Jewish Student Associations

The Jewish Student Association at the Business School provides a context for HBS Jews from all over the world to meet on a social level. Its membership encompasses faculty and students from across North America, South America, and Europe, as well as from Africa, the Middle East and Australiasia. Highlights from past years include cocktail parties, a speaker and dinner series, and Shabbat meals at Hillel. The JSA enjoys close links with Harvard Hillel, and firmly believes in the value of introducing students to Hillel, the center of Jewish life at Harvard. The JSA has also arranged a series of small dinners at Hillel with Jewish HBS faculty members. At Yom Kippur, the JSA holds an annual Break-The-Fast party for all of the Boston area graduate schools.

The HDS Jewish Caucus brings together Jewish students from diverse religious backgrounds to enjoy each other’s company, explore issues of interest to the Jewish community, celebrate Jewish festivals, and learn from one another's experiences. Through events like weekly Torah study lunches, scholarly presentations from faculty or Visiting Scholars, and potluck Shabbat dinners, we help foster a sense of community and learning. Any students interested are welcomed to our meetings and events.

The Jewish Students in Arts and Sciences (JSAS) serves the Jewish community of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as an officially recognized GSAS student group. We are funded by the Graduate Student Council and may reserve any of the rooms in Dudley House or Hillel for group events. In the past, we’ve organized informal dessert meetings, a trip to the Boston Jewish Film Festival, a wine-tasting night, and an apple-picking trip. Any GSAS student, together with the JSAS leadership can organize events — we welcome your ideas for new events and activities. Please visit the following site for more information and to sign up for weekly emails: http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/jsas-list.

The Jewish Student Association (JSA) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is interested in nurturing a strong, diverse Jewish community at HGSE. Our broad interests include communal exploration and celebration of intellectual, cultural, political, historical, spiritual, and pedagogical issues from commitment to education to social justice; we hope to live and perpetuate that legacy as members of the HGSE community, particularly as it relates to our lives as educators, leaders, researchers, and policymakers. We are committed to addressing key concerns in education and key concerns at HGSE through sponsoring and cosponsoring events for the community that deepen our understanding about important issues, provide service, and contribute a complex Jewish voice to HGSE discussions.

The Jewish Caucus at the John F. Kennedy School of Government is an active and integral part of the school’s diverse community. It seeks to create a forum for Jewish students to meet each other and enjoy their culture and traditions. Additionally, the Caucus strives to enhance understanding of Jewish life through religious, cultural, educational, and social functions. In the past, the Jewish Caucus has sponsored a Chanukah Quorum Call (happy hour), Break-the-Fast after Yom Kippur, a celebration of Israel’s 50th birthday, and many potluck Shabbat dinners. The Caucus has also co-sponsored several inter-graduate school Shabbat dinners at Hillel and works to increase communication and cooperation with the other Jewish student groups at Harvard and in the Boston area.

The Harvard Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) is a cultural, social, educational, and religious organization that reflects the varied interests of the Jewish student community of Harvard Law School. The organization consists of more than 300 HLS students, Boston-area graduate school students, and others who are interested in Jewish legal affairs or the affairs of the Jewish community at Harvard Law School. Over the past year our events have included a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream social, Sukkah building at the law school, a student-faculty Chanukah party, a trip to the Boston Jewish Film Festival, a pan-graduate school Shabbat dinner, a Purim brunch and Megillah reading, the Black-Jewish Dialogue, and our annual Wine and Cheese Spring Soiree. In addition, we have hosted countless speakers, both from the Harvard community and well beyond, and we co-sponsor a graduate student Shabbat Dinner with the Chabad House at Harvard.

The Maimonides Society is the Harvard Medical School and School of Dental Medicine Jewish Student Association, and its events are open to the entire community. Our goal is to provide a comfortable, welcoming environment for Jewish students to make bonds and express their spirituality. Social events are organized around Jewish holidays, Shabbatot, community service, Israeli affairs, and educational seminars. We also coordinate some events with CHAI - the Harvard Jewish Graduate Student Association and the greater Boston community. Members of Maimonides can help you figure out what synagogues and havurot are around, where to buy a mezuzah or kosher Chinese food, or who has the best bagels. We look forward to meeting you, and we welcome your involvement, ideas, and enthusiasm.

The Harvard Dental School participates in the Maimonides Society with the Harvard Medical School. Dental School students have also participated in CHAI events and continue to be active in the Harvard Jewish Graduate Student Association.

The Graduate School of Design Jewish Student Association was formed hosted the first CHAI Sukkah design contest in 2001.  In the past, GSD students have held Seders in students' homes, lit Hanukkah candles at the GSD, and observed other occasions together. 

The HSPH Jewish Student Association aims to bring together students interested in exploring issues pertaining to the Jewish community, celebrating Jewish festivals, and learning from one another. The group hopes to foster a sense of community around Jewish culture and education through HSPH-based events as well as participation in university-wide programs. Activities hosted by the HSPH Jewish Student Association and by CHAI at Harvard Hillel are open to all.

Contacts:  Mara Meyer mameyer@hsph.harvard.edu and Juliana Weinstein jweinste@hsph.harvard.edu