I. Subject Files (1962-1984, bulk of the records found between 1963-1983)

Summary: The Subject Files encompass the bulk of the records of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation at Rutgers University and document the activities and administration of the Hillel House between the years 1963-1992. Contained within the Subject Files are leaflets, event invitations, student sign-up sheets, receipts, contract copies, and meeting minutes. Also included within the Subject Files are administrative documents pertaining to Hillel membership records, as well as special events and student elections.

Arts Festival (1973-1980): This folder group consists of eighteen folders providing documentation of the annual Jewish Arts Festival sponsored by the Hillel House. Within the Arts Festival folders are records detailing general information, correspondences and receipt and contracts generated by Rabbi Funk and his associates.

Board of Officers (1964-1983): This folder group consists of twenty-one folders detailing the activities of the Hillel House's student run Board of Officers. The folders in this group contain information on student attendance, committees, membership, planning processes and events organized by the Board of Officers.

Chaplain's Data (1974-1980): Consisting of seven folders, this folder group documents the religious breakdown of the Rutgers Campus, as recorded by University officials. The Chaplain's Data folders are compilations of campus-wide surveys about the religious proclivities, activities and organizations of students and student groups on campus.

Elections (1966-1983): This folder group consists of thirteen folders addressing the annual procedures and committees governing the Board of Officers and the Executive Council of the Hillel House.

Executive Council (1964-1983): Consisting of seventeen folders, this folder group provides information on the organization of the governing student body of the Hillel House. Included in these folders are election results, committees, attendance records, and events planned by the Executive Council.

Faculty Group (1965-1992): This folder group consists of 26 folders detailing the participation and sponsorship of Rutgers faculty in Hillel House activities, as well as minutes of regular luncheons held by the faculty group.

Freshman Classes (1967-1981): This folder group consists of seventeen folders and provides information about freshman active in the Hillel House, or freshman participating in activities sponsored by the Hillel House.

Graduates and Miscellaneous Listings (1971-1982): Consisting of ten folders, this folder group is a combination of different lists compiled by the Hillel House. Within these lists is information regarding Hillel House students graduating from Rutgers, as well as other miscellaneous lists.

Installation Banquet (1964-1981): This folder group consists of 16 folders, and provides information on the attendees, activities and highlights of the Hillel House's annual Installation Banquet. Also included in this folder group are contracts and planning committees generated by this event.

Kosher Eating Club (1964-1983): Consisting of 16 folders, the Kosher Eating Club provides information regarding the Hillel's Kosher meal-plans, prices, billing and student participation.

Lists (Classes of 1971-1979): This folder Group contains twenty-seven folders detailing student participation in the Hillel House, according to campus or student status (i.e., transfer students, Douglass, Livingston, etc.)

Maps (no dates): Maps of Edison Township and Highland Park

Membership (1963-1979, 1981-1983): The Membership files document the student membership at Rutgers Hillel, and they encompass a variety of record items. The types of records found in the membership files include: generic solicitation letters; membership invitations and response cards; lists of Jewish students (divided by college or graduating year); generic letters; questionnaires; memoranda; instructions to solicitors; handwritten notes from Rabbi Funk's office and Membership Committee members; and sample registration cards (completed and cancelled). The folders also contain minutes and notes from Membership Committee meetings, as well as attendance sheets for, and agendas of, meetings.

Additionally, the Membership files document the Chaver Program, "Chaver" meaning "Friend." The Chaver Program was a volunteer-based letter-writing campaign, which consisted of returning Hillel members writing letters to incoming Jewish Freshman, inviting them to become members of Hillel. Items related to the Chaver Program include sample letters, lists of contacts, list of Chavers, Chaver sign-up sheets, and generic letters enlisting potential Chavers.

Metropolitan Hillel Student Affairs Committee (1962-1964, 1966-1968): Documents the activities of the Metropolitan Hillel Student Affairs Committee. This committee consisted of Hillel student presidents, directors, and delegates from colleges and universities in New Jersey and New York, including Queens College, Rutgers-Douglass, Hunter College (downtown campus), and the City College of New York. They sponsored an annual regional Winter Institute, as well as seminars, lectures, and meetings. The folders contain: meeting minutes; membership lists; fact sheets and informational materials on Winter Institutes; generic letters to delegates, directors, and Hillel Student Presidents; lecture lists; and sample application forms (completed and blank).

Newspaper (1964-1965, 1968-1969): This file refers to the Hillel Scroll newspaper, which publicized and described various activities of the Rutgers Hillel Foundation to a campus readership, as well as rabbis, Jewish community centers, B'nai B'rith lodges/chapters throughout New Jersey. The folder contains personal correspondence between various rabbis and Rabbi Funk, largely focused on congratulating Rabbi Funk on recent newspaper issues. As well, the folder contains Rabbi Funk's 1964-1965 "Rabbi's Message" that was published in the newspaper.

