Orthodox Life at Rutgers
With the help of Mesorah and OU-JLIC, Orthodox life at Rutgers continues to grow, with a wide assortment of programs, both religious and social serving over 150 students.
Mesorah, the Orthodox Community at Rutgers Hillel
Mesorah, the Orthodox community at Rutgers, is one of the most exciting and fastest growing Orthodox Jewish campus student groups in the nation. Besides their involvement in the general Hillel, Orthodox students host their own events such as breakfast extravaganzas after minyan, a weekly mishmar with guest speakers, bikkur cholim at local hospitals and more!
Find out more at www.rutgersmesorah.org.
Rutgers Hillel
Ground breaking for the new state of the art Hillel building was in the fall of 2014. While construction continues, Rutgers Hillel is located at 9 Bartlett St., just off of College Avenue. Hillel will be moving to its new home for the Fall 2016 Semester.
To find out about the variety of programs that Hillel runs every week, check out www.rutgershillel.org.
Quote from Gila Rosenberg
“OU-JLIC on campus has provided me with not only fun, interesting and engaging programs but it has impacted my life because of the people who they bring to our campus. The OU-JLIC couple at Rutgers is the backbone of our Jewish community and has given me role models as to how to live a Jewish life.
Shabbat
Shabbat at Rutgers spiritually uplifting with shiurim and communal meals. There are minyanim throughout Shabbat at both Hillel and Chabad, and both offer free Friday night dinners. Students eat Shabbat lunch at Chabad, the student run lunch at Hillel, or in their residences. The Wohlgelernter’s also host a small group of students for Shabbat meals each week, and once a month there is a Friday night oneg at their home. Hillel sponsors a weekly seudah shelishit.
Rutgers Hillel students help maintain the New Brunswick Eruv, which is connected to the Highland Park Eruv.
Kosher Dining
Rutgers Hillel has a new facility which includes a dairy kosher café and the College Avenue campus is only a short drive from several kosher restaurants and kosher groceries in Highland Park. The kosher meal plan on campus is provided by Chabad out of their building at 170 College Ave. First-year residential students must sign up with at least a 14-meals-per week, in order to be exempt from a Rutgers Dining meal plan, while students living off-campus can purchase smaller meal plans if they want.
Housing at Rutgers
The university offers co-ed dorms on all of its campuses. Chabad runs a residence on College Ave, which houses the kosher dining hall. After Freshman year, most observant students opt to rent off campus houses together in New Brunswick, near College Avenue where Hillel and Chabad are located. Observant students living in university dorms may request to be placed on College Ave for religious reasons, though these requests are not always honored. It is recommended to be in touch with the OU-JLIC educators for advice on how to make that request, before your housing application is submitted.