Sergey Kadinsky
Written Works
Jewish Life Returns to Lehman College
For many of its early years, the Lehman College campus, located in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx has been suffering neglect, and lack of attention as other CUNY campuses were seeing theirs reputations rising. Lehman opened in 1931 as the northern branch of Hunter College, the initial class comprising entirely of women students largely destined to become teachers. During the Second World War, female army volunteers trained here, and the campus briefly served as the headquarters of the United Nations in 1946. Nevertheless, it may have been the college’s location on New York City’s northern edge that resulted in Lehman’s lack of reputation, in comparison to other City University campuses. As late as the 1970s, student strikes and the city’s fiscal crisis threatened to close the campus.
Three decades later, Lehman’s northern location has become its benefit, as Jewish life on campus undergoes a resurgence, largely due to an influx of Jewish students coming from the Westchester suburbs. “I live in Yonkers, and I chose Lehman partially on its location,” said political science student Brooke Greenberg, 23, who restarted the Hillel on her campus in the spring of 2006 and currently serves as its president. Greenberg’s inspiration in restarting Hillel came from a class led by Professor Zelda Newman. “My grandparents asked me if there was a Hillel on my campus, and at the time, I was taking a class on Isaac Bashevis Singer,” said Greenberg. When asked about Hillel, the professor told Greenberg that it was discontinued some 20 years ago, “But you could start one.” Newman supplied Greenberg with phone numbers of other Jews on campus, and a petition was organized to make the Lehman Hillel officially recognized by the college.
The effort to restart a Jewish club at Lehman was not easy. Unlike typical college campuses, Lehman is a commuter campus, and many students are older and rush to work after finishing classes, leaving little time for extracurricular activities. Senior Avraham Albelda, who studies mathematics and computer science attempted to organize a Jewish club in the fall of 2004. “I brought a phone booth-size sukkah to campus,” he said. To ensure that the college would permit the sukkah, Albelda had his Jewish classmates sign a petition to organize a Jewish club on campus. Unfortunately, the club folded as quickly as the portable palm leaf-covered tent. “The majority of students here come to class and then leave.” Like many of his classmates, Albelda works when he is not learning, as a tax associate, near his home in White Plains. “I came to Lehman because of its honors program,” which offers free tuition to participating students. An Orthodox Jew, Albelda would certainly prefer to pray with a minyan. “Sometimes I daven minchah by myself on campus, when there is time, I travel to nearby Riverdale.”
As the neighborhood with the largest Jewish community in the Bronx, Riverdale may provide vital support for this emerging Hillel. “The Bnai Brith of Riverdale gave us a grant and promised to get us films,” said Newman, who lives in the neighborhood. With Lehman College advertising in the Jewish Week, among other local newspapers, the possibility of local Jewish students enrolling at Lehman would be a blessing for the Hillel. “This school has fine education at a reasonable price. Our honors college recently enrolled a student coming from SAR,” Newman said, referring to the Orthodox Jewish high school in Riverdale.
Like Greenberg and Newman, Rabbi Manny Viñas’ arrival on the campus is also a result of a personal connection. Greenberg’s parents attend Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers, where he is the rabbi. Viñas also teaches Jewish Studies at the nearby City College of New York. Through the Greenbergs, he was connected to the Lehman Hillel, where he serves as the club’s spiritual advisor.
Vice President of Student Affairs Jose Magdaleno is delighted to see the Jewish revival on campus, considering it a contribution to an already diverse community. Raised in a Cuban-Jewish family, Viñas adds to the diversity on campus as a fluent Spanish speaker, acting as a bridge between the Hispanic and Jewish communities. Chia Schonberg, 20, a communications student serves as the Vice president of the club and looks positively on the club’s role on campus. “The best place to represent the Jewish community is where we are outnumbered,” she said. “This is done to show unity and get rid of misconceptions about the Jewish people.” Schonberg agrees with Albelda that the biggest challenge is turnout. “Jews are usually part of the Honors Program and have so much to do. We invite all the students to our events, including non-Jews.”
As small as it may be, the membership of Lehman Hillel is as diverse as any Jewish community, spanning the spectrum of academic and religious backgrounds. The treasurer of the club, Claire Vitshteyn, 23, was born in Moscow, and initially studied at the Borough of Manhattan Community College before transferring to Lehman to study social work. “It has my major and it’s close to my home,” said the Bronx resident.
Outside of Hillel, an exciting Jewish Studies program is taught by Professor Newman, who first met Greenberg in the “Love, Lust, and In Between” class. “This class is all about Isaac Bashevis Singer, the ‘in between’ is Yentl,” she said, referring to Singer’s gender-bending novel. In addition, the college also offers Hebrew classes. In both programs, the majority of students are not Jewish, but interested in Jewish concepts.
The biggest event for the new Hillel was a Holocaust memorial event on April 16th, where the largely elderly audience of Jews from nearby Riverdale came to hear Rabbi Viñas, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale choir, and the story of the city’s newest Hillel club. Exemplifying the future of this solemn day, Viñas urged students to record the stories of survivors. “South Beach comprised primarily of elderly Jews when I was young,” he said. “I spent too much time with them. I was a collector of stories.”
Like any student-run organization, it must face the question of who will succeed Greenberg, Schonberg, and Vitshteyn once they graduate. If the college’s advertising campaign in the Jewish media succeeds, the rebirth of Jewish life at Lehman should continue to grow. An example of the ideal Jewish student at Lehman is 19-year old biology student David Lowenstein of Riverdale, who heads the online Facebook chapter of the club. Like its real-life counterpart, it contains twenty members, with discussions of club policy and events. While established campus Hillels are blessed with their own buildings and full-time staff, smaller Hillels are run entirely by students, who give their time to the effort, as one post by Vitshteyn declares, “We have a lot of exciting events coming up in the near future. Please try and be a part of it…Come to a few meetings.”
*This article may appear in a special issue on education.