Orthodox Student Minyan

The Orthodox Student Minyan (OSM) is the group of undergraduate members of the larger Orthodox minyan. Outside of services, OSM takes responsibility for fostering a thriving Orthodox undergraduate community, serving its needs by orchestrating numerous religious and social activities throughout the year. In the past, OSM has hosted special Friday night dinners, baking parties, guest speakers and many other social and educational programs. OSM also actively encourages and aids in the organization of Jewish learning opportunities, whether in the form of chavrutot, communal mishmar, shiurim, or any other forum in which interest is expressed. Such special programming serves to complete the Orthodox undergraduate's broader Hillel experience, and thanks to it, undergraduates in the minyan are able to consider themselves members of three communities: the larger Hillel community, the undergraduate Orthodox community, and the larger Orthodox community. Contact: Yair Rosenberg '11 (yrosenb@fas) Website:

Orthodox Life on Campus

Orthodox prayer services happen daily, with shacharit in the morning and mincha/maariv in the late afternoon. Undergraduates typically make up about half of these minyanim, while the other half consists of graduate students and community members. In the Orthodox minyan, these groups pray together. On Friday night and Shabbat morning, the Orthodox minyan typically draws approximately 70-100 people to their services from these three groups. Typically, undergraduates serve as gabbaim for the minyan and are very active in its leadership. This dynamic allows for a special relationship to develop between undergraduates and the surrounding community, which also comprises the minyan. For example, most students will be invited out for meals with community members or graduate students at some point during their stay at Harvard, and share in many a Shabbat afternoon seudah shlishit in Hillel with the broader community.