Rutgers has a high Jewish population, and the Greek system is incredibly Jewish. Although SDT is the only Jewish sorority (and for fraternities we have ZBT and AEPi), most of the other chapters have high Jewish populations. the only two sororities I can think of that werent as Jewish, although they still had Jews, were Gamma Phi and Sig Kap. And Phi Sigma Sigma (but they left campus last year).
Most of the Jews are reform or conservative-- I think SDT had some orthodox, as did we. DG might have also. Those are the three chapters, at the time, that would be accepting. I dont think my chapter now would take an Orthodox girl, since they're big on trying to acheive 100% participation and they do a lot of things on Fridays. (hopefully not because they would be discriminating... the Jewish population of the chapter has gone down since I graduated).
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What is the difference between Conservative and Reform Judaism?
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there's more forms than those two, its kind of like a spectrum of how religious one is and how much of their life they devote to Judaism. The most religious are the Orthodox, and there's even different spectrum of them. Some wont associate with anyone who isnt like them. Then you have Modern Orthodox who might attend public schools but will adhere to certain styles of dress. Oh, and the Orthodox keep kosher, keep Shabbat holy (Shabbat is our Sabbath-- Friday night at Sundown to Sat night at Sundown), and a bunch of other practices I cant even begin to get into. (this is a VERY simplified version)
Conservative and Reform Jews are similiar in that we dress like "everyone else" (note: some Orthodox DO dress like everyone else, but consider themselves Orthodox because of how they practice. I am trying to sterotype only to make it easier for non-Jews to understand, not to disservice anyone).
I grew up conservative and practice Reform. You wouldn't be able to tell that I was Jewish unless you asked me. Conservatives are more stringent with adhering to Kosher laws and Shabbat rules than Reform Jews. Reform Jews usually dont keep kosher, and have a liberal view of the world (science, less apt to believe G-d as the Bible describes Him). TO be honest, I dont see a huge difference in Conservative and Reform Jews in actual practice. the songs are sung differently, and Reform services tend to have more English than Conservative, which is mostly in Hebrew.
Basically, the differences are not like Christian denominations-- its more of a spectrum in how much you practice and how much you adhere to Jewish law.
I didnt even get to Reconstructionists and other alternative types.. oh vey.
