Freshly back from a fantastic year in seminary, I was extremely nervous about finding a Jewish community within my secular college. Everyone assumed, including myself, that I would head home every Shabbat needing a sense of normalcy and Jewish life. That quickly changed when I experienced firsthand the meaningful, fun-filled Shabbatot at NYU OU-JLIC. More so than serving the Jewish students of NYU, Cooper Union, Baruch, Hunter, FIT, and many other schools, the JLIC has truly created a vibrant and active young Jewish community.
A downtown Shabbat is so special because of the student body’s participation, from organizing minyanim to leining, giving divrei Torah, setting up meals, hosting an oneg, or planning a tisch. Even as a freshman, while new to campus, I looked forward to the moment on Friday when I would shut down my computer, put away all the homework from the previous week, and head out to Kabbalat Shabbat with all the people who became my fast friends.
One of the unique and amazing things about our Shabbatot is that all three meals are joint community meals, free of cost to all students and guests. We sit at one long table, eat, sing, and have a good time together. I didn’t fully grasp how special this was until I visited friends at other campuses and realized people either have to find group meals, cook, or pay for Shabbat meals at the cafe. While our joint Shabbat meals are a fantastic way to create community, they also serve our community in the practical sense that only some of our downtown schools even have kosher cafeterias or full kitchens in the dorms.
More than ever this past school year, our community-centric Shabbat was a much-needed respite for us students as we were often preoccupied with dealing with the encampments and protests on our various campuses. The provided community Shabbat meals both took away a potential stressor and allowed us to engage with and support our friends downtown. I vividly remember one Friday late afternoon when I walked through a protest outside the NYU library to get to Mincha and dinner and how much better I felt once I got inside, knowing what a wonderful Shabbat I had ahead of me.
The community’s beating heart, without a doubt, is Shabbos programming. Friday night, we sing a beautiful Kabbalat Shabbat, followed by a shiur from our campus rabbi, a wonderful catered meal, zemirot and benching, followed by a oneg and a more recent initiative, a student-led tisch.
Shabbat Day, I seem to never even leave the NYU Brofman Center for Jewish Life building, and the same is true for many others who attend. Yes, we come for services and meals, but we end up staying for the people and the wonderful environment that has been cultivated over the past few years. The downtown OU-JLIC is inclusive and warm, and Shabbat afternoons are even spent hanging out, playing games, or learning/going to shiurim in the beit midrash all afternoon. Following Mincha, we once again share a meal together. Sheudat Shlishit is always a fun time with a chill atmosphere and a student d’var Torah. From there, we have Maariv and havdala. Bringing Shabbat in and out every week as a unified community is really special.
First hand, I have seen and participated in the effort that makes these Shabbat meals and programming happen: from ordering the food to schlepping it and the supplies to our location for dinner, setting up the tables for meals, or setting up kiddush. All the students are so happy and eager to participate because we care about and are impacted by what we have created downtown.
However, especially in light of the great need for Jewish community this past year, we’ve grown faster than our budget can keep up! We are running this campaign to raise funds to continue having free Shabbat on campus for any and all students who need. Every dollar raised will go directly towards downtown students via kosher food costs, space rentals to daven and host meals, and other Shabbat and holiday programming. These funds are critical to making it happen this year. Your support is what makes OU-JLIC at NYU possible. Please consider sponsoring a meal or even any amount to help us maintain the incredible community we have built!
NYU OU-JLIC is currently running a campaign to save Shabbat downtown. You can learn more at https://upreaching.com/oujlic/saveourshabbat.
