Hillel celebrates new Jewish center

Johns Hopkins University began construction of a new Jewish student life center during a three-day ceremony culminating in a groundbreaking Sunday, Nov. 3.

Students, parents and alumni joined in a series of campus events Nov. 1 to Nov. 3 to celebrate the first permanent home of Hopkins Hillel. Events ranged from a Torah donation by four former lacrosse captains to the groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday.

Organized by junior Bita Azhdam and class of 1973 alumnus Jay Lenrow, the groundbreaking attracted more than 250 people to the Mattin Center SDS Recital Room Sunday, where University President William Brody, President of Hillel of Greater Baltimore Jeff Scherr and other Hillel-related officials addressed the audience.

Then, after the formal ceremony, Rabbi Joe Menashe of Hopkins Hillel, Brody and major donors symbolically upturned soil at the center's site, 3109 N. Charles St. Actual construction will not begin for a few weeks.

The $5 million building is scheduled for completion November 2003 and should be fully operational by spring 2004, said Rachel Heimann, the Jewish student life coordinator. It will be named after its donors, Irving and Carol Smokler and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

The Smokler Center for Jewish Life in the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building "will be a hub of Jewish-related activities ? and a place where students can feel comfortable," said Rabbi Joe Menashe of Hopkins Hillel. "This will really be part of the rhythm and fabric of campus."

To date, $5 million has been raised, but according to Menashe, the Hillel is still seeking $10 million to be used for programming and the day-to-day maintenance of the facility.

The University-owned and Hillel-maintained building will serve as the first permanent home for Hopkins Hillel, a facility already offered by most universities.

"Hopkins is up to this point one of the only major campuses in the country without a Hillel facility," said Menashe. "[So the building] is both important in terms of its use and symbolic value."

Heimann said the building will consist of three floors and a basement. The dining facility for Shabbat dinners will be located in the basement, while the second floor will consist of the administrative offices and a coffee shop. On the second floor, a computer lab, a conference room and a library will make up the center for student life and engagement. According to Heimann, the third floor will be a multipurpose room and a Beitmaidrash, or a house of study,

There will also be five to eight Internet hook-ups for students who bring their laptops.

"I think students will be able to use it as an area to come and do work," said Heimann.

She also said it will attract more Jewish students to the University.

"It means a lot to prospective students and should attract more Jewish students," said Heimann.

Lenrow agreed and said that when he came as a freshman in 1969, he had to walk two miles to the nearest synagogue for Yom Kippur since the University failed to offer services.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Smokler said he made his $1 million donation partially to draw more prospective Jewish students. Although both Smokler and his eldest son attended Hopkins, his younger son refused to even consider the University, since he said it lacked a prominent Jewish presence on campus.

"A building where these students can meet can be a defining factor in whether they go to Hopkins," agreed Lenrow.

The weekend events celebrating the new building included a Shabbat dinner on Friday, Nov. 1, and a Shabbat lunch on Saturday, Nov. 2, featuring guest speakers Jerome Schnydman, executive assistant to Brody, and the 2001 Young Trustee Vadim Schick.

David Nirenberg, the Charlotte Bloomberg professor of humanities and director of the Stulman Jewish Studies Program, spoke to the audience at the Seudah Shlishit, the third meal of the day on Friday.

Over the course of the weekend, two torahs were also donated to Hopkins Hillel, each dating to pre-WWII Europe, said Menashe. They were donated by four Hopkins alumni, all former lacrosse team captains: Mark Greenberg, '80, Doug Honig, '71; Jry Handleman, '82 and Doug Fuchs, '71.