“Yachad is finally here and we are so pumped to have them!” wrote Shalhevet Roth, Co-Chair of the Orthodox Community at Penn, in her most recent weekly e-mail sent out to the OCP listserv. Yachad is a program of the Orthodox Union that “provides unique social, educational and recreational ‘mainstreamed’ programs for individuals (ages 8-40) with developmental disabilities,” according to its Website.
This weekend, 12 Yachad members and 16 advisors came to Penn and stayed in Rodin College House, the on-campus High Rise where most of the Orthodox Jewish students reside in, or with students off-campus. They arrived on Friday, joined the Jewish community for a festive Tu B’shvat-themed dinner at Hillel, and afterwards had a “Yachad Oneg” in which all students were invited to participate. On Saturday morning they learned the Torah portion with several members of the community, and after lunch spent the afternoon taking a tour around Penn’s campus, playing Taboo, or just hanging out with members of Penn’s Jewish student body. After each meal, the male students would dance and sing with the Yachad members around the tables, which is rarely done on an average Shabbat.
“That is basically the whole point of the shabbaton, [for Penn students] to mingle with
Yachad members,” said Julia Klein, one of the Penn students who coordinated the Shabbaton.