New Jewish Temple on UA campus

[Atlanta68]

<p>[Temple</a> holds dedication ceremony for UA location | TuscaloosaNews.com](<a href=“http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100809/NEWS/100809670/1007?Title=Temple-holds-dedication-ceremony-for-UA-location]Temple”>http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100809/NEWS/100809670/1007?Title=Temple-holds-dedication-ceremony-for-UA-location)</p>

<p>Congregation in Tuscaloosa dates back to 1880s.</p>

[siglio21]

<p>it seems like every jewish congregation dates from the 1880’s or 1920’s…probably corresponds to periods of immigration</p>

[Atlanta68]

<p>That might be true for most of the Southern synagogues, but I am not sure. When I was a child, my family attended a Church in a building that was built as a synagogue during the Civil War for the Jewish community in Montgomery. The Jewish community sold it to the Church in the late 19th century. </p>

<p>In fact, the Defense Secretary or Sec. of State of the Confederacy was Jewish. Cant remember the exact position. And the first American synagogue was in Charleston. Jews definitely go way back in the South.</p>

[siglio21]

<p>[Judah</a> P. Benjamin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_P._Benjamin]Judah”>Judah P. Benjamin - Wikipedia) i think</p>

[Atlanta68]

<p>Wow, he served three different positions during the Confederacy: Sec. of War, Attorney General, and Sec. of State!</p>

[mom2collegekids]

<p>There has been a synagogue in Huntsville since 1876. It’s beautiful. It’s in an area in downtown Huntsville where all the older worship centers are for various religions.</p>

<p>I think SEA_Tide has the story as to why there are Jewish students at Alabama (which may seem odd to outsiders). I think he says that Jewish students started coming to Bama when the northeast schools had “Jewish quotas”. And, because of that, some of these families have been very loyal to Bama - sending their children and their money over the years.</p>

<p>While the state is part of the “bible belt,” Alabama has clusters of people that don’t belong to the typical “bible belt” denominations. There are large clusters of Italian Catholics in Birmingham, French Catholics in Mobile, German Catholics in Cullman, and many Catholics and other religions in Huntsville because of the Army base and Cummings Research Park.</p>

[diontechristmas]

<p>There’s also a very large Jewish population in Mountain Brook.</p>

[SEA_tide]

<p>m2ck is correct that starting around the Great Depression, UA has had many Jewish students who are not from the South because it advertised its lack of quotas when many northern schools did have Jewish quotas. Even though the quotas have ended, those UA alums continue to send their children and grandchildren to UA. More recently, UA did similar recruitment to get Texans who didn’t get admitted to UT-Austin due to the the then-top 10% rule to attend UA.</p>

<p>Additionally, there are many Jewish families who have been living in the South for many generations and some of them attend UA.</p>

[feenotype]

<p>[New</a> UA Jewish center to have grand opening | TuscaloosaNews.com](<a href=“http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110401/NEWS/110409987/1007/news?Title=New-UA-Jewish-center-to-have-grand-opening]New”>http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110401/NEWS/110409987/1007/news?Title=New-UA-Jewish-center-to-have-grand-opening)</p>

<p>The Bloom Hillel Student Center will have a grand opening ceremony from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at 380 Ninth St., across from the Paul W. Bryant Museum.</p>

<p>Pam Parker, the University of Alabama’s vice president for advancement, will cut the ceremonial ribbon.</p>

<p>The university has about 700 Jewish students, according to Star Bloom, treasurer of the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation board.</p>

<p>The former Hillel House was across from Bryant-Denny Stadium on Wallace Wade Avenue for more than 50 years until 2008, when the building was sold to UA at the university’s request. For the past two school years, the organization has met temporarily in another building near campus.</p>

<p>The new Hillel will be about 4,200 square feet and includes a student lounge, a multipurpose room, a kitchen, a library and a courtyard.</p>

[JAB6666]

<p>I’m sure this will make my mother and grandparents very happy, now that their “nice jewish boy” will have a place to go for holidays and services and such. lol.</p>

[feenotype]

<p>[Crowd</a> welcomes new Jewish center at UA | TuscaloosaNews.com](<a href=“http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110403/NEWS/110409930/1007?p=all&tc=pgall]Crowd”>http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110403/NEWS/110409930/1007?p=all&tc=pgall)</p>

<p>

University of Alabama students, alumni and friends on Saturday celebrated the grand opening of the Bloom Hillel Student Center.</p>

<p>The new Jewish student center, which is about 4,200 square feet, is separated by about 10 feet of sidewalk from Temple Emanu-El synagogue on Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street on the UA campus.</p>

<p>The new building houses a student lounge, a multipurpose room, a kitchen, a library and courtyard for the growing Jewish student population at UA.</p>

<p>Star Bloom, treasurer of the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation board, shares in the building’s namesake with her husband, Stan. She spoke shortly before the building’s dedication Saturday.</p>

<p>“This all started with a vision that (UA President Robert E.) Witt and the Tuscaloosa Jewish community had about how wonderful it would be to have the student Hillel house so close to the temple,” Bloom said.</p>

<p>“We were even able to hire a Jewish architect to design it and the process has gone just as well as it could have.”</p>

<p>After Bloom spoke, Pam Parker, UA’s vice president for advancement, untied instead of cutting the ceremonial ribbon. Because the event occurred during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, scissors are not allowed to be used because doing so would be considered labor, which is prohibited during Shabbat.</p>

<p>“This has just been a great experience for me to be a part of,” Parker said of the new student center. “In 2007, we had a little over 170 Jewish students on this campus and now we have grown to more than 700.</p>

<p>“It is my hope that with this new home, that number will continue to grow and that Bloom Hillel will continue to serve as a home away from home for Jewish students at UA,” Parker said.</p>

<p>“I know that the rest of the God Quad welcomes you here.”</p>

<p>**The “God Quad” is the unofficial name for the area on the eastern side of campus where the Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic and Baptist student centers are located.
**
The Hillel House was across from Bryant-Denny Stadium on Wallace Wade Avenue for more 50 years until 2008, when the building was sold to UA at the university’s request. For the past two school years, the organization has met temporarily in another building near campus.</p>

<p>Isa Dorsky, a UA alumni and past president of the Jewish student center, said only 10 people were at the first Hillel meeting she went to when she first arrived on campus in 2005.</p>

<p>“But then we began offering more and more at each student event, and by the time we got to 30 students coming to each event we realized we had hit it big,” Dorsky said. “I have been amazed to see what Bama Hillel has grown into now.</p>

<p>“I am proud to call myself and alumni of a school so supportive of Jewish life on campus and without Hillel I would not be who I am today and because of it, I am even more proud to be Jewish.”</p>

<p>Alex Gordner grew up in New Jersey and knew that when he got to UA he wanted to join a fraternity and the campus Hillel.</p>

<p>“And when I envisioned Hillel at UA, I pictured a large building with a lot of Jewish students coming and going. But I wasn’t sure how different Alabama would be from New Jersey so I kept and open mind,” Gordner said.</p>

<p>“But what I found at UA was much better than I’d had in New Jersey. And that was a small, tight-knit family of Jewish students who worked together.”

</p>

[crimsondude]

<p>Not exactly one to be proud of, but I recently learned that Bernie Madoff attended UA his freshman year. He came down from New York and was a ZBT.</p>