'Jewish optimist' tackles modern Judaism at mentoring event

Monday night, a group of about 40 Penn undergraduates donned business-casual attire for a two-hour event that wasn’t hosted by Wharton and had nothing to do with Greek life.

Chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary Arnold Eisen, a 1973 College graduate and former Daily Pennsylvanian reporter, gave a speech entitled “Confessions of a Jewish Optimist” in the Shotel Dubin Auditorium of Penn Hillel.

“I came to talk about Judaism cross-generationally,” Eisen said. To that end, College junior and Hillel Education Chairman Michael Rubin – coordinator of the event – invited about 40 professionals from the Philadelphia area in fields such as health care, law and business. It was “a double event,” he said, “in the sense that students [also got] a chance to network with mentors.”

Many were drawn to the dual nature of the event. “I came to hear Dr. Eisen speak and to network,” College senior Jesse Wenger said.

The networking was just the kind of mixing that Eisen came to Hillel to address. The Jewish community in America is shrinking, and Eisen acknowledged the very real challenge of relating the institutions of Judaism to today’s youth. While the idea that the Jewish community is anything but strong may seem odd to a Penn student, Eisen explained that “today, many Jews are disappearing from Jewish life. Twenty percent of American Jews will never appear on any Jewish mailing list their entire lives.”

Still, Eisen’s message was one of optimism. After all, “Jews have never made it on numbers,” he said.

In order to relate to today’s “millenials,” Eisen wants to use the technology that defines this generation. “Make Judaism Tweet,” he said. “Make Judaism Facebook.”

After hearing Eisen’s address, College senior Brittany Bell felt reassured that after graduation, “there will be a Jewish Community out there for me.”

College freshman Shayna Golkow – who helped Rubin coordinate the event – had a different take-away: “I’m glad that [Eisen] generated a lot of dialogue. The people walking out of here are having conversations they wouldn’t have had before.”

While this was the first time Eisen delivered this particular address, “the themes have been talked about many times and will continue to be,” he said. Additionally, Eisen felt that Hillel was the perfect place to deliver such an address. By “trying to make the best Jewish human being … this Hillel is a paradigm of what the Jewish community needs to do.”

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