{"id":39202,"date":"2017-11-02T10:49:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T16:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=39202"},"modified":"2017-11-03T16:30:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T22:30:38","slug":"tulane-hillels-rabbi-yonah-schiller-cited-by-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/tulane-hillels-rabbi-yonah-schiller-cited-by-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Tulane Hillel’s Rabbi Yonah Schiller cited by Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

By BARRI BRONSTON, Courtesy Tulane University Publications<\/em><\/p>\n

Rabbi Yonah Schiller, executive director of\u00a0Tulane Hillel<\/a>, has been named one of 50 of the most influential, accomplished and interesting American Jews by the\u00a0Forward<\/em>, one of the nation\u2019s leading Jewish publications.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Forward\u00a0<\/em>released its annual\u00a0Forward 50<\/em>\u00a0 list<\/a>\u00a0at midnight Nov. 2, calling Schiller a leader who has \u201crevolutionized Jewish outreach using a new model that is being examined and replicated across the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schiller, 46, is cited for his efforts to reach more than 90 percent of Tulane\u2019s Jewish population, as well as 30 percent of the total student body. He accomplished this by dissolving the existing student leadership board and giving leadership roles to more than 300 students and providing small grants for original student programming, including Shabbat dinners, urban farming and a Nice Jewish Boy Pageant.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow Tulane Hillel\u2019s budget has more than doubled, Jewish student enrollment has reached nearly 3,000 and Hillel at schools like Princeton University and the University of Vermont are looking to replicate Schiller\u2019s successes,\u201d the\u00a0Forward<\/em>\u00a0writes.<\/p>\n

Schiller has served as executive director of Tulane Hillel since 2008. In addition, he is special projects consultant in the Social Innovation Social Entrepreneurship program at Tulane’s Phyllis M Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking. He is also founder of the Jewish Design Initiative (JDI), a national design incubator geared towards building scalable systems, models and projects for creating inclusive and high impact Jewish community. In 2013, he received the Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award for the most outstanding non-tenured professor at Tulane.<\/p>\n

The list, subtitled\u00a0“Finding Inspiration in the Year of Trump,<\/em>\u00a0is divided into nine categories, with Schiller being recognized in the \u201ccommunity\u201d section. Others on the list include journalists Maggie Haberman and Jake Tapper; performing artists Billy Joel and Ben Platt, actors; sports figures Robert Kraft and Josh Rosen; and politicians Adam Schiff and Al Franken. Also named to the list are Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, daughter and son-in-law of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\"Share