Greek-Jewish Life

Some AEII brothers enjoyed the FYSH In-Style Seder and the ladies!

In the past, the University at Albany has found a void in terms of Greek-Jewish life. There are many historically Jewish fraternities and sororities on campus as well as many Jewish brothers and sisters, however, Greek-Jewish involvement is not very substantial (i.e. the number of Jewish members of Greek life participating in Jewish life on campus is quite low).

This year, some great in-roads have been made with the Greek-Jewish community.

The AEII fraternity is primed to continue their involvement in Jewish life on campus; the brothers consistently attend Friday night dinners as well as other programs and their presence is always felt!

Some key AEII leaders include:

Shawn Hindes - Master, Brett Pasternack - Lt. Master (VP), Mike Lewis -Treasurer, Rich Burg - Scribe, Dan Muth - Sentinel, Jon Bronley - Rushmaster, Ben Lieb - President of Hillel, Ben Smith,

Many individual leaders of the DPhiE sorority are strongly involved with Jewish life on campus as well. The continued recruitment of DPhiE attendance and participation in events and leadership in Jewish life would benefit everyone involved.

Some key members of DPhiE include:

Ilissa Ferstenberg, Yonit Roitman, Gillian Schwartz, and Robin Forman.

Aside from AEII and DPhiE, there are some individual sorority members that are involved in Jewish life on campus and would assist in terms of leadership initiatives, creating a first Greek-Jewish program, and eventually, a Greek-Jewish council.

Some of these students include:

Wendy Hale - AOPi and Lindsay Rosenthal - AZD

Staff contact: Omar Torres is the Student Life liaison to Greek Affairs. His office is located on the first floor of the Campus Center in Student Life.

Next steps: With student support for Greek-Jewish life in place, it seems the next step is to have a first program. To go about this, it might be most beneficial for the JCSC Fellow to meet with representatives from AEII (definitely Shawn Hindes), DPhiE (definitely Ilissa Ferstenberg and Yonit Roitman) and Hillel, in order to encourage a co-sponsorship on an event. Once agreement from all parties is attained, further meetings can occur, incorporating Omar and other student leaders to plan an event.

Note: It is highly recommended to have an event that involves fundraising for the philanthropies of the involved fraternities and sororities.

Note II: The ability to complete community service hours is also a large incentive for Greek-Jewish students to attend an event.

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