4 Tips for DIY Judaism in Small Campus Communities

If your family is anything like mine, you were raised on mandel bread and ridiculous family stories that felt like a “Seinfeld” reboot in the making. Growing up, I was a proud member of the Metro Detroit Jewish community. I went to shul regularly, sang in the congregational choir, taught at Sunday school, and attended Jewish summer camp. The bottom line: I was your average, neighborhood nice Jewish girl.

That’s why college was a such a culture shock for me. I enrolled in Oakland University north of Metro Detroit — and for those unfamiliar with the geographic location, let’s just say the area isn’t known for its killer matzah ball soup.

Although my college experience has been an outstanding one, my four years on a not predominantly Jewish campus forced me to decide what elements of Judaism would stay or disappear from my life. For example, it was challenging to keep kosher or find a local synagogue when I moved away for school.

I ultimately found that making new choices about religion in college wasn’t just a Jewish issue. Thousands of incoming college students of all religious backgrounds struggle to keep religion in their lives during college. This challenge makes sense in light of the fact that religion as a whole is on a decline. According to a 2016 study from CIRP at UCLA, surveying over 15 million students across 1,900 institutions, the rate of incoming freshman with no religious affiliation has increased by 30 percent since the late 1980s. The data also suggests that number will continue to increase for the next 30 years. With little religious involvement on campus, it makes it more challenging for students like myself who want to incorporate Jewish elements into our campus experiences.

Luckily, I found ways to make it happen.

As a graduating senior, here are some of my favorite tools for keeping your religious roots strong, even when you can’t make it home to Bubbie’s for Friday night dinner.

You’ve got a friend in Jewish student groups

Hillel, Chabad, and Jewish student unions are a widespread and important resource. They all create a vibrant Jewish social life for college students and can even help provide post-college financial services, internships, and jobs. You can check if your school has a Jewish organization using Hillel and Chabad’s college guides. Whether you’re Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, or none of the above, there is a program on a multitude of campuses to make sure you feel right at home.

Find your go-to kosher spots

In college towns with few Jews, you’re still likely to find kosher options – you just have to get creative to find them. When you’re tired of the kosher aisle in most grocery stores, utilize the app store where you’ll find the Kosher Near Me app. KNM can be super useful for finding kosher restaurants all around the world by automatically connecting to your GPS. It allows you to see your distance to the location, rate your experience, and add new restaurants when they pop up in your area. Located in over 35 countries, no matter where you are, you can always find a kosher spot near you!

DIY Jewish eats

Buzzfeed created the famous Tasty videos, those addictive fast-paced cooking videos you can’t help but watch while scrolling through your feed. But luckily Jewlish took the concept and gave it a Jewish (and kosher) twist. The page’s recipes include Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditional foods and are fun, easy, and college-student friendly. They vary from pizza stuffed challah to cheesy, one-pot ptitim (Israeli couscous) and so much more.

Instead of a round table, use OneTable

Shabbat is connects Jews all around the world, and OneTable created a new way to have a weekly modern shabbat dinner. This four-year-old organization helps bring people in their 20s and 30s, together when they don’t have a place to go for shabbat. Located in over 13 cities — including Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Washington DC — you can either attend a dinner each week or have the opportunity to host a dinner of your own. Friends and strangers of all religions are welcome to participate so they can “slow down, join together, and share stories.” The OneTable app works on Apple and Android and once an account is created, offers nourishment credits that cover the expenses of your dinner, coaches for assistance, shabbat dinner partnerships, and various weekday events to attend. This app is perfect for those who have just graduated college, attend college in a big city, or recently moved to a new community. With OneTable, you never have to spend shabbat dinner alone.

Erin Ben-Moche is a New Voices reporting fellow. She recently graduated with a degree in journalism from Oakland University.