Boston University

There’s a large amount of Jewish students on campus and we have access to the best dining hall on campus in the kosher dining hall in the Hillel building. Most recently, there’s been a big jump in Jewish infrastructure as well with the new Meor center that we’ve built and the amazing new Chabad couple who’ve come to campus. Overall, there’s a lot of infrastructure for Jews on campus.

I’m generally loud and proud on campus, and there’s only been a few isolated incidents here and there. Many of my teachers are Jewish in the Hospitality school as well which makes me even more comfortable. As a student, day to day life is really relaxed for me antisemitism wise.

Our kosher dining hall is fantastic and has a full on per order grill, a meat and vegetarian kitchen, and good energy. It takes the normal meal plan swipes as well. For those who are fully kosher like myself, weekends when living on campus can be slightly tougher because the DH is closed on Sunday, but we have full Shabbat lunches and dinners and we’re working on Sunday food as well. Kosher microwaveable meals are easy to get from the local markets and restaurants exist nearby.

Number wise, there’s a ton of Jews on campus and we’ll get ~250-300 people per week on a Friday night across all the different organizations, mostly at Meor, so there’s definitely a meal style that fits every type of Jew. There’s also a very Jewish and active AEPi at the time of writing this which adds another form of community. With that said though, the community can feel a little scattered between the different Jewish groups, some of whom don’t like each other very much, but that’s changing.

When I first showed up at BU, I was one of less than a handful of kippahs, we had no Shabbat lunches, no minyanim, and no shiurim. Generally almost no religious life outside of Friday night. Now, I’m very proud to say that we have two large Shabbat lunches, Monday/Thursday Shacharit, daily Mincha, a brand new great Chabad, a new Meor center with a beautiful Torah, and a large amount of weekly classes for students. The only reason I don’t give us 5 stars yet is that there’s a lack of post yeshiva kids and a more frum community that can host higher level shiurim and tisches, but I hope that that changes soon! It’s a great place to be a religious Jew right now and it just needs that tiny extra push of frum kids to make it an even more amazing community.

Many different programs on campus, all very welcoming and accepting.

Found it very easy to find kosher food on campus. Our kosher dining hall is great, and there is a nearby kosher food market that makes keeping kosher very easy.

Large Community.

Easy ways to spend shabbat and other jewish holidays.

Hillel is massive and great for reform/conservative activities, Chabad is great for actually doing things related to judaism and Meor is really fun.

I always feel very safe on campus

Hillel dining hall is open for lunch and dinner monday-friday although hours a little rough.

Massive jewish community, there are jews everywhere and truly people for everyone no matter your background or identity.

Chabad and Meor are great for holidays/shabbat and Hillel is great for kosher food. Professors are usually very easy to work with also about absences.