On February 16, the Kollel program began for the semester. The program, founded by Jewish community leader Efy Flamm, is a weekly course that lasts ten weeks, catering to Jewish students looking to learn more about Judaism. Upon completion of the program, which culminates in a Shabbos(Friday night dinner) experience shared with Flamm and his family in Pikesville, students receive a $150 stipend.
“The stipend provides an incentive for students to join,” Flamm said. “And then sort of rewards them for their commitment.”
Flamm, who began the program at Towson University five years ago, based the Kollel program from a similar program that offers stipends to young Jews and has been successful around the country.
“The reason that I call my program the Kollel is because throughout Jewish history there’s always been the concept of ten men studying on behalf of the rest of the community who always received a stipend,” Flamm said. “And that’s called a Kollel.”
“So I figured I’d just call mine the Kollel because that’s ultimately what’s happening here. You’re getting paid to commit for eight weeks and through those people learning, the rest of the Hopkins community benefits.”
The program is funded privately through the Jewish Collegiate Network, an organization that Flamm founded in 1989, and relies on individual donors from the Baltimore Jewish community as well as others in New York and New Jersey.
Junior Ali Cohen, who participated in the first Kollel course held on campus in spring 2009, now helps as a recruiter for the program on behalf of Flamm.
“I know that personally [the stipend] was just a perk for me,” Cohen said. “At that point I just wanted to learn more about Judaism and this was a great opportunity, but I think that when it’s advertised on Facebook as ‘Get paid $150 to Learn About Judaism’ it’s certainly a nice draw for people.”
And the stipend has drawn students, including Freshman Ellie Kaplan who is currently participating in the program, along with about 10 other students.
“I was definitely interested in taking the class regardless, but I probably would have chosen a different time to take it because this semester is already crazy,” Kaplan said. “I probably wouldn’t have added another class if it wasn’t for the stipend, but I kind of thought of it almost as a cool job because it’s only an hour and a half a week.”
Besides the cash incentive, students are also drawn to the accessibility of the course, Flamm explained.
“It’s a Jewish lifestyle class,” Flamm explained. “The class is based on information that the students can look at and say that’s relevant to my life, being a Johns Hopkins student in the year 2011.”
In addition to learning about Jewish lifestyle, Kaplan also hopes to learn more about past and current events that continue to affect Jews around the world.
“I’m hoping to walk away with a better understanding of the historical aspects of Judaism, but also just to be more educated so that I can to speak more effectively when talking about Judaism or Israel,” Kaplan said.
For Cohen, it was the course’s content but also Flamm’s teaching style that contributed to her positive experience.
“[Efy] is very charismatic and entertaining and he does know his stuff,” Cohen said. “He’s kind of like this cool guy who’s funny and laughs a lot and he makes it engaging. I think for students that don’t necessarily have a strong background [in Judaism] he makes it exciting to go.”
Though she has been active in the Hopkins Jewish community since her freshman year, Cohen said she hopes that the Kollel program will instill some students with the confidence to get involved.
“I find that a lot of times students just don’t feel engaged or may not ever think about being involved in the Jewish community,” Cohen said. “So if they take this class they can kind of feel like they have a foundation and that they’re part of the community. I think it’s really important that students are aware of that in college to develop that foundation for life.”
Similarly, Flamm hopes to target students that wouldn’t otherwise be connected to the Hopkins Jewish community.
“The ultimate goal at Hopkins is not necessarily to have students that are already really committed to taking the class, but to really have students not involved in Hillel or other Jewish groups on campus to take the class,” Flamm said. “But that takes time through the network of students, but that really is my goal, to accomplish that.”
While Cohen completed the course two years ago, she still periodically shares Shabbat with Flamm and his family.
“The Shabbat experience at his house with his family is just something that I’ll never forget,” Cohen said. “His wife prepares food for 50 to 80 college students every single week and there’s singing and table pounding. It’s just really great.”
