Hello everyone,
I am a senior who was admitted to Williams and am strongly considering matriculating there.
I come from a modern orthodox, observant Jewish home, and have attended a modern orthodox Jewish day school for 13 years now. How would you say the Jewish life at Williams is? How is the Orthodox Jewish life? Is there a way to keep Kosher on campus? Any feedback for current or past ephs would be much appreciated.
Thank you all for reading this and taking the time to answer my questions.
Reach out to Williams about keeping kosher and they will be able to give you information about it. Dining services are very accommodating in general and I am sure they will meet your needs. That said, daily options will probably be limited. For a big range of kosher options, you would need a school like Brandeis, where a full half of the dining hall is devoted to kosher food.
Jewish population at Williams is not large but there is a Jewish center and I hear there is an active Hillel (“Small but mighty” on a site that I saw recently that ranks colleges by the percentage of students who are Jewish and then names some schools with small Jewish populations but active Hillel ). I went to a well-attended Seder at Williams when I was there, with both students and professors with their families in attendance, but that was many years ago. Again, admissions will be glad to put you in touch with student leaders of Jewish groups if you ask them.
There are many more cultural/ secular Jews at Williams than Orthodox.
Thank you very much for your response, @TheGreyKing. I really appreciate your time and advice.
Hey man—I’m a current student at Williams and I created an account just now because I really wanted to answer this question! I’m a Reform Jew and this semester I decided to try to eat totally orthodox kosher. It’s as tough as I imagine it is anywhere, but the kitchen staff was really phenomenally accommodating. They ordered a variety of dinner options (including brisket, poached salmon, different kinds of chicken etc, which isn’t normal college food to say the least) from a kosher catering company and gave me access to a fridge and microwave that I could reach anytime during dining hours. They really will go to any extent to make sure you feel as welcome as possible.
Also, I was at the seder this year and @TheGreyKing they are still very well-attended!
Glad to hear it, @PineCobble, and I am sure it will be helpful info for @Pianology23.
Williams is about as goyische a school as you’ll find in its peer group 