For the first time in years, Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel has a decidedly Conservative feel.
Following the elections of new leaders last November, all three elected members of the Hillel steering committee attend the Conservative worship services, causing some members to wonder whether there is a trend away from the traditionally Orthodox leadership of the past.
"Five years ago, Hillel had a ruling body which was almost entirely composed of Orthodox people," says Julia W. Andelman '97-'98, a member of Hillel's Conservative minyan, whose older sister was also a member. "Now the conception of the leadership has changed, as have the people."
Hillel members may attend Orthodox, Conservative or Reform worship services, called minyans.
Although the minyans are funded by Hillel, they are governed separately. Each minyan chooses its own leadership and plans its own services.
Over the past four years, Hillel members say the Conservative community within the Jewish student group has expanded greatly.
Between 60 and 80 undergraduates currently attend Friday night Conservative services, a number which has almost doubled in the past four years, according to outgoing Chair Ethan M. Tucker '97 and In fact, for the 1993-94 school year there was not even a rabbi for the Conservative minyan, according to Hillel Executive Director Bernard Steinberg. The Conservative minyan is now the best-attended undergraduate worship service at Hillel. Approximately 40 Orthodox students and 10 reform students regularly attend their respective services, says Tucker, who is a Crimson editor. Orthodox students tend to be very observant of the laws of the Talmud, and consequently usually eat only Kosher meals and sometimes attend services three times a day. Conservative students tend to interpret Biblical teachings within a modern context, but still follow many of the Jewish laws, including keeping Kosher. They do not share the Orthodox interpretation of the teachings about women, according to Stephanie P. Wexler '97, a steering committee member and a Crimson editor. Students in the Reform movement tend to follow the laws much less strictly than do members of the other minyans, choosing to use Judaism as a way to help guide their values, if not to control every action, says Reform minyan leader Larry E. Wilson '96. A Trend? The three most recent Hillel chairs--Andorsky, Tucker and Elie G. Kaunfer '95--have been Conservative. In the two years prior to that, the organization was chaired by Orthodox leaders. According to Tucker, seven of the last eight steering committee members have been Conservative, following a period of strong Orthodox leadership. But some see the increase in Conservative leaders as no trend at all. Andorsky, who is a Crimson editor, says he believes the change in leadership is more of a cyclical pattern than a linear trend. "Years ago, Hillel had a primarily Orthodox leadership, and now the Conservative movement has come to the fore," Andorsky says. "It has tended to fluctuate. There is no reason it won't turn over again." Others, however, see the recent changes as part of a transition. Deena A. Shore '96, a former Hillel Annual Event Coordinator and steering committee member, says she thinks there has been a definite tilt toward Conservatism. "Four years ago the leadership was more Orthodox," Shore says. "The Orthodox presence was felt much more in the building." But Steinberg says the change in leadership is more a product of individual choice than group movements. "I don't think there is anything inevitable about leadership. It is more a function of the individuals," Steinberg says. "Right now, there is a group of strong Orthodox freshman, but there is no way of predicting what will happen in the future." However, Wilson sees a transition away from the Orthodox minyan. "My earliest impressions had an Orthodox twinge," Wilson says. "There were certain Orthodox characters I looked up to, who have left and not really been replaced." New Directions Many at Hillel believe the Conservative shift is part of a larger trend of pluralism and inclusiveness. According to Tucker, the leadership of Hillel has made a deliberate effort over the past few years to attract and involve a larger portion of the Jews in the Harvard community. Because Orthodox Jews were already a significant presence within the organization--by virtue of the fact that Hillel provided all of their meals and religious services--efforts at expansion inevitably led to an increase in the proportion of Jews of other denominations, Hillel leaders say. "I think there has been a definite expansion over the past two or three years," Tucker said. "Elie Kaunfer, the chair before me, made a concerted effort to make Hillel a more welcoming place for people of all denominations." This increase in diversity and membership spurred the creation of a new administrative body. Traditionally, Hillel has been overseen by a steering committee, composed of three elected members and one appointed member, and a coordinating council on which any undergraduate may vote after attending two meetings. Major decisions are made by the coordinating council, which meets monthly during the academic year and currently counts more than 100 voting members. But members say this forum has proved unwieldy. As a result, Hillel has developed a leadership council, composed of 24 student heads of various Hillel programs. The role of the council, which met for the first time on January 11, will be to discuss issues facing Hillel and come up with practical ways of implementing visions and goals, says Andorsky. While some see the creation of the leadership council as a necessary response to changes in size, others see it as a way to represent the different groups within Hillel. "One of the reasons the [leadership] council was created was to have a wider representation of people. That seems particularly relevant now considering the current make-up of the steering committee," says recently-elected Associate Chair Leah J. Solomon '97. Tucker emphatically rejects this notion, arguing that the council was created to facilitate decision making. "[The creation of] the council was not an issue of appeasing constituencies," says Tucker. "It was an attempt to bridge the gap between the steering committee and the coordinating council. The steering committee provides vision, but we need a smaller group to implement the agenda." According to Solomon, 15 of the 24 members on the council are Conservative, seven are Orthodox, one is reform and one is not part of any minyan. Historical Differences Some Hillel members say that any attempt to type people by the minyan they attend is bound to lead to over-generalization. "There are people who are Conservative, who observe almost all of the same rituals as the Orthodox," Andorsky said. "A person's Jewish identity is not defined by where they go to service. All a denomination will tell you is which service a person prays in." In fact, Andorsky and Tucker both say that they are as observant as many