Starting in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotem, 29, from Herzliya, a city north of Tel Aviv, began serving in the U.S. as a Jewish Agency Campus Israel Fellow. While creating relationships with students over Zoom was hard, Rotem persevered, and worked at the Hillel at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, for two years.
Israel Fellows are Israeli young adults who have finished their Israeli army service and university and who are brought to North American college campuses every year by The Jewish Agency, in partnership with Hillel. These Fellows help substitute education for ignorance when it comes to student opinions about Israel, creating safe spaces for tolerance and diversity, and give students a chance to develop lasting connections with an Israeli.
“I was exposed to the world of Shlichut (Israeli emissary service) and to world Jewry when I was a counselor at a URJ summer camp in Wisconsin years ago. It really interested me, this idea of combining Israel education and working with Jews abroad,” said Rotem. “But then I was in the Israel Defense Forces, went to Hebrew University, and started working for El-Al Airlines as a flight attendant and life went on… fortunately, I was able to seize the opportunity to have this meaningful adventure before going to grad school, and so here I am!”
In 2022, Rotem decided to apply to the Israel Action Program (IAP) department of Hillel International, which necessitated a move to Washington D.C. from Cleveland. While part of the IAP, she completed a third year as a 2022-23 Israel Fellow at Georgetown University’s Hillel.
Through her IAP fellowship, Rotem is in contact with Israeli speakers from diverse sectors of Israeli society and plans events and creates educational programming for dozens of Hillels on campuses throughout North America. For Rotem, taking on this new responsibility in addition to continuing to be an Israel Fellow is allowing her to make even more of an impact at a time when the presence of Israel Fellows is so critical.
During her time in Cleveland and D.C., Rotem had to help students deal with antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on both campuses. She assisted students in standing up for Israel against a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution at CWRU – which in the end did not end up being passed – and fostered support after a swastika was found in one of the Georgetown dorms. Those incidents made it even more clear to her that Shlichim (Israeli emissaries) are essential.
“Strengthening the connection between Jews in the US and Israel is key. We need to have a deep understanding of each other and through Shlichut, and especially working on campus with students, I’ve brought the complex realities of Israel to life while building these meaningful and lasting relationships with Jewish and non-Jewish students alike,” stated Rotem.
