Sharing the Torah: Jewish Student Union welcomes Jewish and non-Jewish students to celebrate Judaism

The Torah was read as a group of students gathered outside the commons to celebrate the guest of honor. The Jewish Student Union was hosting a bat mitzvah, complete with a ceremony, a Hora dancing circle and snacks. 

But this mitzvah wasn’t for a boy or girl who just turned 12 or 13. It was for a dog.  

Despite not having Jewish owners or even comprehending that she was at a mitzvah, Piper, senior Sage Lickteig’s dachshund mix, was having her own bat mitzvah. She had just turned 13 in dog years and the perfect age for a mitzva. 

“I talked to [Sage], I said, ‘Hey, your dog is really great. Can I borrow her?’” JSU President and senior Alex Benditt said. “She said, ‘Yeah, that's weird, but sure.’ So then we stole that dog and bang.”

They shared the traditions of a typical mitzvah. Club members hoisted senior Jack Stratemeier up in a chair as Piper sat in his lap — a tradition for the guest of honor to symbolize having the support of others. 

A bar or bat mitzvah is a rite of passage for a Jewish boy or girl when they come of age — around early teenage years. An actual mitzvah takes nearly two years of planning and prepwork, and Alex says ceremonies can last two to three hours. But this “Bark Mitzvah" took three months of planning and around 40 minutes of celebration. 

Alex wanted the “Bark Mitzvah” to educate JSU club members about a mitzvah, as only half the club members are Jewish and had experienced a mitzvah.

SM East’s JSU is open to all students to learn about Judaism. In fact, the club’s vice president, senior Wheeler Sullivan, isn’t even Jewish. 

Alex and Wheeler both applied for their respective positions after their sophomore year, submitting applications to the national JSU office. Alex’s sister, Eve Benditt, served as the JSU president until she graduated in 2024. 

“My family and I have been joking that [JSU] has been kind of a Benditt presidency for about four years now,” Alex said. “Kind of a whole generation of SM East folks have just been a part of Benditt-led clubs.”

After Eve graduated, Alex spent hours on his JSU presidential application, but later found out he could’ve just written his name on it and still received the position — no one else applied. That was when he recruited his friend, Wheeler, to apply for vice president. 

Alex, a proud member of the Jewish religion, and Wheeler, someone who hadn’t attended his first mitzvah until last year, serve as a productive team when running the club. Wheeler recommends what non-Jewish students may want to learn during meetings, while Alex serves as a discussion leader to emphasize Jewish voices in the club. 

Club member and senior Sarah Reardon mentioned some of her favorite meetings were when Alex prompted discussion about living as a Jewish teenager. 

“[Those meetings] were less theological and religious and more just general thinking on how we, as Jewish students, all go about our daily lives,” Sarah said.

The JSU is a nationwide organization with about 11 chapters in Kansas alone. SM East’s JSU has a consistent 10-15 members who show up to meetings. The club has an SM East English teacher sponsor, Samanatha Feinberg, but is mostly run by the Midwest Chapter Director, Shira Brudole. 

“There aren't that many Jews in the world, and it's not always easy to learn about and to connect to Judaism,” Shira said. “I think it's a great opportunity for others, Jewish or not, to learn more, and that's something that I'm really happy about and really passionate about.”

Meeting every other Monday after school in room 510, the club is usually centered on the next Jewish holiday, including Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah and Yom Kippur. Usually, they will learn a lesson and play Kahoot or complete crafts to explain what they learned. 

Alex and Wheeler, who are also in charge of recruitment, say one of the main reasons students show up is because the club provides free food, primarily donuts and bagels. There aren’t many Jewish students at SM East, according to Alex. But as long as the club can get students of any religion in the door, they’ll usually show up for future meetings. 

“I think food brings a lot of people into it, and that's kind of like what drives people to go,” Wheeler said. “But every week we see so many new people show up.”

The JSU club takes pride in its delicious, customary Jewish snacks like gelt and pomegranate juice, but also, in the way it educates a group of teens about Jewish traditions that aren’t taught in public schools.

 According to the JSU website, their mission is to have more teens in public high schools participate in something Jewish. From “Bark Mitzvahs” to Kahoot games, that's exactly what happens every other Monday on the fifth floor. 

Alex hopes that in the future, when club members see harmful posts or statements about Judaism, they can reflect on their time in the club and realize those comments might not be true. 

“I’m not going to combat 2000 years of anti-semitism with a couple boxes of Krispy Kreme,” Alex said. “What I can do is take 15 some people a week and try and give them a positive experience with Jewish teens, and just in general, a Jewish organization.”