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OP-ED: Finding diversity in a Jewish majority
by Kriegsman, Matthew
Op-Ed | 9/11/07
Posted online at 8:29 PM EST on 9/10/07
/ Last updated at 1:10 AM EST on 9/10/07
Sitting around the dinner table on the first Sabbath eve of the school year, I made a startling discovery. One student explains that his two parents are rabbis. Another interrupts to say that one of his parents is Jewish and the other is not Jewish. And soon, all sorts of combinations and scenarios followed, each one more invigorating and compelling than the next. Not once was there that classic Brandeis awkward moment I'd heard so much about; rather, there was an embrace of each other's backgrounds and an appetite to learn more about our differences.
Brandeis emphasized the importance of diversity during the first-year class orientation week, almost to the point of shoving it down our throats. We've heard about it enough times, spoken in great detail about what it means within our AIDE groups and sat through lectures emphasizing what it means to accept it both here and in the outside world. So I think it's safe to say, we get it.
For a university that promotes such seemingly well-hearted ideals, there seems to be some sort of contradiction. Sure, 42 states are represented in our first-year class, as are many of the world's nations. The Jewish population at Brandeis, however, complicates the matter.
We are told that Brandeis is a progressive and entirely diverse school, but I beg to differ. Speaking with some of the first-years on campus, they relay their initial impressions. "I've never been with so many Jewish students in my entire school career," one student, who happened to be the only gentile out of seven first-years in the room, explained. "It's not that I mind, but it's just something that I never realized."
Although the Jewish population at Brandeis makes up approximately half of the students on campus, it still remains a prime example of the University's diverse nature. But "Jewish" is so vague these days. What is the definition of a Jew? Can the values of one Jewish student similarly correlate to another? To what degree of observance is the "norm"? The answers to these questions complicate what one may assume are commonalities among Jewish students.
Brandeis emphasized the importance of diversity during the first-year class orientation week, almost to the point of shoving it down our throats. We've heard about it enough times, spoken in great detail about what it means within our AIDE groups and sat through lectures emphasizing what it means to accept it both here and in the outside world. So I think it's safe to say, we get it.
For a university that promotes such seemingly well-hearted ideals, there seems to be some sort of contradiction. Sure, 42 states are represented in our first-year class, as are many of the world's nations. The Jewish population at Brandeis, however, complicates the matter.
We are told that Brandeis is a progressive and entirely diverse school, but I beg to differ. Speaking with some of the first-years on campus, they relay their initial impressions. "I've never been with so many Jewish students in my entire school career," one student, who happened to be the only gentile out of seven first-years in the room, explained. "It's not that I mind, but it's just something that I never realized."
Although the Jewish population at Brandeis makes up approximately half of the students on campus, it still remains a prime example of the University's diverse nature. But "Jewish" is so vague these days. What is the definition of a Jew? Can the values of one Jewish student similarly correlate to another? To what degree of observance is the "norm"? The answers to these questions complicate what one may assume are commonalities among Jewish students.
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