Novelty Nite (1964-1977): (Cross-referenced with U.J.A. Auction). Novelty Nite was a Rutgers Hillel event that consisted of an auction and other events such as dances, games, and fleamarkets that brought in revenue to augment the funds received from the annual U.J.A. Campaign. The auction was held annually, and student volunteers solicited local stores and businesses for donations for the auction. Novelty Nite was a theme-event, and the following are a couple of the theme titles: Kosher Psychedelic and Auction Night (1966-1967) and Scarborough Fair (1968-1969).

The records range in date from 1965-1977, and the U.J.A. Auction files continue where the Novelty Nite records leave off, with some gaps in dates (1977-1978, 1981-1982, 1983-1984). Overall, the Novelty Nite folders contain: lists of gifts received (by year); memoranda; generic letters; administrative and personal correspondence ("Thank you" letters); meeting minutes (Freshman Council); agenda and "to-do" lists and notes; equipment requisition forms; cost-calculations; lists of final proceeds; and broadsides.

Operation Mail (1963-1983): These records document the annual event that occurred at the end of August, in which volunteers took over the clerical job of packaging together all the mass-mailed Hillel literature. This literature was sent out to Jewish Rutgers-Douglass students (incoming freshmen and returning upperclassmen), as well as parents, faculty, and other Jewish members of the University community.

Oppressed Jewry Committee (1977-1981): The Oppressed Jewry Committee was active from 1977-1981, and these folders contain meeting minutes, broadsides, pamphlets, and event announcements.

Parents' Appeal (1962-1983): The Parents' Appeal fund was designed to financially augment the quality of Hillel's cultural and religious programs. It consisted of an annual mass-mail campaign to parents of Jewish Rutgers-Douglass student members of Hillel. The folders contain generic donation solicitation letters from Rabbi Funk and others, memoranda, and personal correspondence from Rabbi Funk, which includes thank you letters to parents who gave donations, and letters to parents who did not send donations.

Passover Meals (1963-1975, 1979-1982): Passover meals were provided at a cost by Rutgers Hillel to students wishing to follow the kosher dietary laws particular to Passover. The Passover Meals' folders contain broadsides and informational materials regarding Hillel's Passover meal schedules and costs, lists of attendees (organized by lunches and dinners, as well as times), generic Passover memoranda, administrative and personal correspondence, and invoices and receipts for items purchased.

Passover Model Seder (1963-1973): The Passover Model Seder was an annual Hillel event. People invited to or in attendance at the Model Seders included Jewish students, faculty, and staff, as well as non-Jewish guests and local religious leaders. The folders contain invitation response cards, administrative and personal correspondence, generic letters, Haggadot (The Haggadah, meaning "telling," is the story of Passover and Jewish slaves' exodus from Egypt after being freed from bondage, and it is read at the Passover seder), seder-reading invitations and responses, and agendas.

Public Relations (1966, 1971-1974, 1976): The Public Relations' folders contain letters to publishers, clippings, correspondence, and articles/reports on Hillel.

Programs (1979-1980, 1982-1983): These folders include records documenting various programs at Hillel. Examples of records include broadsides, newspaper articles, correspondence received, and photographs.

Religious Activities (1964-1975): These folders contain clippings, broadsides, minutes to Religious Committee meetings, Shabbat (Sabbath) schedules, lists of leaders, plans and agendas, all documenting the religious activities at Rutgers Hillel.

Retreats (1970-1974): Rutgers Hillel sponsored and organized annual and semi-annual retreats for its members, which included Shabbatons. Many of the retreats were held at Surprise Lake Camp in Stokes State Forest and at Weiss Farm in South Branch, New Jersey. The folders contain: broadsides; invoices and receipts (food orders, reservations); directions to the retreats; camp addresses and contacts; various lists (of attendees, food items to be purchased, and people to contact); sign-up sheets; generic letters and informational material about the retreats; memoranda; a Challah (egg bread) recipe; administrative and personal correspondence; registration forms; weekend program lists; and Shabbat-related booklets and reading materials (by Zalman Schachter and Erich From).

Schachter Weekend (1973): The 1973 Schachter Weekend was a retreat that took place on March 9, 1973, and Rabbi (Professor) Zalman Schachter was the guest speaker and rabbi. Also in attendance was the American poet, Alan Ginsberg. The folder includes the following: lists of attendees (paid and non-paid); a Challah (egg bread) recipe and informational sheet; articles and booklets on Jewish spiritual life and customs; administrative correspondence; a memorandum from Rabbi Shaw; and generic letters. It also contains an article submitted to the Jewish Journal by Rabbi Shaw on March 12, 1973 that offers a first-hand account of the weekend and the Shabbat service that took place.

