A Brief Timeline of Jewish Life at Princeton University

Princeton University Archives

1859: Albert H. Mordecai 1863 of South Carolina, believed to be one of the first Jewish students at Princeton, matriculates.

1915: First Friday Shabbat service.

1919: Ten men gather in a student’s room for services — the first documented prayer minyan of Princeton students.

1920s: Jewish enrollment is limited to about 3 percent, though no official, written quota exists.

Princeton University Archives

1947: The Student Hebrew Association is founded and holds its first service on campus, attended by Albert Einstein. In 1948 it becomes a chapter of Hillel, the national Jewish campus organization.

1958: Dirty Bicker: Of 23 sophomores denied bids to selective clubs, 15 are Jews.

The Daily Princetonian

1961: Yavneh House, at 21 Olden St., opens to serve the Orthodox student community.

1971: Stevenson Hall, the first University-sponsored kosher kitchen in the Ivy League, opens at 83 Prospect Ave.

1983: The Committee on Judaic Studies is formed; it becomes the Ronald O. Perelman Institute for Judaic Studies in 1995.

Princeton University Archives

1988: Harold Shapiro *64, Princeton’s first Jewish president, is installed.

1993: The Center for Jewish Life opens.

2002: The Lubavitcher Chabad movement arrives on campus.

2015: An inconspicuous physical boundary, called an eruv, is completed, allowing observant Jews to carry items within its enclosure on Shabbat.