Northeastern University Spring 2012 : Page 20P O V HILLEL HUB Jewish student life at Northeastern now has a vibrant center: the freshly renovated Hillel House. After Northeastern acquired the building on St. Stephen Street— through a gift from a group of faculty and alumni known as the Northeastern Hillel Advi-sory Committee— improvements were made to the structure’s lighting, flooring, windows, and roof in early 2011. The updates created more space for services, a renovated library with supervised evening-study hours, and a living area for visiting Jewish scholars. As a result, more students attend such social events as film screenings, dinners, and community-service days, says Rabbi Karen Silber-man, executive director of Northeastern Hillel. Students are also more likely to gather after classes to cook dinner together or relax in the game room, Silberman says. The new space has led to new collaborations with the Jewish studies program. Professors often come to discuss important cultural, historical, and political issues with students before Shabbat services on Friday nights. A LIGHT FOR MANY Northeastern’s Jewish studies program offers a unique lens for self-discovery and cultural understanding. “ When you look closely at someone else’s culture,” professor of music Joshua Jacob-son says, “you start to look at your own iden-tity with fresh eyes.” A robust Jewish studies program is a hall-mark of the best universities,” says Lori Lefkovitz, renowned scholar of Jewish narrative and gender studies. “When you look closely at someone else’s culture,” professor of music Joshua Jacobson says, “you start to look at your own identity with fresh eyes.” In fact, the intellectual rewards found in Jewish stud-ies—which comprises the disciplines of history, political science, music, literature, and gender studies—routinely attract highly motivated, dynamic students to campus, university leaders say. Lefkovitz, the director of Northeastern’s Jewish stud-ies program, came to Huntington Avenue in 2010 as the first Ruderman Professor of Jewish Studies, a chair established by the late Morton Ruderman, E’59. Both the Ruderman family and the university believed Jewish studies would play a key role in “Northeastern’s continuing meteoric rise as a destination school for excellent students,” says Lefkovitz. Marcia and the late Morton E. Ruderman, E’59, whose generous gift established the Morton and Marcia Ruderman Endowed Professorship of Jewish Studies, and renowned Jewish studies scholar Lori Lefkovitz, the chair’s inaugural holder. 20 Northeastern Magazine Spring 2012 Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