Social Committee (1965-1982): The Rutgers Hillel Social Committee is also referred to in these records as the Social Planning Committee, which is distinguished from the Social Service Committee in its mission of planning events for Rutgers Hillel members and the University's Jewish community. These records also document the activities of the "Connections" group that sponsored inter-college Jewish gatherings. The folders contain: meeting minutes; generic letters; park and University facility rental permits; room rental regulations; broadsides; administrative correspondence; information on guest lecturers and performers; lists of classified ad prices for various New Jersey university and college newspapers; memoranda; and entertainment/entertainer contracts.

Social Service Committee (1972-1975): These files document the social activism and charitable work of the Rutgers Hillel Social Service Committee in the early years of the 1970s. This group assisted both impoverished Jews and Jewish seniors in New Jersey. The folders contain generic letters, information on the Social Action Conference (1973), broadsides, posters, meeting announcements and minutes, administrative correspondence, notes, committee reports, committee membership lists and their assignments, informational material and article clippings on impoverished Jews, memoranda, and membership lists.

Sophomore Council (1962-1967): The Sophomore Council files include meeting minutes, administrative correspondence, generic letters and informational mailings, lists, meeting announcements, membership invitations, event agendas (i.e. Inter-Hillel Conclaves), and reports.

Summer Institute, or The National Hillel Summer Institute (1966-1971, 1981): The Summer Institute took place on an annual basis at Camp B'nai B'rith in Starlight, Pennsylvania, and was a national meeting of regionally sponsored Hillel members. A different theme guided the meetings, lectures, and events each year. The following are some of the themes: "On the Meaning of Jewish Distinctiveness in Our Time" (1966); "Crucial Issues in Jewish Life Today" (1967); "Prototypes of Jewish Existence: Guides for Our Time" (1968); Priorities for Jewish Students Today" (1969); and, "Tradition and Challenge: Agenda for Jewish Students Today" (1970). The folders contain generic letters, administrative and personal correspondence, programs, memoranda, applications and evaluation forms, and procedures and guidelines for attendees.

U.J.A. Auction (1977-1978, 1981-1984): (Cross-referenced to Novelty Nite). The U.J.A. Auction was a continuation of Novelty Nite, and the records document the fund-raising event of the annual auction and fleamarket. The folders contain a variety of records, including various lists, meeting minutes (Freshman Council), meeting attendance sheets, agendas, notes, donation solicitation assignments, lists of gifts/contributions received from local businesses, administrative correspondence, generic letters, broadsides, meeting announcements, purchase orders, receipts, invoices, financial account summaries, and committee chairman reports.

U.J.A. Campaign (1962-1974, 1982-1983): The U.J.A. Campaign refers to the annual United Jewish Appeal (U.J.A.) drive that solicited donations from members of the University's Jewish community. The U.J.A.'s mission was to rescue and care for imperiled and vulnerable Jews, and to revitalize Jewish life by raising funds for humanitarian causes and social services in the United States and abroad. It was in this capacity that the Rutgers Hillel U.J.A. Campaign was organized. The records document the annual campaign and student involvement in the campaign.

The U.J.A. Campaign folders contain: generic letters; administrative correspondence; clippings; pamphlets; lists; workers/solicitors' questionnaires; guidelines for solicitation; help-sheets for workers; announcements; campaign fact sheets; memoranda; Workers' Brunch invitations and response cards; broadsides; register receipts for cash deposits; information on R.U.S.H. (Rutgers University Student Help) and the Israel Emergency Fund; reports; notes; regional U.J.A. newsletters; an account ledger (1972-1973); and pledge cards. In the folder from 1973-1974 (Box 19, Folder 7), there is also an Israeli "Fact Sheet on Government Budget with Related Economic/Demographic Data" prepared for the Prime Minister's Mission, August 27-31, 1973. It is labeled: "Confidential: Not for Reproduction or Publication."

U.J.A. Campaign: Office Use (1971-1983): These files contain records that document the administrative office of the Rutgers Hillel U.J.A. Campaign. They include clippings, administrative correspondence, donation/pledge records and receipts, general campaign materials, and lists of Rutgers-Hillel U.J.A. contributions made to outside Jewish organizations in need. They also contain: receipts and invoices; broadsides; campaign reports; generic letters (drafts and final copies); rules for solicitation; workers' questionnaires; official U.J.A. Regional Updates; Workers' Brunch invitations and response cards; informational materials ("Project Renewal Pocket Guide: Questions and Answers"). Lastly, there are also confidential and current records of pledges made by Student Advisory Board members (1979-1983).

Zionist Activity (1966-1969): The Zionist Activity files contain generic letters, notes, memoranda, informational materials, booklets, and pamphlets, administrative correspondence, news releases, meeting attendance sheets and minutes, and broadsides.