Canadian Jewish News - August 23 2006

Fraternity, sorority helps students connect with heritage

By STACEY STEIN, Special to The CJN

TORONTO - Jewish youth who want a new way to maintain a connection to their cultural background may want to look into the fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) and its sorority counterpart Delta Pi.

“We provide something that has a strong cultural background and strong Jewish values, but is not overly religious or in-your-face Judaism,” says Paul Hertz, 21, the outgoing president of AEPi and a biology major at York University.“It’s giving the middle ground that I don’t think exists anywhere else.” Melissa Krackovitch, a York student and outgoing president of Delta Pi, says that while the sorority has both religious and secular members, it manages to meet somewhere in the middle.“Everybody is really interested in getting to know about religion, but some people are more comfortable getting further into it than others,” says Krackovitch, 23.

“There’s not too much in the middle, but Delta Pi and AEPi offer that.” Delta Pi and AEPi’s activities go well beyond typical frat and sorority fare such as all-night keg parties and mixers. Members are more interested in learning about Judaism while putting into practice the Jewish principle of tikkun olam through extensive charity work, she says.

“Students join AEPi and Delta Pi because they’re interested in connecting with their heritage.” Hertz says he lost a bit of his connection to Judaism after his bar mitzvah, and feels that’s the case for a lot of the guys who join AEPi. “When they get to university, they’re a bit older, so they can decide for themselves what exactly they want, and I think what we have appeals to a lot of people.

“It’s not overly religious, but you do get the cultural connection and you do meet a lot of people with the same kinds of interests, philosophies and ideas that you have,” he says. While there are a few Orthodox members of AEPi, most members are not extremely devout or observant.

“It’s more of a cultural kind of connection that we have as opposed to a religious connection,” says Hertz. At Delta Pi, there is also a strong emphasis on connecting with Judaism on a cultural level and on learning about the religion in an open environment. Krackovitch says that she joined the sorority because she was looking for a way to access her religion and culture while meeting new people and making York University “a little bit smaller.”

She says Delta Pi appeals to young women “looking for a comfortable and fun way to access Judaism with people who are relaxed and want to do things on their own terms.” Krackovitch says that Jewish youth are interested in learning about their roots, but it can be difficult to find outlets that enable them to access their religion and culture in a comfortable environment. “I think it’s hard to find places that are comfortable if you haven’t had a strong background in Jewish education,” she says.“It’s not something where you have to know everything about Judaism or you have to know a certain amount and we just throw you in – it’s something that we all do together,” she says.

Both AEPi and Delta Pi bring in guest speakers for their members, and offer Jewish activities like Chanukah and Purim parties.“We have a lot of Jewish events and we still kind of fine tune our events towards Judaism, but we don’t go to synagogue and we don’t have a Passover seder,” says Hertz. “We keep the traditional Jewish values and the cultural and those aspects of it without so much the religion.”

Unlike AEPi, the girls of Delta Pi hold a seder every year, although it’s a seder with a bit of a twist. “Our favourite is the chocolate seder we have every year – we set it up like a seder and everything is chocolate,” says Krackovitch. The members of AEPi and Delta Pi are involved in charity work and contribute to both Jewish and non-Jewish charities. Hertz says AEPi raises money on both a local and international level. A while back, the fraternity held a steak-eating contest to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

They’ve also raised money for Magen David Adom and recently they were a benefactor to two Ethiopian Jewish community centres in Israel.

At the local level, AEP works with Baycrest, Ve’ahavta, UJA Federation, the United Way and the Canadian Breast Cancer Society. The fraternity also does a lot of work with Hillel.“We try to keep our hands in philanthropy because we realize we’re a large group of guys – we’re Jewish men trying to be responsible for ourselves and trying to make a difference so we try to act on that as much as possible,” says Hertz.

Delta Pi is also involved in charity work. The sorority raises money for Jewish organizations such as Ve’ahavta and non-Jewish organizations too. They hold an annual charity auction and all the proceeds are donated to Princess Margaret Hospital’s breast cancer division. The sorority girls also participate in the Walk for Breast Cancer every year. Although both AEPi and Delta Pi define themselves as a Jewish fraternity and Jewish sorority respectively, they are open to non-Jewish members.

The York University chapter of AEPi is 100 per cent Jewish, but overall the membership of the fraternity – which has about 130 chapters across North America – is about 95 per cent Jewish, according to Hertz. The York University chapter has about 50 members.

Delta Pi, which only has a chapter at York University, has about 30 members, of which four are non-Jewish. Membership is also open to non-York university students who are looking to join a Jewish sorority.

What links all the members is a shared desire to connect to Judaism in a way that’s fun and relaxed, says Hertz.“I think the traditional kind of Judaism doesn’t have the same kind of attraction that it used to have,” he says. “People just don’t see it as being necessarily that relevant - I just don’t think people can relate to it as much.” He also sees young Jews as being somewhat polarized.

“Most of the people I know are either very religious or very non-religious. They’re very observant or don’t practice at all,” says Hertz.

Krackovitch agrees there’s not much in the middle. She sees Delta Pi and AEPi as filling that gap for young people in the community. “We offer a comfortable atmosphere to learn more but at your own pace and at your own comfort level,” she says.