Post by modorney on Jan 20, 2013 11:16:42 GMT -5
ZBT is one of many historically Jewish fraternities, and often has a dual mission of both promoting brotherhood, as well as advocating for Jewish causes.
I am an Acacian, and, since Acacia has a Masonic heritage, was one of the first fraternities to be open to Jews. Other fraternities were founded as open, but in the wave of anti-Semitism in the twenties, they changed their bylaws and prohibited Jews. I have often thought, since Acacia never went through that phase (since it was still primarily a "Masons Club" at the time), that this added a dimension to our heritage.
Rensselaer, like most highly ranked colleges in the Northeast, I figured the school was about a quarter Jewish. This reflected my high school, where the top track was also a quarter Jewish. Rensselaer had about 26 fraternities when I went (60's), and six were "Jewish houses", - ZBT, Pi Lambda Phi, TEP, AEPi, Phi Epsilon Pi and Phi Sigma Delta. (The last two merged into ZBT in 1969). These six houses were not exclusively Jewish, and, for the most part, the other 20 houses also had Jewish members.
Rensselaer fraternities had a "two tier" structure - since half the students came from professional families, while the others were first generation college. About a third of the fraternities were first-generation and, proportionally, Pi Lambda Phi was the only "blue collar" Jewish house.
At the time, many fraternities emphasized religion, holding services in the houses and having relations with local churches and synagogues.
Nowadays, I found ZBT's magazine interesting -
digitaldeltan.com/0310/default.asp
Page 19 has a story about the dynamics of "small town versus big city" Judaism. Plus interesting history around quotas in the twenties, and Wisconsin's role as a non-quota school.
I have often thought of our national fraternities (including headquarters, undergraduates and individual alumni) having "special interest groups", such as majors, religions, Myers Briggs types, military service, and so on.
With ZBT, this article opens up a whole new understanding of "big city" versus "small town" faith.
I am an Acacian, and, since Acacia has a Masonic heritage, was one of the first fraternities to be open to Jews. Other fraternities were founded as open, but in the wave of anti-Semitism in the twenties, they changed their bylaws and prohibited Jews. I have often thought, since Acacia never went through that phase (since it was still primarily a "Masons Club" at the time), that this added a dimension to our heritage.
Rensselaer, like most highly ranked colleges in the Northeast, I figured the school was about a quarter Jewish. This reflected my high school, where the top track was also a quarter Jewish. Rensselaer had about 26 fraternities when I went (60's), and six were "Jewish houses", - ZBT, Pi Lambda Phi, TEP, AEPi, Phi Epsilon Pi and Phi Sigma Delta. (The last two merged into ZBT in 1969). These six houses were not exclusively Jewish, and, for the most part, the other 20 houses also had Jewish members.
Rensselaer fraternities had a "two tier" structure - since half the students came from professional families, while the others were first generation college. About a third of the fraternities were first-generation and, proportionally, Pi Lambda Phi was the only "blue collar" Jewish house.
At the time, many fraternities emphasized religion, holding services in the houses and having relations with local churches and synagogues.
Nowadays, I found ZBT's magazine interesting -
digitaldeltan.com/0310/default.asp
Page 19 has a story about the dynamics of "small town versus big city" Judaism. Plus interesting history around quotas in the twenties, and Wisconsin's role as a non-quota school.
I have often thought of our national fraternities (including headquarters, undergraduates and individual alumni) having "special interest groups", such as majors, religions, Myers Briggs types, military service, and so on.
With ZBT, this article opens up a whole new understanding of "big city" versus "small town" faith.