University Orthodoxy

Each year thousands of students from Orthodox Jewish homes attend universities throughout the United States and abroad. For many of us, the experiences we share on campus and in the university environment are oh so different from anything we've seen before. And for the better and for the worse, we are impacted by those experiences.

This is a period in our lives--perhaps moreso than any other--that challenges us to seriously consider what we do and what we believe. We deal with issues that subtly call on us to prioritize religion, family, school, and friends. And for many of us, it is the choices we make now that will shape much of who we are ten and twenty years from now, from the professions we pursue and the communities we join to the beliefs we adopt and the religion we practice.

Because of the relevance of these issues to a sizeable audience, we are currently organizing the publication of a collection of essays, in book form, on these topics. We invite students and recent graduates to contribute their thoughts and experiences relating to being Orthodox on campus.

We will accept contributions through June 2009. Over the summer we will begin preparing those contributions for publication in book form. This project is open to members of classes of 2000 to 2012. Submissions should be roughly between 500 and 1500 words. The following are possible topics, but are by no means exhaustive:

What are the primary challenges that confront you as an Orthodox Jew in university?
How do you deal with non-Orthodox Jews? Non-religious Jews? Non-Jews? What does pluralism on campus mean for you?
How has your high-school and yeshiva/seminary education prepared you, or failed to prepare you, for living Jewishly in a university culture?
How do you respond to changes in the religiosity of yourself and others?
How has campus life made you think differently about Israel?
How does your religious outlook impact your academic choices, such as major and selection of courses?
How did your college experience prepare you for life after college?
What sort of wisdom might you impart to others as they begin their journeys along similar paths?

All submissions should be emailed to UniversityOrthodoxy@gmail.com. Please include your name, university, graduating year, and a title for the essay. Comments and questions about this project should be directed to UniversityOrthodoxy@gmail.com.

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