Fraternities come to Israeli university

June 27, 2009 - 9:36 PM by David

blutoThe university I attended in the US was not big on fraternities – we were mostly too busy getting wasted without an organized framework to bother with the hazing, initiation rites, etc..

But frats are an American institution, including popular Jewish brotherhoods like Alpha Epsilon Pi, with over 140 branches throughout the country. And now, they’ve moved into our neighborhood, launching the first-ever Israeli frat at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.

According to Ival Erenfroind-Cohen, an Israeli who spent time working with the AEP community in San Francisco and who works with Hillel at the IDC, the founding of the local branch, “is an opportunity to show Israelis the North American way of preserving the Jewish community that would be great to translate to here [in Israel].

Ynet reported that The IDC is being used as the launching pad for AEP’s expansion in Israel because it is a strong international school with many American students who already understand the concept of a fraternity and who can help bring together the international and Israeli students on campus.

Steven Kaplan, Director of Expansion for AEP said: “I think that this is the perfect time for AEP to come to Israel because we can provide an outlet to bridge the gap between the North American Jewish community and the Israeli Jewish community.”

Some 150 North American brothers travelled to Israel this month to attend the local branch’s inauguration ceremony at Jerusalem’s Sheraton Hotel.

Ron Bernstein, one of the founding fathers and scribe of the new IDC chapter explained that, “At first I thought opening a fraternity in Israel was a ridiculous idea, but I jumped on board because I realized that this is not just a cookie cutter fraternity. We are an outpost with shades and colors of Israel that are specific to living here and we get to be a part of shaping that.

Bernstein added that the frat was going to help mold the next generation of Israeli leaders. But I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to teach any of the pledges to eat jello or chug Jack Daniels like Bluto did.

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, General, Life 

Comments

3 Comments on Fraternities come to Israeli university

  1. Dan on Tue, Jun 30th 2009 1:45 AM

    2. Don’t forget about ZBT, also a Jewsih fraternity. I think its a great idea to have jewish fraternities expand to Israel. It would be great if they could partner with the american fraternities and do study abroad programs. I think that would be a great success.

  2. AEPi on Wed, Jul 1st 2009 4:12 PM

    3. The problem with ZBT is that they are not all Jewish. When expanding to another country you want to make sure that you are on stable ground locally first. This a great move for AEPi and it should be a move with much success!!

  3. msimon on Sun, Aug 16th 2009 8:26 AM

    4. What a great idea! I would like to share a funny college graphic with you. Its clean, about fraternities and funny.

    http://www.typobounty.com/Funny/College_Party.htm

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