Carlisle Jewish Families Now Have ‘address’ at Dickinson College

The 30 Jewish families of Carlisle, home of Dickinson College, now have a “Jewish address” in this college town–the B’nai B’rith Hillel facility which has evolved as their synagogue, Talmud Torah and community center.

In the past, Carlisle Jews had to travel to Harrisburg for the nearest Jewish institution. Now they join with Jewish college students for Sabbath and holiday services, adult study courses, lectures and socials on the college campus. Some 200 Jewish students attend Dickinson and Dickinson law school.

The 300-year-old college town recently had its first Bar Mitzvah, the rite being conducted at a Hillel service, according to Prof. Stanley Rosenbaum, the Hillel counselor. He started the informal Hebrew school for children of Carlisle Jewish families. The teachers at first were Dickinson students. Now they are chosen from knowledgeable Jews in Carlisle.

Rosenbaum said the Six-Day War “sure heightened Jewish consciousness around here” and spurred student interest in establishing a Hillel program which B’nai B’rith started funding in 1974. Prodded by Rosenbaum and Jewish students, with the encouragement of the college’s Christian chaplain, the Dickinson College administration began credit courses in Jewish studies. The study program, coordinated by Rosenbaum, has become the third largest among colleges in Pennsylvania, Rosenbaum said. Only Pennsylvania University and Temple have more courses and their Jewish enrollments are considerably larger than that at Dickinson, Rosenbaum declared.