I am a conservative Jew considering BS for high school, and I was wondering about the Jewish culture at BS. I know that every school is different, but in general, do most observe Jewish holidays as well as others, and are there opportunities to get together with other Jews for Shabbat and other occasions? I am in NO WAY super-religious or ultra-practicing, but I am involved in all the major things. Also, could anyone recommend some BSs with strong opportunities for Jewish practice? I don’t mean schools with only Jews, I mean schools that allow Jews to practice their religion without sacrifice of other important things.
@4everstressed I don’t have all the details but I know on the Deerfield Facebook page they had some pictures of the Jewish community at the school celebrating both Yom Kippur and Hannukah. There seemed to be about 20-40 students from what I recall. I recommend you go have a look.
All of the boarding schools value diversity and inclusion and enable students to celebrate their faiths. Choate has a significant Jewish population with a Friends of Israel group and an active Hillel:
I would guess that Friends schools, Westtown and George, would be very supportive.
At St. Paul’s School: https://www.sps.edu/school-life/chapel/student-faith-groups
“The Hillel Society sponsors numerous events throughout the year for Jewish community members as well as all who are interested in attending, including Shabbat dinners, special Chapel services, the annual Passover Seder meal on campus, and additional opportunities for hospitality and conversation”.
One thing to note - many schools have class on Sat which will eliminate an observant conservative population.
I will PM you about our (good!) experiences.
Groton has a weekly religious service requirement, and a Friday evening Shabbat service is one of the options. There are about 25 kids, and it’s pretty chill – we read a few prayers, touch on that week’s Torah portion, and talk about our weeks. And eat food.
Students are allowed to miss school for major holidays, but I often found it wasn’t worth having to make up that work outside of class. I liked Jew Crew (as we called it), and the school got a lot better at not scheduling other things on Friday evenings during the years that I was there. It’s a fun, laid-back community with a range of observances (is that a word?).
Just to add to @carpoolingma comment above, there are kids we know applying to BS who decided not to apply to schools with Saturday classes. Early in the school year, several classes were cancelled so that teachers could observe the High Holidays. As @GoatMama stated SPS actually mentioned this at Revisit last year. The schools b@ Revisit provided info on upcoming Passover observances.
I was looking at Exeter’s school calendar today, and I noticed a variety of religious services scheduled, including Shabbat services. Good luck and best wishes!
Is it true that Miss Porters has or had a Jewish club led by a faculty leader associated with “Jews for Jesus”?
@CaliMex Yes, I have seen multiple articles about it actually. Those same articles did turn me away from Miss Porter’s, because they mentioned multiple cases of anti-Semitism without administration taking action. I also know a few people who went there and left because of anti-Semitism. I’m not accusing anyone, and this is all second or third-hand, but I just wouldn’t feel comfortable going there.
I’m Jewish and a current student at Exeter. Observances: The Exeter Jewish Community (which is part of the school, rather than affiliated with the surrounding town) is a small but lovely group of people with a wonderful rabbi. There is a Shabbat dinner with blessings but not a full service beforehand and it’s one of my favorite parts of the week. However, there are not Saturday morning services in Exeter and the town of Exeter doesn’t have a synagogue, so if you want to attend Saturday services you need to get a ride from a faculty member to the temple in Portsmouth, about 20 or 30 minutes away (it is a pretty accepting conservative congregation). There are Saturday classes about once a month as well, so you would not be able to go to services on those days. EJC does have full High Holidays services and I believe (I’m a 9th grader this year) holds a proper seder. There are also observances of smaller holidays, such as a Hannukkah party and Hamentaschen baking for Purim. The school as a whole does not call off classes on Jewish holidays but requires teachers to give you an excused absence.
Other parts of Jewish life: 1) The Jewish affinity group meets once a month (ish) to discuss this and that; it is a narrower group than EJC in that one must identify as Jewish in some way to go (EJC is, as Rabbi says, welcome for the “Jewish and Jew-ish”). 2) When it comes to keeping Kosher in the dining hall, you will not be able to keep super carefully Kosher because everything is prepared in the same room. However, it is possible to follow basic Kosher rules. I will say that it sometimes means being virtually vegetarian since a lot of the meat is pork, slathered in cheese, or both. I also had my revisit during Passover and was pleased to note that there were pesadich options. 3) I have not experienced or heard of from others any anti-Semitism on campus.
Overall: My experience at Exeter is that the school doesn’t go out of its way to make life easier for Jewish students but there is a wonderful Jewish community and no anti-Jewish sentiment on campus.