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College programs, policies help busy students meet challenges of keeping religion in their lives
RANDI BAROCAS
Staff Writer
and JULIA STRONGWATER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
To go, or not to go?
That's the question many Jewish college students face when deciding whether to forego classes - and possibly tests and quizzes - in order to observe the High Holidays and attend services.
During this important season on the Jewish calendar, still others confront the challenge of trying to stay connected to Judaism when they are attending a college that is hundreds of miles from home.
At Arizona State University and other insititutions around the nation, many students say they have managed to find satisfying solutions to these dilemmas.
Some ASU students tell Jewish News that they usually opt to go to services on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur because it is important to them to observe the Jewish holy days, which this year begin on the evening of Sept. 20. Those interviewed for this story also say that while they may have encountered some opposition in the past from a professor who didn't want to reschedule a test to accommodate their religious observance, they always were eventually accommodated after Rabbi Barton Lee, executive director of ASU Hillel, interceded on their behalf.
The Arizona Board of Regents policy manual states: "Administrators and faculty members are expected to reasonably accommodate individual religious practices. A refusal to accommodate is justified only when undue hardship would result from each available alternative or reasonable accommodation."
"If anybody has a problem and has called me, I have immediately worked on it," Lee says, referring to how he has successfully reminded university faculty and administrators of the Board of Regents' policy. "But I have never had a problem I couldn't solve."
Students who know Lee say that they aren't surprised by his powers of persuasion, and that he is one of the main reasons they attend High Holiday services at Hillel.
Erik Brodie, an ASU junior from East Brunswick, N.J., says he enjoys going to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services now more than he did when he lived with his parents.
"When I was younger, it usually was a fight to get me to go to services," Brodie says. "It was immaturity or whatever reason, but I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't feel at home at my synagogue. It was huge, and I had been going there since I was 6 or 7 years old."
Those feelings didn't change for some time, the transfer student admits. He didn't want anything to do with Judaism his first year away at Ithaca College in upstate New York.
"But when I came to ASU, I started going to Hillel on a regular basis. I'll go to Friday night services all the time now. I'll go to all the High Holiday services without being forced, which my parents find unbelievable," Brodie says. "Rabbi Lee and the Hillel here have made the difference. I am more comfortable going to services now."
Brodie apparently isn't the only one. According to Rabbi Lee, about 800 students attend Hillel's High Holiday services each year.
Brodie says Hillel has helped him connect more to Judaism than his own home-town congregation did. Many of his Jewish friends, who he says are from large Jewish communities such as New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, also have made a stronger connection to their Jewish roots through Hillel than they did at home, he says.
"Out here (at ASU) it's completely different," Brodie says. "If you don't seek (Judaism) out, you're going to miss it the day you need it, because it will happen - one time or another - when you are going to need to speak to somebody about being Jewish."
Adam Moss, an ASU senior from the San Francisco area, spent his first three years away from home attending Hillel's High Holiday services. He says the transition was difficult at first, but became easier as he became accustomed to college life.
"The first year was the toughest, because I was really involved in my synagogue back home and was a big part of the service," Moss says. "The last two years were easier. I think it was last year when I really wanted to go home, though, but couldn't get a cheap enough flight."
Moss says Hillel was his "biggest help" the first year he was unable to spend the holidays with his family.
"It's almost like your family," he says of Hillel. "They help you adjust and teach you survival tips for being Jewish on campus."
Pamela Salter, an ASU junior from Long Island, N.Y., says she has rediscovered Judaism since joining Hillel.
"My family just isn't religious. We don't go to temple; we just celebrate the High Holidays at home," she says. This year, however, "I'm planning on going to services at Hillel."
Salter says "it's not that hard" for her to be away from her family for the holy days because her family didn't put much focus on Jewish holiday observances.
"I have made some good friends at Hillel, so I don't really mind," she says. "I'm probably observing the holidays more here than I would at home."
A national response
Other colleges around the country are helping Jewish students gain access to a Jewish life that they otherwise wouldn't have because they are living far from home - and also help students handle conflicts between study and religious practice.
"When I attend services, I am constantly thinking about what I am missing in class, and if I attend class, I feel bad about not celebrating the holidays," says Jeff Margolies, a junior at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
By the time Rosh Hashana begins, the school year is in full swing and students are busy with assignments and preparing for midterm exams. And not all colleges and universities have policies that allow students to reschedule exams and major assignments due to religious conflicts.
For example, there is no policy at Cornell University that exempts students from class or work; however, Hillel can "write a note excusing us from gym," says Rachel Harris of Cornell.
"Otherwise, we have to discuss the matter with our professors individually. They are usually pretty understanding," says the senior at the Ithaca, N.Y.-based school.
Across the nation, many campuses have increased their awareness of the High Holidays during the last decade.
"There are fewer academic conflicts now than ever before because the Hillels on campuses and other campus professionals concerned with Jewish campus life helped to sensitize the administration to concerns of the Jewish students," says Rhoda Weisman, the director of Hillel's Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps. Weisman adds that if students do encounter any conflicts or concerns, they should contact the campus rabbi or Hillel director for assistance.
"Usually students just tell the professor that they have to observe the important holidays and ask to be excused. Whether to excuse the student is up to the discretion of the professors, but most are accepting," says Margaret McKnight of the Office of Religious Affairs at the University of California at San Diego.
But conflicts still arise.
At Miami University in Ohio, Greek Week, when fraternities and sororities participate in activities that raise money for charities, was scheduled during the High Holidays. This was a major issue for Jewish students who want to get involved in Greek life on campus, says Hollis Kramer, a former Hillel Steinhardt campus fellow.
"One of the biggest issues that Jewish students on campus face is that the non-Jews do not know about the holidays," she says.
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