By Ben Goldberg
Imagine that you’re a freshman in college and it’s your first Shabbat on campus. You decide to check out the Jewish community in hope of continuing the vibrant Jewish life you came to love in your Conservative synagogue, youth group and summer camp.
With some new friends from your dorm, you check out the campus Hillel. But the Judaism offered there seems superficial and geared towards people with very little previous experience with Jewish life. You next check out the Chabad House, but with its strict gender roles and abundant alcohol, it seems more like a fraternity than a Jewish organization.
I exaggerate, but students like me who come from strong Conservative backgrounds often experience difficulty finding a Jewish home on campus. Hillel nationally has made great strides in engaging “uninvolved” Jews through innovative, network-based initiatives, but this has often come at the expense of traditional programming for the kind of student who does not need to be convinced to participate in Jewish life. Likewise, recent years have witnessed a proliferation of ultra-Orthodox kiruv organizations on campuses that offer more traditional Jewish experiences, but deny equality to women and shun critical inquiry into Judaism.
KOACH exists to fill this small but crucial void on the college campus. Through its grants, internship program, and especially its upcoming national Kallah, KOACH empowers students to create Conservative Jewish life on their campuses. It offers substantive learning, meaningful prayer and engaging activities that allow students who were raised in the Conservative movement to grow in their Judaism. In particular, the Kallah allows us to meet students from other schools, experience a powerful Shabbat weekend together, and learn from each other about how to improve our communities. In these ways, KOACH has been instrumental in my college experience and is indispensible to the future of Conservative Judaism.
Ben Goldberg, a senior studying History and Jewish Studies, is the president of Northwestern Hillel and a member of the KOACH Student Steering Committee.