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June 21, 2002
New master of the house
Eyal Lichtmann's time with Hillel comes full circle.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
Eyal Lichtmann said he has every intention of getting his house
in order. But Lichtmann wasn't referring to the home into which
he and wife Mandy will welcome the newborn child they are expecting.
He was talking about the home of the Jewish students of the University
of British Columbia (UBC): Hillel House.
As the new executive director of the Vancouver B'nai B'rith Hillel
Foundation, Lichtmann, who replaces former director Gabe Meranda,
has the summer to acquaint himself with his new surroundings, hire
a program director and an outreach co-ordinator and prepare for
the start of the fall semester. Then, he said, it's time to start
planning.
"My goal is to set a strategic plan for the first year, and
then set a plan for the next five years," said Lichtmann, who
has a background in marketing and sponsorship. "We have to
figure out how we can take all the successes from the past and build
on them."
But Lichtmann said there was no need for a major overhaul.
"This organization is doing well and the people who are involved
in it are highly committed," he said. "We're looking at
increasing current successes, which just means finding new ways
of doing some of the same things better."
Lichtmann's interest in Hillel stems back to his own days as a UBC
student, where he served as the organization's student president
in the late 1980s. After graduating, he spent another year on campus,
this time on staff as Hillel's program director. He said he cherishes
the relationship he developed with then-executive director Mordehai
Wosk and hopes to have the chance to offer the same leadership to
his students.
"The joy of the job is working with the students," said
Lichtmann. "These are educated young adults who have so much
energy and that just drives me. It's just so nice to see them in
action."
Lichtmann has spent the past three years on the Hillel executive
board of directors and chose to put his own marketing and public
relations firm, Face 2 Face, to the side in order take the job with
Hillel.
"I saw it as an opportune time to come in and utilize all my
experience from the marketing world," he said. "The people
on the board are the most fantastic people to work with and I thought
it would be a lot of fun to come in here and help the organization
grow."
Robert Fisher, co-president of Hillel's executive board, said he's
confident his organization has the right man for the job.
"This is somebody who is coming back to an organization which
is near and dear to his heart and we believe he's going to do a
great job for us," said Fisher.
"Historically, many of
Hillel's executive directors have been rabbis and so on, but [Lichtmann's
background in business] is something different and we believe it
is suitable for this day and age."
Lichtmannn said he believes that the time Jewish youth spend in
university plays a major role in determining their level of Jewish
communal involvement as adults.
"Jewish communities lose kids when they go off to university,"
Lichtmannn said. "We want the students to start building relationships
with the other communal [agencies] because eventually they're going
to be leaving university and we want them to become active participants
in the community."
The key to a successful Hillel program has always been the empowerment
of the students said Lichtmann and he plans to continue to provide
a variety of opportunities for the students to champion their own
programs. To initiate that, he said members of the student board
will begin to sit in on the meetings of the executive board.
"We have students who want to produce plays, students who want
to be active in regards to Israel or Holocaust awareness and we
have a group that wants to put on a conference for students from
Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.
"I want the students to feel that this is their place and their
responsibility and I'm here to facilitate and provide direction
for them."
The student board for the 2002/'03 year will be elected in September.
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