UPDATED: July 29, 2015 at 10:42 a.m.
While most students study abroad somewhere far from home, Yeshiva University senior Sarah Rindner is spending a semester in an environment more spiritually than geographically foreign.
While she’ll return to Yeshiva—a modern orthodox Jewish university in New York City—to receive her diploma, she’s wrapping up her college career in Cambridge.
Rindner says she came to Harvard because the Yeshiva was small with limited opportunities for further enrichment.
The “Harvard bubble” is nothing new to Rindner, who says she grew up in a similarly self-contained community. “The Orthodox community was my entire world,” she says. “I never realized what a small part of the world it actually is.”
Rindner admits that there are differences between the Harvard and Yeshiva Jewish communities. “There’s also more dialogue with other faiths,” she says. And while the Harvard Jewish community may be smaller than what she’s used to, Harvard itself is a whole lot bigger. Stern College, the college Rinder attended within the greater Yeshiva University system has about 1,000 students, compared to classes at Harvard that are almost that size.
The disparities between her old world and Harvard sometimes prove difficult. “I’m used to eating Kosher food, and keeping the Sabbath,” she says. “It’s difficult when my [Harvard] friends don’t.”
Overall, however, Rindner does not regret spending her last semester as a visiting student. “Religiously, I feel like I am evaluating myself,” she says. “Harvard is a positive environment for self-reflection. I definitely feel like I’m growing.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
CORRECTION: July 29, 2015
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the size of Yeshiva University's student body.
