An Affair At St. John’s University: The Grand Opening Of The Jewish Prayer Room

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On February 28, 2019, the E-board of the Jewish Students Association (JSA) along with the St. John’s University Campus Ministry and Emet Outreach Rabbis Mordechai Kraft, Nissim Musheyev, and Michael Fuzaylov conducted the grand opening ceremony of the new prayer room dedicated to Jewish worship. A long time endeavor, the Jewish student body of St. John’s University is delighted to finally have a room of their own to conduct their religious service.

While St. John’s University has existed for close to 150 years and has upheld a reputation of being a Catholic institution with a Vincentian mission, it can proudly claim that it has an incredibly diverse student population. Among the vast array of cultures and religions that make St. John’s a colorful melting pot are the Jewish students which hail from all corners of Europe and Asia. The Jewish population within the Queens campus of St. John’s is comprised of many dedicated and persistent individuals, all motivated with their academic endeavors. However, this doesn’t stop them from being involved on campus as well as being active in their religious and cultural observances. Until February 28th, however, the Jewish student body was unable to engage in religious observance on campus because they lacked a designated area to do so. This struggle is now history thanks to the combined efforts of the current and previous JSA E-board members as well as other various students on campus.

According to JSA’s mission statement on Stormsync, “The JSA is open to all students of St. John’s University no matter what level of observance, knowledge or commitment as we strive to provide a warm, welcoming and open-minded atmosphere in which Jews of all levels of knowledge and observance will be interested and encouraged.”

JSA has worked particularly hard over the past half-decade, striving to acquire a prayer room for the Jewish students on campus. Sister Nora Gatto proudly shared the news to current JSA president, Natalie Eshaghian, that the Campus Ministry had designated prayer room for the Jewish students on campus. Such a gesture is a sign of the genuine friendship and harmony, despite any religious or cultural barriers once existent.

Shortly after, Sister Nora invited Eshaghian to see the prayer room, which was formerly used as a storage closet in the basement of Bent Hall, below the Peter J. Tobin School of Business. Both parties knew that there was much work to be done to turn this storage closet into a fully functioning prayer room suitable for religious service. Thankfully, many items were provided including chairs, a large table, a podium for the cantor that leads group prayer, and a divider. Religious articles were donated to the prayer room from a variety of organizations and individuals eager to ensure that the Jewish students of St. John’s would have proper commodities with which to conduct religious service. Donors that deserve credit for their generous contributions including Sharei Zion Synagogue of Great Neck, Temple Israel of Great Neck, Ahavat Shalom Synagogue of Great Neck, the Iranian Jewish Center of Great Neck, the Beth Gavriel Bukharian Jewish Center, as well as the Aryeh Family and Albert Zibak.

“I have an immense amount of gratitude towards HaShem for making this happen and towards all the people that worked to make this happen, including the current JSA E-board, the past JSA E-boards, to those not on the E-board, and to St. John’s for finally pulling through. This represents the beginning of a very bright future for the Jewish students of the St. John’s University community,” said Zibak, a fifth-year Pharmacy student. Zibak himself was very involved in advocating for a space to be allocated to the Jewish students for the past four years.

“I feel really good about it. The fact that a Christian university with many Jewish students allowed us to have a room where we can go and pray symbolizes a lot,” said Isack Ishakov, a second-year biology student who came from Israel to study at St. John’s University.

Many students agree that it is truly amazing to have a prayer room designated for Jewish students at a Christian university because it shows strong bonds being formed after almost two millennia of tension. From what many students are saying, times are finally changing. We are learning to respect another and respect our differences.

 By Joseph Sachakov