New club embraces ethnic and religious differences in unique educational setting

During lunch on Oct. 18, seniors Sunny Ramachandran, Omer Yosef and Alon Ankonina teamed up to make their sukkah, a traditional Jewish temporary hut known for having three walls. They built their sukkah out of Reese’s candies, frosting and graham crackers, competing for the $30 iTunes gift card prize given by the Jewish Student Union to the group with the best sukkah at the end of the club’s meeting. None of them practiced the Jewish religion.

“I love Jewish culture,” Ramachandran said. “I think it’s about the culture, not necessarily religion.”

The religious diversity at meetings is unique to JSU. Unlike other religious clubs, such as Roots Christian Club, JSU is not comprised of religiously homogenous members. According to vice president senior Tommer Schwarz, when the club made a Facebook event for their informational meeting, most of those who signed up were not Jewish, although turnout was not quite as skewed. The reason for the unexpected response is not known.

“We were expecting 95-100% Jews,” Schwarz said. “But at the same time the goal of the club is to learn… and we believe that that shouldn’t just be open to [Jews].”

Regardless of the ethnic and religious makeup of the organization, JSU emphasizes its focus on informing about Jewish traditions and culture in a tactile way. The collaborative nature of building a sukkah celebrates the idea of helping one’s neighbor and is an integral part of the Jewish holiday Sukkot. JSU president senior Aviv Pikary believes activities like making sukkah helps members learn more about Jewish culture.

“[Sukkot is] an important holiday to the community and most people know that this holiday exists, but don’t know what the point of it is,” Pikary said.

Part of educating members about Jewish culture includes celebrating Jewish traditions and keeping meetings fun by involving food.

“I feel like I’m going to gain a lot of weight from this club,” said club treasurer senior Ved Kirloskar, as he dug a spoon into the frosting.

The fun appeal is a big attraction to non-Jewish members, JSU is careful not to deter new members by forcing religion on them. In fact, the club’s three officers — Pikary, Kirloskar and Schwarz — are religiously diverse as well. Pikary is an Israeli conservative and is the most religious of the three; Schwarz identifies himself as an Israeli secular Jew; Kirloskar is ethnically Indian but has been exposed to Jewish culture and religion and has travelled to Israel several times in his life in order to visit relatives. Schwarz believes the general diversity in the club creates an honest and open atmosphere.

Pikary hopes that educating non-Jews about Jewish culture will help dissipate stereotypes and clear misunderstandings, especially amongst the club members (the password to enter meetings, according to some JSU members, is “We hate Hitler”).

Near the end of the meeting, a group of sophomore girls won the iTunes prize. Schwarz was unconcerned by their lack of Jewish background as he announced them the winners.

“The Jewish people have been discriminated against and killed for their religion over the years,” he said. “So we’re really in no place to exclude anyone … If this club in four years ends up being a Jewish club full of non-Jews but with interest in the religion and in the culture, that is 110% okay with me.”

On Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 8:03 P.M., a correction was made. JSU president Aviv Pikary is a junior.

The “We hate Hitler” comment observed by the reporter was made in a joking manner and does not reflect the views of JSU or anyone else mentioned in this story.