When I moved into my first-year dorm in 2021, I knew I’d likely be one of very few Jewish students. While I had done my research and emailed the campus Hillel, I knew that Mount Vernon’s Jewish community was minimal.
Regardless, I dove headfirst into Cornellian Jewish life. I majored in religion, was president of that very Hillel, and spent my summer working for a nearby synagogue, as living Jewishly has proven to be my favorite way to live.
But I found my strongest sense of community in a place I would have never expected: Greek life.
I proudly pledged to Phi Kappa Nu (the Newts) in the spring of my first year. I was one of only two future pledges to attend the service event hosted by the Newts during pre-pledge season, and it completely changed my view on Greek life. I got to see how this group of people worked together, how they loved the brotherhood they built together, and how they had a strong desire to make the world a better place. I often attribute my choice in pledging to that event.
The principle of tikkun olam, to repair the world, is very important in Judaism. I have reflected heavily on what it means to leave the world better than I found it, and through that reflection, I kept coming back to the Newts.
Greek Council requires 12 community service hours per semester, but we encouraged our brothers to strive for 20. For over 30 years, we’ve helped renovate a historic barn and have attended talks with the Iowa Barn Society about said barn. In October 2023 we began a tradition of participating in the MercyCare 5k against breast cancer with the Phi-Lambs; I prayed before and after every race.
There was also significance in the number of service hours expected of us. In Judaism, the number 12 represents wholeness. There were 12 Tribes of Israel, who comprise the whole Jewish people. There are 12 months in the year (13 in the Jewish leap year!). Some children have their b-mitzvah at 12 years old, and this might as well be a grown-up version of the mitzvah project you organize in preparation. Those 12 hours of service made me feel whole, as they put my feet on the ground surrounded by my brothers, friends, and community members. We made a difference in our community as one beautiful, gender-neutral brotherhood.
While I knew that fraternity life historically comes with stories of lifelong friendship and brotherhood, I did not expect my experience to be as spiritual as it was. It doesn’t matter that my fraternity wasn’t one of Jewish history, because I am Jewish, and I made history within it, one service project at a time.
Adrien Kaplan-Mazur ’25 majored in religion and gender, sexuality, and women’s studies. They attend the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for a Master of Public Health degree.