Campus Update: Johns Hopkins University

Over the first half of our fall semester, the Johns Hopkins Conservative Jewish community has found itself growing in vibrancy and opportunity.

This semester, we've had the extraordinary opportunity to work with Hopkins Hillel intern Alex Salzberg, a Baltimore Hebrew College graduate student who will be attending JTS in Fall 2011. He has been collaborating with leaders in the Hopkins Conservative community to create successful programming geared towards the community's interests.

Our most successful venture has been a weekly educational program called "Out to Lunch," which attracts a growing following. Each week, we learn and discuss a particular topic of interest to Jewish college students. We have been able to learn not only from each other and Alex, but also from Conservative leaders in the Baltimore Jewish community. We've explored topics ranging from kashrut to Jewish views on excessive drinking, and always include free delicious kosher food. Since the Hopkins Jewish community is primarily made up of Orthodox students, many learning opportunities available to us are presented in an Orthodox context. Out to Lunch is providing our smaller Conservative community with an opportunity to learn in a comfortable and open environment that welcomes modern views alongside tradition.

Jewish students at Hopkins are lucky to benefit from a cohesive Jewish community with programming engaging a wide variety of interests. Out to Lunch draws students of diverse Jewish beliefs who study together, allowing us to learn from each other without the limitation of a singular perspective. Also, though in years past our Conservative community had found a lack of programming appealing to our interests outside of services, this year we are lucky to continue with our intimate and friendly student-led services alongside our Out to Lunch program.

Currently, plans are in the works for an extraordinary KOACH Shabbat with the help of a fourth-year JTS student, as well as an occasional Conservative Saturday evening service with Havdalah. We can't wait to try out our ideas!

Johns Hopkins is a 2010-2011 KOACH Campus Enrichment Grant recipient.

[Posted 11/6/10]