A few weeks ago, I wrote about community, specifically the Jewish one amongst the colleges and universities in Pittsburgh. While the University of Pittsburgh’s community is flourishing (at least, that’s how it appears on the outside), the sense of community at Carnegie Mellon University is waning. As I talk to friends, both Jewish and goyim, I start thinking about what really makes up community, as well as synonyms for the word.
Togetherness, unity, group, collaborative, cooperate, growth, friendly–these nouns and adjectives all come to mind. But these are abstract things: we can’t hold them in our hands, we can’t pass them out like “You had me at shalom” stickers at the activities fair, we can’t talk about them for too long without growing weary of them.
But there are concrete things that we can do to build something that may eventually possibly sort of become a community. I mentioned a few of these concrete things last time, traditions at other schools, such as the University of Virginia’s Bagels on the Lawn. The past weeks has been rife with email exchanges between students that are as concerned about this as I am, Hillel staff, and Carnegie Mellon faculty. There have been a lot of great ideas thrown out and people are eager to help.
In my obsession of surfing the web and following leads or weird things I hear about, I’ve become slightly fixated on what other schools’ Hillels are doing. I’m also a believer in exceptions to the rule, and that you can’t compare apples to oranges. For example, Cornell University’s student body is three or four times the size of Carnegie Mellon’s, with that many more Jewish students. It’s challenging and frustrating to use schools like Cornell or Northwestern as a yardstick–but we can use them as great examples.
Recently, I’ve been looking at MIT’s Hummus Experience. The program began in 2008, and they are finishing up two weeks worth of activities. Rabbi Michelle Fisher, the executive director of MIT’s Hillel, gave us some great ideas about how to start small (their experience covers several events over a few weeks, with a few right in Boston). The list of partnering organizations and sponsors at the bottom of their website is impressive, and shows the scope of their event.
An old joke, but a true one nonetheless: Jews love food. We come together to eat. The Hummus Experience and UVA’s Bagels on the Lawn took advantage of this trend. Friday night Shabbat dinners take advantage of this trend. In a few weeks, Carnegie Mellon is taking advantage of this trend by holding a Faculty Dessert Reception, to give Jewish faculty and students a chance to gather more informally.
These are great starting points, especially with college kids, when the words ‘free food’ glow in the darkness of poverty like the burning bush. But eventually, we will have to stop feeding ourselves and start talking, getting to know each other, saying more than “how was your week?” What will we say? I’d implore people to speak more meaningfully, to listen to each other, even as we’re reaching for another piece of pita–in this way, we may build a community of friends and words, filling in the cracks with hummus.
