‘A Big Win’: Harvard Expands Kosher Options in Undergraduate Dining Halls

Harvard University Dining Services will expand its kosher food options after a decades-long effort to introduce hot kosher lunches in undergraduate dining halls covered by the College’s undergraduate meal plan.

HUDS will now offer students hot kosher meals for lunch and dinner six days a week at Harvard Hillel’s dining hall and two undergraduate dining halls — Annenberg Hall and Pforzheimer House. All three locations will have cold kosher offerings for lunch and dinner on Saturdays — the only day when hot options won’t be provided.

The expansion, which implements one of the preliminary recommendations released by the presidential task force on antisemitism, comes as Harvard seeks to demonstrate its commitment to addressing campus antisemitism.

Congress is currently investigating Harvard over its alleged failure to address antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The University is also embroiled in a legal battle after six Jewish students sued Harvard over its efforts to combat campus antisemitism.

Harvard Hillel Executive Director Jason B. Rubenstein ’04 wrote in a statement on Friday that he had been advocating for the expansion since he was an undergraduate at Harvard more than 20 years ago.

Rubenstein wrote that the expansion of kosher food offerings is a “tremendous step for Harvard’s Jewish community, and for the university’s diverse and thriving religious and cultural community.”

“These changes will mean that Jewish students are better-fed, happier, and more fully integrated into the fabric of Harvard’s social life, so much of which takes place over shared meals,” Rubenstein wrote. “We’re grateful for the many months of dedicated, careful work by HUDS leadership and staff, to put all the details into place and make this generation-long dream a reality.”

The food offered at all three locations will be prepared under the supervision of a mashgiach from Boston’s rabbinical council, a supervisor who must oversee the preparation of food to certify that it is kosher.

The food at Hillel will also be served under the supervision of a mashgiach, but the offerings at Annenberg and Pforzheimer will be offered to students for self-service, without mashgiach oversight.

Though the lack of mashgiach will deter some students who follow strict kosher standards, former Hillel President Jacob M. Miller ’25 said the expansion of kosher food options to undergraduate dining halls is a “big win” for non-Orthodox Jewish students who will only eat kosher meat.

Rubenstein also said that there are “ongoing conversations” between Hillel and Harvard University Dining Services about certifying that the food served in Annenberg and Pforzheimer is fully kosher.

A spokesperson for Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.

The kosher menu will feature meat and parve options five days a week. On Thursdays, students who keep kosher will be offered dairy and fish entrées.

A sign advertises the hot kosher lunch pilot program at Quincy House's dining hall, which launched in fall 2021. By Silas Garcia-George

Before the change, Jewish students who kept kosher could only eat hot meals at Hillel’s dining hall during dinner. While HUDS previously piloted a hot kosher lunch option in Quincy House in fall 2021, lunch offerings were usually limited to cold sandwiches or packaged and reheated leftovers. And none of the dining halls where most students eat their meals — Annenberg and the upperclassmen Houses — offered hot kosher options.

Miller, who currently serves as The Crimson’s editorial chair, described the two previous kosher options for lunch as “inadequate” but said that he believes the expanded offerings will “directly increase the quality of life for people who keep kosher or keep kosher-style.”

“By nature of the program, there will be a lot more people cycling in through Hillel in the afternoon, and I expect that to have a big positive effect on the Jewish community,” he added.

Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, Miller and Hillel Rabbi Getzel Davis met regularly with HUDS Managing Director Smitha S. H. Haneef and College Dean of Administration and Finance Sheila C. Thimba to discuss expanding kosher offerings.

The main constraint that prevented the addition of hot kosher options during lunch was limited storage in Hillel’s facilities, which were already “stretched thin” by storing the food needed for dinner service, according to Miller.

Miller said that HUDS conducted a “feasibility study” on adding lunch at Hillel, and decided that supplementary storage and cooking will operate out of the dining hall at Cronkhite Center, a former graduate student dorm that now serves as overflow undergraduate housing for students who live in the Radcliffe Quadrangle.

Though the expansion of kosher food options was announced on social media by Hillel without much fanfare, it is one of the first major changes made by the University in response to the recommendations released by the antisemitism task force.

Rubenstein wrote that in addition to the expanded food offerings, he hopes the University will continue to implement recommendations from the presidential task force to combat antisemitism.

“Looking forward, we hope to build on this step by continuing to expand the culinary options across Harvard for all Jewish students, and by the university implementing the remaining recommendations from the Antisemitism taskforce,” he added.

Miller said the expanded options will also likely make Harvard more attractive to prospective students who keep kosher.

“It’s easier to convince people to come to Harvard if you can say, ‘We have hot lunch, hot dinner, every single day,’” Miller said. “As opposed to previously, we had to say, ‘Dinner is not a problem. Lunch, is, you know, adequate.’”

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.