Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
Melanie Hilman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. While ending her undergraduate career during a pandemic was undesirable, she had a good idea of what she wanted to accomplish once the world was back to normal. As the Spruce Street Minyan communications and social chair said, she was well positioned for such a role.
“My natural inclination is to want to lead and to want to be a part of a greater movement to help give that to the Jewish community, and to help grow it at Spruce Street Minyan was a really great avenue to do that,” she said.
Hilman is one of many young Jewish Americans who have found community in small, urban minyanim. Minyanim are often more casual and require less commitment than synagogues while still maintaining the same level of observance and tradition.
“There’s this movement of these, what we call independent minyanim, and there’s also this movement of being collected in the Jewish communities, and people really taking ownership of their identity,” she said.
Hailing from Boston, Hilman came to Philly to go to Penn and decided to stick around. She said she loves the mix that Philadelphia offers in terms of many Jewish residents but still a community-minded approach to Judaism.
“I think there’s an intimacy in Philadelphia that I definitely enjoy,” she said.
She found a lot of that intimacy at Spruce Street when she first attended a service in 2019.
“I was blown away at how beautiful it was and that there’s this blossoming conservative, egalitarian community for young adults, just post-college,” she said.
Hilman also attends some services and events at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel, which she said is a shul with many similar values to the Spruce Street Minyan. While choosing a shul is a major component of many young people’s early adulthood, Hilman said she didn’t get that urge.
“As a young person, I wasn’t necessarily looking to join a shul. First off, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna stay here long term, and I hadn’t shopped around the communities at the time,” she said. “[Spruce Street Minyan] was easy. My friends were going.”
At Spruce Street, the service is run by a volunteer from one of the board members or lay leaders, and the D’var Torah is given by another volunteer.
Having a host of friends from college, her neighborhood and other networks is a major reason that Hilman loves Spruce Street, but she emphasized that it is not just a small group of friends who already know each other. Just like a synagogue, the minyan is a place for like-minded people to meet and come together regardless of their backgrounds.
“Spruce Street isn’t just Penn [alumni]; it’s Drexel. It’s Jefferson, St Joe’s and Temple for sure. People are in different parts of the city,” she said.
When she isnt working at Spruce Street, Hilman is pursuing a Ph.D. in bioengineering. She laughed as she mentioned that her professional passion has nothing to do with Judaism, but she enjoys it anyway. Hilman is also a cello player, and she loves to bike and run along the Schuylkill River.
However, her favorite moments are spent on Spruce Street, being Jewish with those who are close to her.
“We meet monthly for a delicious potluck or catered meal,” she said. “After the service, which takes about an hour, we’ll offer a public meal. It’s an amazing opportunity to meet other people in the community and have relationships with peers who live within Center City and also beyond Center City into the suburbs.”
For Hilman, the journey to a new city has been positive largely because of the people she has surrounded herself with.
“Spruce Street Minyan was a really great avenue to do that and to get all my friends on board and really grow into beautiful young professionals,” she said.
