Elliot B. Karp's 2021 Rosh Hashanah Message

The Yamim Noraim provide a unique opportunity to reflect and project. We look back on a remarkable year; how it affected us and how we responded to the challenges. We look forward to making decisions about how we wish to change ourselves and our communities. I am confident our decisions will lead to an exciting New Year at Hillels of Georgia, filled with tremendous opportunities for our Jewish students and communities on campus.

I believe this will be a year in which personal relationships and connections with community will be vitally important for our Hillel students, staff, and leadership. I look forward to devoting myself to developing a more open, diverse and inclusive Jewish community at Hillel that is welcoming to every Jewish student. I look forward to recommitting ourselves to dynamic and innovative Jewish life through engagement, awareness, education and celebration. It will also be a year devoted to personal growth and community development as we expand offerings for leadership, service and improvement. It will be a year committed to strengthening Jewish pride, expression, and identity, including connections, education, and travel to Israel. We will ensure our students’ ability to openly express and celebrate their Jewishness free from anti-Semitism, hatred, and discrimination. I see us reaching out within our Jewish communities and beyond to create alliances and collaborations that will benefit ourselves, others and society.

I see a New Year celebrating Jewish life, community, pride, Israel, and our beautiful multi-dimensional expressions of Jewish identity. May we and our loved ones be inscribed in the Book of Life for 5782, filled with God’s blessings for Amcha and the entire world. Shanah Tovah u’Metukah!

Elliot B. Karp is CEO of Hillels of Georgia.