Brian Cohen

A Special Message from Executive Director from Brian Cohen

I started this position nearly three weeks ago, and in this limited time it is clear that hundreds of students are impacted every year in profound ways through the work that we do.  More than 100 are student leaders of the Columbia/Barnard Jewish community, and another several hundred are consumers who participate in our diverse offerings every day.

While I have been truly impressed by the work being done, there is much more to do.  If scores of Jewish students are already impacted by our efforts, with numbers exceeding 1,000, still too many Jewish students at Columbia and Barnard are not yet involved in Jewish life. 

In these first few weeks on campus, I have been meeting with dozens of Jewish student leaders who are involved in various campus organizations but have little to no involvement in Jewish life.  In order to continue to grow, we need to work to find ways to reach these students and many more like them.  In addition to being a provider of Jewish student life, perhaps we need to also become a facilitator. 

We are already beginning to think about Passover; what are the ways in which we can reach the greatest number of students in the most significant ways? Each year we hold a variety of communal Passover seders at the Kraft Center. While successful and diverse, these celebrations reach a limited number of students. This year we will try other models as well.  We will train students to host their own seders as we provide the necessary resources – haggadas, a seder plate, and even food.  Students can conduct these seders wherever they want – in a dorm room, fraternity or sorority house, on a grassy corner of campus, or in our beautiful Kraft Center – and they can conduct them in a way that is meaningful to them.  Seders are just one component of Passover.  There are many community service and learning opportunities that will take place in a similar fashion throughout the holiday.

In order to succeed and grow, we need more partners. If you have a desire to think through these strategies and to be a partner in our work, please do not hesitate to email me. I look forward to working with you in reaching more students in even more significant ways.