Scource: eJewish Philanthropy
Several years ago, I ran a 10-week fellowship at New York University called the Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF), which introduced Jewish study to college students with limited Jewish background. I was sure that the most important aspects of the class were the content of my source sheets, my pedagogical acumen and my ability to inspire. When I conducted research with the participants afterwards, they reported overwhelmingly that the most important aspect of the class for them was that they found friends, mentors and a sense of community.
After that eye-opening finding, we redesigned JLF to not only deliver outstanding content, but to be “social by design.” In each class we placed “big sibs.” These were seniors, modeled on fraternities and sororities, who invited students to coffee after class and saved seats for them at the Shabbat table on Friday. We introduced “tapas time,” where students mingled over hors d’oeuvres for fifteen minutes before we began learning, so they would talk to one another. We paused halfway through class and served dinner, banking on the idea that if you eat every Tuesday with a group of 25 Jewish students, Shabbat dinner will become much more accessible. To further that idea, we held two Shabbatot together – one in my home and one on campus – so students would have an opportunity to get to know potential mentors more intimately and feel more at home in the campus Hillel. We changed the decor of the class, adding ambient lighting and warm colors rather than sterile fluorescent lights and seminar tables, so students could open up more in conversation.
In short, we designed the entire experience, from the moment they walked in the door, to the weekly news updates their big sibs sent them, to their graduation in front of past alumni, as a chance to foster richer social networks. We told each student during their interview – we not only hope you love the study of Torah, but we also hope that you forge friendships, find a mentor and feel at home in this community.
The result of all this work was a renaissance of pluralistic Jewish life on campus. An independent minyan blossomed. A chavurah learning series grew exponentially. While for years our student leadership had come largely from day schools – where Jewish social networks are much richer – our Hillel leaders and interns were now mostly JLF alumni.
Last year, we brought the Jewish Learning Fellowship to 10 other schools and found similar results replicated on their campuses. We are blessed to have a waiting list of another 15+ campuses who would like to begin JLF when the resources are available.
This is, however, only a first step. We have yet to fully assimilate the notion of experiences and spaces that are pro-social by design. I still ask myself, what would a Shabbat service, a volunteer opportunity or a pledge drive look like if it also sought to deepen social relationships among participants? In a hyper-social society, this is an aspect of Jewish life that leaders cannot afford to ignore.
Read the entire post on eJewish Philanthropy.