On March 8, campus and alumni leaders broke ground for Harkavy Hall, a new building on West Campus that will house the Steven K. and Winifred A. Grinspoon Hillel Center for Jewish Community at Cornell. Grinspoon Hillel, currently located at Anabel Taylor Hall on campus, is a student organization that helps students connect with and develop their Jewish and religious identities.

Credit: Sreang Hok/Cornell University

The name of new building, located at 722 University Ave., honors Harriet Harkavy ’60, a lead donor to the facility. Harkavy Hall is expected to open in fall 2027.

“Today we embark on a new beginning for Grinspoon Hillel, despite the ongoing conflicts, the rising tide of worldwide antisemitism and continuing political tensions on this campus and others,” President Michael I. Kotlikoff said before the groundbreaking. “This is indeed a new beginning, and one that will provide comfort, solace and community to Jewish students for decades to come. I am so proud of our community in coming forward in this way, and so proud to be in this role to dedicate this wonderful new facility.”

Dignitaries attending the groundbreaking included Provost Kavita Bala; Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo, M.A. ’20; Adam Lehman, president and CEO of Hillel International; Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life; and U.S. Rep. Josh Riley (D-19th District).

Grinspoon Hillel will own the building and lease the land from the university. The 23,000-square-foot building’s four levels will include a kosher café, event space, a communal kitchen and lounge, study rooms, classrooms, administrative offices and a rooftop deck and sukkah.

The “Hillel is Home” campaign has raised $37.2 million from 1,286 donors for the new facility and related programming. Its campaign goal is to raise a total of $54 million.

Grinspoon Hillel is named for Dr. Steven Grinspoon ’83 and his wife, Winifred “Winnie” Grinspoon ’83, who made a significant gift to support the facility. Many fundamental programs in Harkavy Hall will also be supported by the Yudowitz Center for Jewish Campus Life, established at Hillel in 1998 with a legacy gift from Evelyn Yudowitz ’56 and her late husband, Dr. Bernard Yudowitz ’55.

Steven Grinspoon said when they learned of the campaign a few years ago, they saw an opportunity to build community for college-aged young people at their alma mater.

Credit: Sreang Hok/Cornell University

“They’re leaving the house for the first time and want to be able to explore their Jewish identity in peace. This identity can be religious or cultural. It can be through prayer or doing good deeds or simply in peaceful friendships,” he said. “And what better way to give back and to foster Jewish community than to support a new Hillel building. After nearly a century of supporting students at Cornell, we are thrilled Hillel will have the resources it needs to flourish and continue to grow.”

Rabbi Ari Weiss, CEO of Grinspoon Hillel, offered a dedication prior to the groundbreaking.

Weiss noted that a Torah portion from a few weeks prior focused on the construction of the Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary that would serve as the spiritual heart and home of the Jewish people.

Just as the Tabernacle gave the Israelites a place of purpose in the wilderness, Harkavy Hall will give students a place of purpose on campus, he said.

It will be a place where students can come together for Shabbat dinner on Friday night, study and wrestle with ideas, celebrate Jewish holidays together and more, he said.

Harkavy Hall will be, Weiss said, “a place to connect, a place where a student who has never set foot in the Jewish community can walk through the doors and feel like they belong, and a place where meaning is not handed to our students, but where they come to discover it for themselves, actively, willingly and from the heart.”

Emceeing the event were Noah Bodner ’27, Grinspoon Hillel student executive board president, and Jenna Ledley ’27, Grinspoon Hillel student executive board vice president.

Also speaking at the event were Grinspoon Hillel co-chairs Dr. Bonnie Altman ’96 and Len Feldman ’89, and Larry Rusoff ’89, who is the Hillel capital campaign co-chair with Elena Lefkowitz ’88.