One of the hottest college campuses in the U.S. for Jewish students is also one of the unlikeliest: a small Lutheran school erected around a soaring stone chapel with a cross on top.
In what is being called a testament to word of mouth in the Jewish community, approximately 34 percent of Muhlenberg College’s 2,200 students are Jewish. And the biggest gains have come in the past five years or so.
Perhaps equally noteworthy is how Muhlenberg has responded, by offering a kosher menu at the student union, creating a partnership with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and expanding its Hillel House, a social hub for Jews.
Quick – hide those tracts by Luther …
Affiliated with the ELCA. Betting students aren’t hearing much in the way of ‘Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life’ in chapel services. If they even have them.
I have to say it’s really impressive how Judaism has sustained a sense of community in the face of such small numbers. It would be interesting to know more about how they do it. We could learn something from them. Perhaps they have an advantage over us in that the leap to any other religion/church is too great to be made.