Birmingham Hillel House has been a Jewish student residence since 1958 and during this time it has changed from being a fully catered establishment to one of 41 self-catering units. Since 2000 it has been the aspiration of the Management Committee to upgrade the facilities offered for residents in line with similar accommodation provided by Birmingham’s Universities and also for non residents who come to Hillel for events put on by JSoc and other organisations: Friday night meals and weekday activities. 

The Hillel Management has been able to achieve a number of projects already through its own financial resources. The freehold of the building was purchased at significant cost, thus securing the future for Hillel on its current site and enabling the reality of redevelopment and upgrading. Since then, through a grant made by a Charitable Trust, the supervised kitchens used to prepare Shabbat meals for up to 300 students were expanded and upgraded and through the sale of the far end of Hillel’s very large garden, funding was secured to renovate 10 rooms, each with its own en-suite shower & toilet and a self-contained kitchen facility. Now Hillel is aiming to undertake a number of projects to complete the work needed to upgrade the facilities to a standard at least comparable to current University accommodation.

In the ideal situation of having the total funding and the time necessary to complete the works, all the projects are regarded as equally necessary to create an attractive and modern student residence and Centre.  Donors will be offered the opportunity to name / dedicate projects where appropriate, and should there be one donor willing to fund a significant amount of the entire project, renaming the entire facility would also be an option.

Members of the Management team as well as the student warden, the residents and the current and recent past chairs of JSoc are available to answer questions about our plans whilst Birmingham Hillel’s recently updated website provides full information on all aspects of Birmingham Hillel House, go to: www.birminghamhillel.com

We are tremendously excited and enthusiastic to do our part to make the redevelopment of Birmingham Hillel House a reality, but we now need the financial means to achieve it – and for this we need your help.