Since its inception in the early 1990s, Jewish Student Union, or JSU, has been a club that welcomes both Jews and non-Jews. As the heads of club, we, Jacquie Golden and Eliza Scharfstein, aim for JSU to foster a fun, welcoming, safe, and educational environment for students to bond over and share their Judaism and personal culture with each other. The faculty leader Ms. Klein-Ash has been overseeing the club for 15 years now!
In our weekly meetings we discuss everything from traditions to the events in Israel, play games such as “jewpardy,” and share knowledge and experiences about Judaism and our Jewish identities. We also run larger events around the holidays that tend to get more of the community involved, including making hamentaschen around Purim, leading a Passover seder, and hosting a Chanukah party. Additionally, JSU hosts an annual 2nd period assembly. This year, holocaust survivor Hana Berkovitz, from Newton, Massachusetts, spoke to Class II about her experiences in Auschvitz concentration camp. For this year’s JSU chapel, we shared some Passover traditions and songs with the boarding community.
We ran a new event this year when we had representatives from the Anti-Defamation League come to Milton and lead a workshop with Milton students about how to have productive and meaningful conversations about Israel. The goal of the training was not to have students think one way about the many difficult issues surrounding the Middle East but instead get students thinking about how to address the issues themselves and with those around them.
JSU is so proud to be a part of the diverse Milton community and we are so excited about the ways in which we can share our identities with the many unique individuals around us.