Jewish Life at W&L

Jewish students at Washington and Lee University have been among its most successful graduates and most generous of benefactors. Despite their importance in building the school into a top liberal art college it is today; they have been left out of the popular narrative in the school's history. The site intends to capture the broad story of Jews at Washington and Lee and its home of Lexington, Virginia from the student, faculty, and staff perspective ranging over one hundred years of facts and findings. The story starts in 1919 with the founding of the first Jewish social organization on campus and continues up through the most recent graduates in the class of 2022 with their contributions to campus Jewish Life.

Featured Collections

Jewish Fraternities

This collection contains documents relating to the two Jewish fraternities that were once at Washington and Lee: Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) and Phi Epsilon Pi (PEP). The Alpha Epsilon and Delta chapters respectively were both founded in 1920 on campus. The Delta chapter of PEP closed at the end of the 1969-70 school year due to the national merger of the fraternity with ZBT. The Alpha Epsilon chapter of ZBT closed at the end of the 1987-88 school year due to low membership. The fraternities were the de-facto hub for any kind of Jewish Life for their entire existence at Washington and Lee.

Hillel

This collection contains documents relating to Hillel at Washington and Lee. Since its reestablishment on campus in 1989, the organization has been the hub for Jewish students on campus.

Jewish Student Union

This collection contains documents relating to the Jewish Student Union which formed in 1986 and existed briefly on campus as ZBT headed toward its end and before Hillel was reestablished in 1989.

Timeline

This timeline chronicles the major events of Jewish Life at Washington and Lee University. The dates are exact if known, and are otherwise made the first of the year or month the event occurred in. The timeline was created and written by Jake Winston '24.

Collections

Jewish Fraternities

This collection contains documents relating to the two Jewish fraternities that were once at Washington and Lee: Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) and Phi Epsilon Pi (PEP). The Alpha Epsilon and Delta chapters respectively were both founded in 1920 on campus. The Delta chapter of PEP closed at the end of the 1969-70 school year due to the national merger of the fraternity with ZBT. The Alpha Epsilon chapter of ZBT closed at the end of the 1987-88 school year due to low membership. The fraternities were the de-facto hub for any kind of Jewish Life for their entire existence at Washington and Lee.

Hillel

This collection contains documents relating to Hillel at Washington and Lee. Since its reestablishment on campus in 1989, the organization has been the hub for Jewish students on campus.

Antisemitism

This collection contains documents relating to antisemitism at Washington and Lee. Also check out interviews to hear perspectives from former students on this issue.

Jewish Student Union

This collection contains documents relating to the Jewish Student Union which formed in 1986 and existed briefly on campus as ZBT headed toward its end and before Hillel was reestablished in 1989.

The Star Newsletter

This collection contains the Star Newsletters which Washington and Lee Hillel first produced in May of 1990 and continued to do so periodically until 2001 when an issue has been released twice a year since then.

Credits

Jewish Life at W&L is a division of the W&L Special Collections and Archives Digital Exhibits website, created with Omeka S.

Unless otherwise noted, all items come from the Washington and Lee University Special Collections, located in Leyburn Library. This material is made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited to the source. Permission for publication of this material, in part or in full, must be secured by the Head of Special Collections.

This site was founded by Jake Winston ’24 with the assistance of Professor Mackenzie Brooks. The project was completed under the guidance and mentorship from the Director of Institutional History Dr. Lynn Rainville. Special thanks to the Washington and Lee Special Collections Staff—Tom Camden, Seth Goodhart-McCormick, Byron Faidley, and Lisa McCown—for scanning and archival assistance, and to Paula Kiser for digitization and preservation. A special thank you is also in order for the former Director of Jewish Life Maggie Shapiro-Haskett for her guidance in the project and curating the interviewees.

This website became the deliverable after over a year of research into the Jewish history of the University. Jake Winston was awarded funding through the Summer Research Scholars Program in 2022 to continue his work and create a warehouse of stories. In 2021, Jake started collecting archival material and began interviewing and continued up and through the launch of this exhibit. During the summer of 2022, this website was founded to showcase and make accessible the archival objects and interviews found and produced in 2021 and 2022. This site is intended to be an ongoing project involving many students and other members of the Washington and Lee community.

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