1960s Timeline

Hillel Events and Programs Expand

With increasing support and more students, the late 1950s and early 1960s were a period of further expansion of Hillel at Virginia Tech. Between 1958 and 1961, there were around 40-60 Jewish students participating in Jewish life on campus. With more demand for space, weekly services began to be organized in the Student Activities Building, while holidays were celebrated off-campus in Roanoke, Virginia. Hillel members, including former Vice President of Hillel Butch Aaron (Class of 61), remember breaking the Yom Kippur fast at the MCL Cafeteria and attending meetings at least once a week. Aaron reflects fondly back on a year where Hillel students from Virginia Tech and Radford spent Passover with the club’s sponsor, Dr. Kalison, instead of going to Roanoke. He said it was the best Passover celebration he had ever experienced, and for many Virginia Tech students, the Kalisons felt like family.

By 1967, there were 60-70 Jewish students on campus. Students from Radford University would join Hillel on Friday nights for Shabbat services in the chapel on the drillfield, and Jewish activities began to become more visible to other members of the campus community. Arnold Baer (Hillel President in 1969) remembers feeling generally accepted by non-Jewish peers on campus, even noting a poster on a campus building that pledged support for Israel during the Six Day War.

Antisemitism

When Hillel Vice President Butch Aaron (‘61) felt uncomfortable by the constant Christian prayers during meals in the dining hall (which was meant to be a non-religious environment on campus), he spoke up to the department of religious life about his concerns. Early student leaders at Virginia Tech Hillel were proactive and vocal about building a better campus community, and their efforts are still felt on campus today.