‘Big Win’: Harvard Adds Kosher Options to Undergraduate Dining Halls | News | Harvard Crimson

Harvard University’s Dining Services will expand its kosher food selection after a decades-long effort to introduce hot lunches in the covered undergraduate dining halls. College dietitian.

HUDS will now serve students hot kosher meals for lunch and dinner six days a week in the Harvard Hillel dining hall and in two undergraduate dining halls – Annenberg Hall and the Pforzheimer House. All three locations will have cold kosher offerings for lunch and dinner on Saturday – the only day when no hot options will be offered.

The expansion, which fulfills one of the first recommendations released by the president’s task force on hygiene, comes as Harvard seeks to demonstrate its commitment to addressing campus hygiene.

Congress is now investigating Harvard over its failure to deal with dissent after the Oct. 7 to Israel. The university is also embroiled in a legal battle after six Jewish students sued Harvard over its anti-semitism efforts on campus.

Harvard Hillel Executive Director Jason B. Rubenstein ’04 wrote in a statement Friday that he has been advocating for expansion since he was an undergraduate at Harvard more than 20 years ago.

Rubenstein wrote that the expansion of kosher food offerings is “a huge step for Harvard’s Jewish community, and for the university’s thriving religious and cultural community.”

Rubenstein wrote: “These changes will mean that Jewish students are well fed, happy, and fully integrated into the fabric of Harvard community life, much of which happens through shared meals.” “We are grateful for the many months of dedication and careful work by the leadership and staff of HUDS, to put all the details right and make this long-time dream come true.”

The food served at all three locations will be prepared under the supervision of a mashgiach from the Boston rabbinical court, a supervisor who must oversee the preparation of food to ensure it is kosher.

Hillel meals will also be served under the supervision of the mashgiach, but the offerings at Annenberg and Pforzheimer will be given to students for self-sustenance, without the supervision of the mashgiach.

Although the lack of a mashgiach will deter some students who follow strict kosher standards, former Hillel President Jacob M. Miller ’25 said the expansion of kosher food in undergraduate dining halls is a “huge victory.” for non-Orthodox Jewish students. eat kosher meat.

Rubenstein added that there are “ongoing discussions” between Hillel and Harvard University Dining Services about ensuring that the food served at Annenberg and Pforzheimer is completely kosher.

A Harvard spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The kosher menu will feature meat and parve options five days a week. On Thursday, kosher students will be served dairy and fish.

Before the change, Jewish students who kept kosher could eat hot food in the Hillel dining hall during dinner. While HUDS previously piloted a hot kosher lunch option at Quincy House in the fall of 2021, lunch offerings were often limited to cold sandwiches or wraps and reheat meals. the remaining. And none of the dining halls where many students eat their meals — Annenberg and upperclassmen — offer kosher hot options.

Miller, who currently serves as editorial chairman of The Crimson, described the past two kosher options for lunch as “inadequate” but said he believes the expanded offerings are will “directly increase the quality of life for people who keep kosher or keep the kosher system.”

“By the nature of the program, there will be many people cycling through Hillel in the afternoon, and I expect that will have a positive effect on the Jewish community,” he added.

Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, Miller and Hillel Rabbi Getzel Davis meet regularly with HUDS Director Smitha SH Haneef and College Dean of Administration and Finance Sheila C. Thimba to discuss expanding kosher offerings.

The main obstacle preventing the addition of hot kosher options at lunch time was the limited storage at Hillel centers, which were already “stretched” by storing the food needed for dinner service, according to Miller.

Miller said that HUDS conducted a “feasibility study” on adding lunch at Hillel, and decided that additional storage and cooking would operate out of the dining hall at the Cronkhite Center, the former graduate student residence now serves as spacious student residences. in the Radcliffe Quadrangle.

Although the expansion of kosher food options was announced on social media by Hillel without much fanfare, it is one of the first major changes made by the University following the recommendations released by the antisemitism task force.

Rubenstein wrote that in addition to the expanded food offerings, he hopes that the University will continue to implement the recommendations from the president’s task force to fight against resistance.

“Looking forward, we hope to build on this momentum by continuing to expand culinary options across Harvard for all Jewish students, and by the university implementing the remaining recommendations from the group of Antisemitism workers,” he added.

Miller said the expanded options could also make Harvard more attractive to prospective kosher students.

“It’s easier to convince people to come to Harvard if you can say, ‘We have a hot lunch, a hot dinner, every day,'” Miller said. Unlike before, we had to say, ‘Dinner is not a problem. Lunch, you know, enough.’

– Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow him to X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.