Koach Kallah

by Abraham L. Fried-Tanzer

If you liked USY, it's just like USY. And if you didn’t like USY, it’s nothing like USY.”

That’s how the president of New York University’s Conservative community described United Synagogue’s Koach program when I was a freshman, and then he added that Koach’s kallah bore the same relationship to a USY convention as Koach did to USY in general. And he was right. The weekend, which brings together Conservative Jewish college students from across North America to a different campus every year, represents a transition from high school antics to adult responsibilities.

In that spirit, the kallah is tailored to its college constituency. Students and professionals interact at essentially the same level. While staff ensures that everything goes well, most of the programming is run by students from different campuses, and this creates a strong feeling of community. As students we’re used to taking the initiative, structuring the programming and its implementation.

Participants at this year’s Koach kallah, February 28 to March 2, enjoyed a range of speakers and guests including representatives from the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, who all have a great deal of experience and energy. That the facilitators and speakers who engaged us in active learning have a passion both for their topics and for the students with whom they were learning was obvious. The exchange was mutual – they were just as invested in us as we were in them.

The importance of developing lay leaders in the Conservative movement is something that United Synagogue’s executive vice president, Rabbi Jerome Epstein, stressed. Training young people to become active, involved Conservative Jews is what Koach is all about.

The fact that there are various levels of observance is a frequent topic of discussion throughout the movement, and it is especially relevant for Koach. Comparing Conservative outreach on different campuses was meant to provoke a conversation about how to reach people who might not have found a comfortable Jewish place within their campus communities. For example, there is not just one way to conduct prayer services, or to select tunes and melodies for each prayer. Yet as soon as services begin, the voices come together to create a wonderful sense of community.

Services at the kallah were a delight; most of the people there lead the minyanim at their own schools and were at services because they wanted to be there. Unfortunately, this group makes up a minority of Jewish college students. Smaller Conservative campus minyanim face a circular problem. In my experience, many students who want to be involved and observe Shabbat and kashrut think that the Orthodox or Chabad minyan is a better fit because everyone there is observant. They overlook differences in ideology for the greater sense of community. If just five or 10 of those students would place themselves among the religiously dedicated Conservative Jews on campus, the Conservative community could create an environment that would be fulfilling to more people. It’s important to reconcile the needs of those who may not want to become more observant with those who already are observant, and do it without compromising the beliefs of either side. People can become more observant, but it is better to start off slowly rather than asking too much from the beginning. This is a difficult and continuing dilemma that faces not only college students but all Jews who are unsure of their next step. The discussions at the Koach kallah are a step in the right direction.

“I don’t have any answers for you” was the oft-repeated answer to questions about Conservative Judaism’s wide religious spectrum. Yet there is still value in discussing the issue and so the topics at the kallah ranged from making a minyan over the Internet to help in writing a d’var Torah quickly. It is just as important to engage students intellectually as to increase their religious involvement.

This year comedian Joel Chasnoff was the artist-in-residence. He uses his Solomon Schechter day school education to fuel his routines, avoiding stereotypes thanks to his real knowledge of observant Jews. Others might not understand him, but he was right on target for this audience.

Many of us are not sure about the future of Conservative Judaism, but we do know that it will be our responsibility to keep it alive and strong. I, for one, am hopeful about that responsibility. I think that the spirit and energy of college students like those who were at the Koach kallah are remarkably good signs of our movement’s prosperity and growth.