Closing The Gap Between Campus ‘Insiders,’ ‘Outsiders’ The Jewish Week | by Hart Levine

Jewish life on campus is the best of times for some students, but for most it is the worst of times. Consider the University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater, whose Jewish students represent about 25 percent of the student body.

There is a vibrant Jewish community centered at Hillel, as well as Chabad and other Jewish organizations, but the majority of Jewish students just aren’t involved in Jewish life on campus. Sure, Hillel and its active leaders provide the coolest programs, finest building, and tastiest kosher food (recently voted best food on campus), but most Jewish students still don’t come. Or they show up once and never came back.
For example, of the 2,500 undergraduate Jews at Penn, 400 show up regularly to celebrate Shabbat. The first week of the school year might even draw 800 people, but half of them never return. And Jewish life at Penn is considered among the best in the country. Read more »