A group of students at Northwestern University would like to have a conversation. They want to talk, and they want to get their entire campus community talking.
The AskBigQuestions initiative, a student project of Fiedler Hillel at Northwestern, aims to promote civic engagement and discourse. The initiative does exactly what its title suggests: it asks questions of universal concern in the university setting and it stimulates discussion.
The initiative has three parts: A colorful website (AskBigQuestions.com), with space for bloggers and readers to respond to weekly questions (like, “Why are you here?” and “What should we sacrifice to change the world?”), man-on-the-street videos, and links to explore questions further; a print campaign, including posters, banners and post-its; and an on-going series of salon sessions with popular professors on campus.
“It gets us talking beyond our academic divisions and our specific communities about human questions. We don’t necessarily intersect even when it comes to talking about these important life questions. AskBigQuestions allows for that and gets us thinking together,” said Sam Schiller, a Jewish student in his senior year. Schiller was among the first students involved with AskBigQuestions when it began last year.
Hillel Campus Rabbi Josh Feigelson, who conceived the idea of the program and supervises students running the initiative, noted that in a university environment everyone is specialized. “There are not so many places to go where you can discuss these concerns common to us all. So I think we’re filling a void,” he said.
“It’s sparking conversation. It’s getting people to think about what really resonates for them and then channeling that curiosity. And that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to help Jewish students explore and connect to our heritage while doing so,” said Fiedler Hillel Executive Director Lisa Kudish.
Hillel’s survey and anecdotal evaluation of the project show its results on campus, with students on campus noticing, and talking about, provocative banners. Students—and professors—who participate in the initiative’s more intensive programs reported great satisfaction in being engaged in this kind of discussion on campus.
Rabbi Feigelson explained how the initiative provides for a Jewish experience for students in addition to promoting campus-wide discussion. “It allows and facilitates conversation. Then we can see how Jewish thought, ritual and tradition elaborate these questions.” Jewish tradition, among others, he continued, explores these questions.
Feigelson explained that AskBigQuestions reverses the traditional way of connecting to Jewish students. “We don’t just immediately show students how Jewish life is important to them. We’re showing students how they’re important to Jewish life.” Students become part of a Jewish conversation about life questions, he explained.
Schiller’s involvement in AskBigQuestions has been a Jewish experience, affirming both his religious identity and his civic identity. AskBigQuestions’ conversations combined for him a sense of civic responsibility, his concern for maintaining public discourse, and the “space that religion allows us to think spiritually about our place in the world.”
He added, “I see myself as an engaged participant in this world, and that ultimately reinforces my own religious, Jewish identity.”
In keeping with AskBigQuestions’ notion of intergroup relations, he worked in its first year to get co-sponsorship of programs, for instance, with a feminist group on campus. “I wanted the conversation to be relevant to everyone,” he said. He now contributes online and involves campus personalities from various backgrounds with online content, including videos.
Alexandra Komisar, AskBigQuestions’ managing director and a senior at Northwestern, said that AskBigQuestions allows one to fit their own Judaism into a larger, global perspective. “Seeing how others reflect on their faith lets me reflect on mine,” she said.
People answer questions drawing from various personal experiences, said Komisar. Her time with AskBigQuestions has shown her that the various ways by which we identify ourselves are intimately connected, though we commonly think they are not. Her Jewish and civic identities, she affirmed, are not isolated.
Komisar works with over 10 students actively involved in implementing the initiative, set up like an editorial board.
Another big component of the project is its distinctive appeal. AskBigQuestions looks good. When you visit its website or see its printed banners, with questions put in simple script against a very bright background, it is immediately attractive, and then, thought-provoking.
By creating a unique brand identity, AskBigQuestions responds to the reality of ubiquitous branding in our culture. It promotes civic engagement in an attractive, and very current, way.
“The initiative really catches the imagination of those who come into contact with it, and so it’s gotten a lot of publicity,” said Feigelson. “The appeal of the media component ideally drives students to more human interaction, and, for Jewish students, to meaningful Jewish dialogue on important subjects,” he added.
With its great appeal and aim to promote public discussion, it’s no surprise that AskBigQuestions is growing. In addition to offering the program on other campuses, its student board plans to become independent of Hillel and embrace not only the Jewish student community, but the various groups that comprise their campus. Komisar explained that they plan on creating a diverse advisory board with faculty and religious leaders.
AskBigQuestions furthers students’ Jewish identities because it aims to engage all students in life’s big questions, said Feigelson. “It becomes a Jewish project by being a human project. So as the initiative expands and ultimately outgrows its original home in Hillel, we see it as a gift that Hillel is giving the university community.”
New Fiedler Hillel Executive Director Lisa Kudish
This summer, Lisa Kudish stepped into the role of executive director at Northwestern University’s Fiedler Hillel, bringing with her a passion for cultivating the young Jewish community.
Kudish worked for nine years in the world of marketing and venture capital, before bringing her experience to Jewish communal work. Skills in communications and fundraising, public relations experience, and lay leadership roles in the United Jewish Communities’ National Young Leadership Cabinet, led her to a development position at Jewish Council for Youth Services. There, she further developed her skills, now as a Jewish professional.
“As I became more engaged in being an advocate for the Jewish community and Israel, I realized the significance of being an advocate for the next generation of young Jewish leaders,” she said.
In May, shortly before her start at Fiedler Hillel, Kudish participated in JUF’s Israel @ 60 mission to Israel. She spent the last day on an IDF training base in the desert. Talking to a soldier, Kudish experienced a powerful moment in which she was struck by the juxtaposition of the soldier’s youth and her commitment to the Jewish people. “These are young, college-aged people, and they are responsible for defending their homeland,” she said.
“We need to recognize that today’s Jewish college students are the future of our American Jewish community. And we need to invest in these young leaders.”
“The day after returning from Israel, I got the call from Hillel. It was beshert,” she said.
Of her work engaging students in Jewish life, Kudish said, “It’s about opening doors. Opening the doors to exploration, and providing meaningful experiences that foster each student’s Jewish journey.”
The Hillels of Illinois, a partner in serving our community, is supported by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.
Jordan Roth is Staff Associate for The Hillels of Illinois.
