Something New On the Menu: Work Begun on MHC's Kosher/Halal Dining Facility

When students return to the dining room at Wilder Hall this fall, they'll find something new on the menu: tradition, history, spirituality, and a new appreciation of an ancient bond between two of the world's major faiths. Wilder is becoming the home of the College's first kosher/halal dining facility, a place that will cater to the dietary needs of observant Jews and observant Muslims. It will be the only dining hall of its kind among the Five Colleges, and one of a handful in the entire nation.
Contractors last week begin gutting Wilder's kitchen, preparing it for its transformation into a place where the dietary laws of Judaism and Islam can be put into practice every day. But the efforts of committed students and the strong relations between MHC's Jewish and Muslim students are the dining hall's true foundation. It's a facet of the same appreciation for religious pluralism that led to the creation of the Abbey Interfaith Sanctuary in 1999 and the popular interfaith luncheon series at Eliot House, home of the College's Office of Spiritual and Religious Life.

"Creating a kosher/halal dining facility is an enormous step for MHC to make, and reflects the College's commitment to strengthening the Jewish and Muslim communities on campus and to promoting interfaith dialogue," says Andrea Ayvazian, dean of religious life. "Mount Holyoke is, once again, on the cutting edge of liberal arts colleges in making this decision and developing this facility for the College as a whole.

"I view the opening of a kosher/halal dining hall as an affirmation of the importance of religious diversity on campus and the many ways religious and spiritual traditions inform the tenor of life at the College," Ayvazian says.

Efraim Eisen, MHC's Jewish adviser, says his students are "delighted" with the prospect of kosher dining. "It's telling the students that it's OK to be Jewish, and it's OK to be Jewish at Mount Holyoke, and it's sending a welcome out to Jews all over the world that they're welcome at the College." "We are honored to have a kosher/halal dining hall opening at Mount Holyoke,” says Shamshad Sheikh, the College's Muslim adviser. "For the Muslim community, this is the most exciting thing that could be happening here."

The project, approved by the board of trustees in March, is funded primarily through a $250,000 donation from an anonymous alumna donor.

Plans for the new dining hall grew out of discussions Beverly Daniel Tatum, dean of the College, entered into with a group of students one year ago. Although the College has operated a kosher/halal kitchen in Eliot House since 1989, that modest facility had become strained by the demands brought about by its popularity.

The plans soon ran into a potentially thorny problem. Although Jewish and Islamic dietary laws share many essential elements, such as a proscription on pork products and a commandment against eating an animal's blood, the two faiths disagree on how an animal must be slaughtered to make its meat fit to eat. And buying kosher and halal meat from two separate suppliers, to be kept in separate refrigerators and prepared in separate cookware, was one complication too many in an already complex project.
But there came a saving compromise. The Muslim students, Sheikh, and other authorities on halal agreed that kosher meat could be eaten if halal meat were not readily available. Muslims consider Jews al kitab, or "companions of the book," explains Jasmine Khamis '02, the manager of the Kosher/halal kitchen at Eliot House and a participant in discussions about the new dining hall. Because of that, the Quran states, "we're able to eat the same kind of meat."

Tatum calls the outcome "quite remarkable…. It's a testament to the interfaith dialogue that has taken place at MHC, that we have been able to solve this dilemma."

Wilder was chosen not only for its central location on campus, but because it is large enough to accommodate the expected demand for the facility. A key to the plan is making all students feel welcome in Wilder. The College's dining services department designed the layout of the kitchen, in consultation with David Aminia, ritual director of Temple Beth El in Springfield, a conservative congregation. Aminia, representing Beth El's rabbi, Herbert Schwartz, has agreed to oversee the operation to be certain that kosher practice is followed. Aminia will be a frequent visitor in the first weeks, and will return weekly thereafter.

The kosher/halal dining facility "will mean that our needs are truly recognized by the campus community," says Mikaila Arthur '01. “It will mean an increased level of respect for our College by our friends and relatives. It will mean being able to tell Jewish prospective students that they will find a place where they can practice their faith actively."

And with respect for each other, Eisen adds. "Would that Jews and Muslims could live together in peace in the Middle East."