More than 300 people gathered at 4607 Knox Road in College Park to celebrate the grand opening of Meor Maryland’s new home on Monday.
Photo by BCB Studios
Complete with formal and informal educational tracks, seminars, classroom-style learning, trips to Israel and other countries and Shabbat meals and programming, Meor Maryland seeks to serve as an outlet for sophisticated educational Jewish learning experiences for Jews of all affiliations on the University of Maryland campus.
“We’re trying to impart a sense of deeper wisdom and sophisticated messages of Torah Judaism, that’s a real component of our mission,” explained Rabbi Ari Koretzky, executive director of the organization that has been at the university for 10 years. “The other aspect is that we’re targeting the broadest spectrum of Jewish students on campus so that anyone can feel comfortable walking through the door and so that we can serve as a gateway for their entry into the Jewish world.”
As one of the founding campuses in the larger Meor movement, Meor Maryland has seen a rapid expansion in recent years and serves nearly 200 students on a regular basis, causing it to outgrow its single-family home on Princeton Avenue in the college town and move to a much larger fraternity-style house to better serve its students and staff.
“We just thank God we outgrew our previous space. I think it shows we’re growing in our name and recognition both locally and nationally, which is great,” said Koretzky.
Monday’s grand opening celebration included a formal dedication ceremony for the new building performed by Rabbi Ari Israel, executive director of University of Maryland Hillel, with Rabbi Eli Backman, director of University of Maryland Chabad posting the mezuzah.
“It was important to us to involve all the different organizational players on campus,” explained Koretzky, who added that the university’s mascot, Testudo, and the mayor of College Park were also in attendance at the celebration. “We [Meor Maryland, Hillel and Chabad] all have distinct agendas and missions, but we really try to foster a campus culture of mutual respect and appreciation. We wanted to demonstrate that in a formal and public way with the ceremony.”
Koretzky noted that Meor Maryland’s strong focus on Jewish educational programming and personal relationships with students makes it unique.
“Students know that they’re coming to us to learn about Judaism to be able to tackle difficult questions and to learn in a sophisticated and deep way. We help them see Judaism as relevant to their lives in a way they never imagined could be and form very personal connections with every person that comes through the door. That’s our lifeblood — those relationships.”
That real life application of Judaism is what attracted 20-year-old junior Alexa Sokol to Meor Maryland her freshman year. The communications major, who just came back from a six-week trip to Israel with Meor, described the program as being very hands-on and very welcoming.
“Meor really showed me how as a young Jewish leader I could apply Judaism to my everyday life,” Sokol said. “It’s been a really positive experience and has really enabled me to stay grounded and have more purpose and direction in my Judaism.”
With a new school year just under way, Koretzky is looking forward to the growth of the organization and to potentially reaching more and more Jewish students.
“We definitely want to continue growing, and plan on doing so in a way that doesn’t compromise the integrity of our programs,” he said. “We want to continue to have personal connections with our students and have them feel that there’s an address on campus that’s really home for them and a place that they can feel comfortable being themselves and pushing themselves to be something more.”
