The Washington University Cooperative, an off-campus housing alternative, is currently considering an expansion which would include a kosher/halal kitchen, allowing observant Jews and Muslims to join the community.
A number of observant students have expressed interest in joining the Co-op, but until now they have not been able to due to their dietary restrictions.
“I love the community, philosophy, and atmosphere it has created, but I keep strict kosher,” wrote freshman Yosef Gillers in an e-mail to CampusJ.
Both kosher and halal dietary restrictions ban the consumption of pork and have specific rules for the type of utensils involved in the food preparation process. A separate kitchen is necessary to ensure that the utensils are not exposed to unclean meat. A kosher kitchen would also have separate utensils for meat and dairy products.
After Gillers expressed interest in the Co-op, the leadership began to consider the new expansion, which would both widen their potential membership base and further the central pillars on which the community was founded.
By having a kitchen which would meet both Kosher and halal dietary standards, the new building will bring together Jewish and Muslim students in a test of tolerance and pluralism.
“I think that it’s an awesome idea to try to express the ultimate in accommodation and co-operative living through Jewish and Muslim coexistence,” wrote Gillers. “[We can] try to be a model for the world [and show] how we all can live as one if we put some effort into it.”