Jewish Joy at Johns Hopkins

By Ariela Fleisig
Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University is widely known for its beautiful campus, top-5-ranked medical school, Division I lacrosse team, research opportunities, famous alumni, difficult classes, deflated GPAs, nerdy student body and that confusing little "s" at the end of John’s name.

We’re intense beyond reason – we work hard, we play hard and some of us are even cutthroat about our studies (in fact, legend has it that the usage of the word cutthroat pertaining to student competition originated at Johns Hopkins!). Through this intensity, many students find support groups of friends and classmates to help alleviate the pain and accompany them to the library. Once I got to Hopkins, however, I found that I already had a built-in support system: our Jewish community.

Coming from a largely evangelical (and somewhat ignorant) neighborhood, I’d never lived around so many Jewish people. While Hopkins is about 10% Jewish, most people around campus are familiar with Jewish customs and traditions – and those who aren’t have been overwhelmingly tolerant. We have a small but active Hillel community, which is made up of students who engage in Purim parties, Hamentaschen vs. Latke debates, lunch ‘n’ learns, pro-Israel activism, pre-finals midnight breakfasts, services and Shabbat dinners. We’ve even got an up-and-coming Jewish a cappella group! Some of the members of our community aren’t even Jewish, but they’re still welcomed with open arms. In fact, we are lucky to enjoy a friendly and respectful relationship with our Muslim Students’ Association on both an organizational and personal level, which is unfortunately not the case on many college campuses.

As incredible and vibrant as our Jewish community is, we face the same problem that most of Hopkins faces: apathy. Many self-identified Jewish students aren’t interested in engaging in Jewish life as it’s currently provided. Some are intimidated by our vibrant Orthodox community, some are disheartened by our small but growing Reform community, some don’t feel welcomed by our Conservative community and even more are turned off by the divisiveness that they feel culture we’ve built around Shabbat brings. The majority of students that aren’t involved with the Jewish community, however, simply don’t seem interested in making the time to join in.

Even though the number of people that attend organized Jewish events isn’t as high as we wish it would be, Hopkins is a pretty small place. I’d venture to say one can play one degree of Ariela Fleisig with almost anyone on campus – minus the incoming first-years, of course. So while our Jewish community may be smaller than we’d like, just about everyone’s connected to it in some regard – be that their Jewish classmate, their Capoeira (a Brazilian dance/martial arts blend) class in the basement of the Hillel building or the free Israeli chocolate bar handed to them by our pro-Israel group as they walk to class. We have presence, we have influence, we have peace… and we are lucky to be a part of such a supportive community.

But if you ever want to reference our school by name, please remember, it’s Johnssssssssss Hopkins.

Ariela Fleisig is entering her third and final year at The Johns Hopkins University as an economics major. When her nose is out of her textbooks, she spends her time participating with the College Democrats, the Center for Social Concern, her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and the Hopkins JSA. She enjoys singing, playing one degree of Ariela Fleisig, and correcting people who mispronounce her school’s name.

[Posted 8/9/10]