When attending the Hillel International Global Assembly (HIGA) conference in the US in December 2022, Ofer Dahan, Executive Director of Bar-Ilan University’s International School, had no idea he’d connect with Hillel directors from Moldova, Ukraine, and other countries in Eastern Europe.
Hillel International, the world’s largest and most inclusive Jewish campus organization serving 140,000 college students each year, held its annual conference, which drew more than 1,200 attendees, in Dallas, Texas.
Hillel Students in Ukraine
While he was there, he happened to meet Daria Boboc, whose name tag showed she was the Director of Hillel Kishinev in Moldova. He wasn’t aware that Hillel was international and was happy to hear it had a presence in many Eastern European countries. They decided to meet to see what possibilities existed for potential students.
Boboc was in Israel a few weeks later and visited Dahan at Bar-Ilan. They sat together with Neta Moallem, Marketing Director of the International School, to discuss the possibilities.
“Daria told us that hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine had passed through Kishinev over the past year, many of them students,” Dahan said. “So I told her we’d like to give them the opportunity to study at Bar-Ilan and asked if she would help share the information. Instead, she invited us to meet with all the Hillel representatives from all over Eastern Europe – Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Romania, and more – who would be gathering together in Kishinev. So I booked a flight and flew there to meet them all,” he said.
Daria Boboc, Director of Hillel Kishinev, with BIU marketing material at the BIU presentation in Moldova
He was joined by Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, BIU Deputy President, and Elena Gorodetskaya, Project Manager for the International School’s “Urgent Help for Ukraine” program.
Prof. Lewenstein gave a presentation about Bar-Ilan University and its uniqueness. Dahan presented the International School, all the programs offered – undergraduate, graduate, doctorate, and postdoctorate – as well as the special operation for Ukrainian students and researchers, which enables them to come to Bar-Ilan for free for one year. Russian students affected by the war are also welcome to apply.*
Prof. Moshe Lewenstein, Bar-Ilan University’s Deputy President, giving Hillel representatives in Moldova an overview of the university
“I also mentioned that we would be happy to travel to Europe to meet with the students personally in Kishinev and Kiev in April or May and asked them to let people know about Bar-Ilan, which they were very happy to do and that’s what is happening now. We’re expecting about 100 students and in a few months, we’ll travel to Moldova and then Ukraine to meet with them,” said Dahan.
Ofer Dahan (right) met Mark Dovev from the Embassy of Israel in Kiev, at the presentation. He is the Head of the Embassy’s Nativ Office in Ukraine and Moldova
* Only 30 of the students from Ukraine and Russia will be accepted for the first-year scholarship to Bar-Ilan University – 20 students (undergraduate and graduate) and 10 researchers (doctorate and postdoctorate).
All students, whether on scholarship or not, will be studying in English, so they will need to take the relevant English tests to qualify for acceptance.
If you’re in Kishinev or Kiev and would like to join the group discussions, please email Elena Gorodetskaya at [email protected].
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