Relighting the Menorah: After the East chapter of the Jewish Student Union began encouraging more non-Jewish members to join, members have benefited from increased program attendance and diversity

The Jewish Student Union — a club connecting Jewish and non-Jewish students — is planning to increase its frequency of meetings due to the increase in attendance now that non-Jewish students can join the club. 

Senior and club president Eve Benditt worked to increase group attendance by recruiting friends and promoting the club in her classes.

Three years ago Benditt stepped in to lead the club, JSU’s attendance declined to around five members. Because of COVID all the meetings in 2021 were held virtually and caused people to lose interest in the club, according to Benditt. 

“In the past, it was mostly just Jewish students,” Benditt said. “There were probably only five or six people that regularly went.”

Benditt made it her goal to expand JSU by encouraging non-Jewish students to participate in club activities. Her work recruiting students from classes and outside activities has quadrupled the number of club members from five to 20. Now, the club holds meetings biweekly on Thursdays in Room 307 after school.

Non-Jewish members of the club can understand more about Jewish holidays and the traditional food served on these occasions. Senior Charlie Crossley thinks the JSU is highly beneficial for non-Jewish students because it provides an opportunity for students to learn more about Judaism.

“If you have an opportunity to learn more about something that you’re not directly part of, you should probably try and gain more knowledge on [it],” Crossley said, “It’s always important just to be respectful of cultures around you.”

Jewish students also like being able to connect with students of the same religion. Senior Hallie O’Bryan likes staying active in the Jewish culture even though she doesn’t keep up with it as much as she used to because of her busy schedule.

“I was excited to be a part of [JSU] because I’m Jewish, and I grew up Jewish,” O’Bryan said. “It’s nice to just be able to do general Judaism studies.”

This nationwide organization was established in 2002 and has been at East since 2011. The organization’s mission is to create an inclusive and lively environment for Jewish teens at school so they can learn and grow as a whole, according to the JSU website. 

JSU meetings at East start with an activity that can range from eating a traditional Jewish snack like a bagel to building a menorah. Once the activity is completed, the club discusses how they can relate the activity to the Jewish culture, usually led by the JSU Midwest chapter director Maddi Fidler. 

“I think it’s an opportunity for non-Jewish students to learn more about their Jewish classmates and see that they have different practices and different values and ways of life,” Fidler said.

Fiddler is the coordinator of 10 high school JSU organizations around the Kansas City area and makes an effort to be at as many of the East meetings as she can. 

Last year, the club wrote letters to their future selves to be mailed to them later that year. According to club member senior Elle Siegel, this activity was created to ask for forgiveness and a fresh start on New Year’s Day which represents the holiest day of the year in Judaism. 

The club will also address important topics in the Jewish community, recently including the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“We’re all just supporting each other and everyone has different views on it, and that’s how it’s gonna be for a lot of things, but the fact that everyone is there to support each other is really nice,” Siegel said.

To stay connected with JSU join their GroupMe and follow their Instagram:@sme_jsu.