News for Jews

Have you heard about the new Jewish Alumni group?  We’re calling it Chavurat Segol, The Purple Club!  We hope that this group will connect older and more recent Jewish alumni from Williams, and enable everyone to keep in touch with current Jewish life on campus.  While the first semi-annual publications will be on paper like this, we expect to move to an electronic format, and to utilize a special alumni tab on the new Jewish Association website that will be up and running by the end of the summer.  We want alumni to feel like they’re still very much a part of the Williams College Jewish Association.

I’m so proud to be associated with an active Jewish life at Williams.  Shabbat and Holiday services are led and coordinated by students.  We generally have 50-60 for home-cooked Shabbat dinner.  We’ve heard speakers from Israel, authors in the Jewish Studies Lecture Series, helped organize a Jewish film series with the wider Jewish community, and played a leadership role for the Minority Coalition on campus.  Hundreds attended The Latke Hamentaschen Debate.  A dozen of us participated in our third trip to New Orleans with Hillel for Katrina relief as a highlight of our tsedek activities this year. Two great Passover seders were led by students, and the kitchen at the JRC was joyfully busy and chaotic throughout the Holiday.  And we celebrated Israel’s birthday, engaging much of the wider campus!

Jewish life is alive and well on campus, with a myriad of activities that students have created, and also through a shared understanding that together we can bring Jewish ideas and values as well as activities to one another, enriching our personal and communal lives.

We hope you’ll stop at the JRC when you’re in Williamstown.  Please join us for a Friday night or weeknight program when you’re in town. 

Most important:  Stay in touch!

Cantor Bob Scherr

rscherr@williams.edu

413 597-2483

Jewish Ephs Forever
by Sig Balka

Several months ago an opportunity occurred to me that I shared with a number of graduates of the college as well as Bob Scherr and Larry Kaplan. The idea was to simply offer Williams College Jewish Center the opportunity to take advantage of alumni support for their activities as they might request for the ultimate benefit of the entire college. For example establish a lectureship on an annual basis on a subject to be addressed by a major scholar of interest to the college body as a whole. This is a description of one avenue of thought.

At two meetings convened in New York an interested group suggested the inauguration of a Havarah in New York, partly to serve the needs of younger alumni to fill the need for community similar to that which the Jewish Center at Williams provided to them as undergraduates. The purpose is not only to relate to the needs of the Jewish Center although that certainly would be a major objective but also to create an environment in New York City where religious celebrations, social serves participation and an opportunity to build friendships could occur. It is to fill those objectives that we are creating this group. If you are interested in joining our group please RSVP to Sherese Flowers at ShereseF@KrasdaleFoods.com.

We are working towards our opening event which will be a wine tasting of, you guessed it, Kosher wines of quality.

Should you wish to play an active role in our group or make suggestions as to ideas for us you can reach me directly by phone at (718) 378-1100 x2125 or E- Mail Sbalka@KrasdaleFoods.com.

Shalom Jewish Ephs