Mishpahah to Mikhlalah: From Family to College

By Sarah Schneider
Miami University of Ohio

Class schedules and college friends return at the start of each fall semester, and these changes are only part of the enormous lifestyle changes that many college students experience while transitioning from home to school and vice versa. Many students live in different settings, eat different foods and spend time with different people, often doing different things while in college than while at home. Likewise, many students experience Judaism differently at school than they do at home.

At home, I experience Judaism mostly through family. I spend time with relatives and celebrate Shabbat with family dinners. I am also a camp counselor at our city’s JCC, so I help teach Judaics to my campers. However, at school most of my Jewish experiences are centered around friends and my college’s Hillel. I go to services and dinner most Friday nights, as well as other social and religious activities on campus. It is at school where I feel most comfortable praying in a service, as I am davening with people my own age.

While at school, I interact with people from various branches of Judaism and, even while praying in a Conservative service, learn new prayers and melodies. For example, I grew up attending Shabbat morning services and, consequently, I did not know the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers that are often sung at our Friday night Hillel services. Yet, I did know the tune to a prayer that I believe is sung primarily in Reform communities, because I have had experience at a Reform congregation. While belonging to a Reform congregation and hearing new prayers at school have enriched my Jewish experiences, at other times I have felt frustrated with unfamiliar customs that do not fit well with my personal beliefs and practices of Judaism. I imagine that experiencing this religious diversity is similar to what many students experience when they first go to a college service or Jewish event on campus. Many students probably feel that practicing Judaism in a college setting has caused them to reexamine their own Jewish identities more fully, just as college and my experiences beforehand have caused me to reexamine mine.

My approach to transitioning from a home environment where I am comfortable with my Jewish practices, to a school environment which sometimes has unfamiliar customs, is to try to strike a balance. I’ll question my views about religion, especially through experiencing Judaism in new ways, and also stick to personal convictions and cherished personal traditions of Jewish observance. This mirrors the Conservative Movement’s balance between making Judaism current and relevant to modern times, while still holding on to essential parts of our heritage and tradition that contain great beauty and meaning. Ultimately, the thing most important to me is that I have my own Jewish communities and Jewish experiences no matter where I am, whether at my family’s home or my college home.

Sarah Schneider is a sophomore at Miami University of Ohio, where she is studying Early Childhood Education. She enjoys volunteering in a local elementary school, keeping up with politics, and staying involved with Hillel at Miami, where she is the incoming secretary of the Association of Jewish Students.

[Posted 8/9/10]