Orthodox Hillel members. For example, both keep Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, and do not use electricity or travel in cars on that day. All the leaders interviewed stressed that despite different worship styles, there is a great deal of communication among members of the various minyans. "The type of friendships and seriously meaningful conversations [among groups] that we have at Hillel, you would never find in the broader Jewish community," Wexler says. Despite these common bonds, many say that the denomination in which one has been raised is of crucial importance to one's experience at Hillel. "A lot of the Orthodox Jews have spent their lives living in relatively stable Jewish communities. They tend to be the most comfortable at Hillel," says Guy Maytal '97, a member of the Conservative minyan. "For people who are not as used to being in a Jewish group, it is hard to get involved at first." The glaring absence of Reform Jews would seem to confirm Maytal's claim. The American Jewish community is about 50 percent Reform, while Reform members make up less than 10 percent of the Hillel membership. Andorsky acknowledges this discrepancy but says it is the mission of Hillel to try to change it. "I think there are a lot of Jews on campus that would be interested in a Jewish program but are not interested in Hillel," Andorsky says. "It is a problem every Hillel in the country faces. I don't want any Jew on campus not to feel welcome here. We're continually trying to come up with a program to fill the need that is out there." Diverse Leadership Many think that one way to increase diversity is by having a representative leadership, including Reform Jews. Wexler says she believes that a more varied leadership could better understand the needs of all the Jews within Hillel. "It would be helpful if the leadership were from a variety of backgrounds," Wexler said. "But it is a problem of the chicken or the egg," she adds. "The people who are in the building the most tend to be the most involved, and these are the people who run, and rightly deserve to be elected." But if participation leads to election, what accounts for the absence of Orthodox Jews from the leadership positions? Some say that Orthodox and Conservative Jews have different outlooks on Hillel which affect their choices within it. "Many of the Orthodox are people who have grown up in the Jewish community and see Hillel as a place to be, a group to fit into," Solomon says. "For the Conservatives it is more similar to an extracurricular activity, someplace that you go, something that you can improve or expand." The appointment of Shoshana M. Cohen '98, a member of the Orthodox minyan, to the position of secretary has been seen by some as an attempt to provide more balance to the leadership. "We noticed after the election that the three of us who were elected were all Conservative," Solomon says. "We were definitely conscious of appointing someone who could bring something we couldn't bring on our own, no matter how hard we tried." But Cohen, who ran for a position last November but was not elected, does not see the appointment of leaders as a denominational issue. "I think it is an excellent new steering committee," Cohen said. "I don't think you can fault the community. It chose the people who are most active." Andelman says she believes that Cohen was appointed partly to balance the steering committee. "Of course Shoshana was chosen first on the basis of her qualifications," Andelman says. "But it was also an issue of creating balance." A Source of Conflict While members of different minyans cooperate on the steering committed and in day-to-day affairs, in the past few years, the groups have differed over Friday night Shabbat dinners, Tucker says. For years, both men and women have not sung Kiddush, the prayer over the wine, because singing by women would violate the religious codes of a very small portion of the Orthodox students. Last year that policy was reconsidered, and reversed, by Hillel Executive Director Bernard Steinberg because of the objections of many of the Conservative, Reform and even some Orthodox Jews. According to Wilson, the division was basically on denominational lines, although there was some crossover. "The idea of a religious violation is serious," Wilson says. "There were many in the Orthodox community who were not having their own codes violated, but were unwilling to see the codes of peers violated." Interim Rabbi Eric Clapper says he does not think the community was divided over the issue. "I think the community has made a decision to live within Orthodox law," Clapper says. "Both sides have made compromises but neither have sacrificed principles. Andorsky says he thinks the resolution of the issue indicates that the primary value in the minds of many within the Hillel community is that of pluralism. "Many Orthodox Jews said that they had a disagreement with the resolution of the issue," Andorsky says. "But they also said that they respect other people's rights, and that they actively wanted a pluralistic society." But many thought that the decision was not so widely agreed upon within the community, and instead reflected the steering committee's interest in k'lal yisrael or the broad Jewish community. "I think the new, more Conservative leadership is taking the reins to make it more pluralistic," says Andelman, who is Conservative. "But I think a mixed leadership could offer that as well, with some different methods. I don't think an Orthodox leadership would simply have an internal vision." The New Building Two years ago Hillel moved to its new location on the corner of Plympton and Mt. Auburn St. from its old building at 74 Mt. Aubun St. The new building was designed by architect Moshe Safdie in the shape of a U, with several large meeting spaces and rooms for each of the three minyans. The inside of the U has no walls, only windows, in contrast to the old Hillel which was an almost entirely brick structure. Many say that the brighter, more open feel of the new building has helped to make more people feel comfortable. "The old building used to be a final club, and it felt like it," says Tucker. "You had to go into a dark brick building, whereas I think the new building is much more welcoming; it has an open environment." Others say this shift has helped promote renewed interaction among the different groups. "At the old building, the dining hall wasn't big enough to fit everyone on Friday nights," says Wilson. "As a result we had to split into the upstairs and the downstairs. The downstairs had a much greater Orthodox presence, while upstairs was more relaxed. Now we all eat together." Dalia G. Trachtenberg '96, a Hillel member and co-chair of Harvard Students for Israel, said that she thinks that the new building has promoted harmony. "The building seems more open. Everyone can feel they belong." Trachtenberg says. "There isn't a sense of divisiveness--everyone eats in the same room."
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