fall 2022, including their current employment and graduate studies status, career advancement, participation in professional development, continued connections to Hillel and the Fellowships, and involvement in Jewish life and leadership.

The fall 2022 report also includes analyses using data collected in previous Ezra and Springboard alumni surveys. Results from prior years are used in point-in-time comparisons across the Fellowship cohorts. In addition, the report examines the experience of Gimel cohort since their Fellowship concluded in spring 2020. Gimel is Springboard’s third cohort and represents Hillel’s shift to a larger, scaled Fellowship.

The Summer Institute for Israel Studies (SIIS), organized by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, is a one-of-a-kind program designed to equip scholars to engage in quality teaching and research about Israel. The Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies has conducted annual surveys of SIIS alumni since the program’s inception in 2004. This report provides results of the annual alumni survey for Fellows from cohorts 2004-21, gathered throughout fall 2022 and details Fellows’ professional positions and activities related to Israel during the 2021-22 academic year (including courses offered, work with students, research and publications, and other opportunities to share and utilize their knowledge of Israel). The report also examines Fellows’ ongoing connections to SIIS, including their connections to other alumni and use of resources provided by the Schusterman Center.