Jewish students from around campus gathered for an 'Israeli Shibbat' at the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center hosted by Israeil Fellow Larissa Rozenblit and Hillel. Students said traditional Shabbat prayers and tucked into food similar to that available at a Shabbat dinner in Israel.
When associate professor of Judaic Studies Ben Sax moved his wife and newborn child to Blacksburg from Chicago in the fall of 2008, he was a bit daunted about relocating from a thriving Jewish community to Southwest Virginia. And then he went to the DMV.
"The woman who was working with me was a very sweet person, and you could tell that she was genuinely trying to make conversation along the way in this bureaucratic process, and she asked me what I did," Sax said. "I told her I was an associate professor of Judaic studies."
"What's that?" the woman asked.
"The study of Judaism," Sax said.
"What's that?"
"Debatably a religion that Jews do or do not practice," Sax said.
"I think I've heard of Jews," she said.
"It was uncomfortable for both of us. She knew that her cultural prejudices were shining through to a person she did not know. I was uncomfortable because my small talk was a window into something complex and uncomfortable," Sax said.
Blacksburg's Jewish community - whatever the local understanding of one of the world's oldest religious traditions - is an eclectic mix of American Jewish students searching for a Jewish "niche" coupled with professors and community members that span the religious spectrum. In doing so, the Blacksburg Jewish community mirrors debates in Judaism both in Israel and in the Jewish community at large.
Finding their own way
Only five years ago, the Jewish student community at Tech was largely invisible, said Sue Kurtz, Hillel executive director, because of a lack of public programming targeted at the broader university community. By partnering with groups such as the LGBTA and the Black Student Union, Kurtz said Hillel, a Jewish student organization, was able to expand the visibility of Judaism on campus and encourage the 1.5 percent to 2 percent of each class that is Jewish to attend activities.
In step with this process, two-time Hillel president and senior ACIS major Rochelle Low has worked with both multicultural programs and services and the vice president of student affairs to attempt to form a Jewish Student Union to solidify the voice of the Jewish community within the upper echelons of student governance.
Low said that one student group's invitation of a comedian to speak on campus during Yom HaShoah, the day of Holocaust remembrance on April 21, would be something that could be more directly addressed through a formal Jewish Student Union.
Hillel students perform Friday night Shabbat services at the Blacksburg Jewish Cultural Center on East Roanoke Street and often serve as leaders of Sunday morning religious education programs at the center. While this ties the community together, many said, it also offers an insight into one of the local communities most controversial issues: the question of whether to attempt to secure a permanent Rabbi.
Leave a comment 0 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.