James Harrang | Student Life

Risa Wrighton, wife of Chancellor Wrighton, founded Home Plate to give students the chance to enjoy home-cooked meals.

To understand how dynamic a person Mrs. Wrighton is, one only has to look back on her past careers. After graduating from Barnard and the University of Maryland at Baltimore, she started out as a social worker. She then got another master’s degree from the Olin School of Business and worked as a direct marketer for Citicorp. When Citicorp downsized due to the economy, she went to work for Mangellan Health Group, designing health programs for large employers.

Mrs. Wrighton remembers reading about Chancellor Wrighton’s arrival at Washington University in 1995, a time when she was working at Magellan and raising her two daughters as a single mother. She thought, “Wow, what an interesting person. How am I ever going to meet anybody like that…it’s just not going to happen.”

Despite her doubts, Mrs. Wrighton made it happen. She says she “wrote him a letter using my skills as a direct marketer…saying that I had read about him in the newspaper and how he sounded like such an interesting person.” As someone not affiliated with the University, she offered to help the chancellor get to know St. Louis.

The then-Ms. Zwerling went on her first date with the chancellor to Cardwell’s in Clayton. To this day, the Wrightons still enjoy going to Cardwell’s when they want to take a break from their busy lives.

When they first began dating, Mrs. Wrighton recalled, the chancellor would come over to her house to visit. She says that Chancellor Wrighton would “throw [a] Certs [breath mint] through the door, and the dog would hear it and then go running and have the candy…then Mark knew that the dog was eating a candy and wouldn’t bite him.” While Mrs. Wrighton said that the chancellor was not always a dog lover, he now can be seen walking their golden retriever, Grace, early in the mornings. When hosting parties, Mrs. Wrighton prefers to have the dogs around to help create a friendly atmosphere and, as she says, “set a different tone.”

Mrs. Wrighton is also active in the St. Louis community. She helps students get acquainted with both the city and Wash. U. through the program she started, Home Plate, which pairs Wash. U. students with local St. Louis families for a home-cooked meal.

According to Mrs. Wrighton, “being a freshman is a huge job.” It is her hope that through Home Plate she can give all students the opportunity to take a break from their newfound responsibilities. In doing so she said she hopes to allow the students to “be [kids] again.”

Not only does Mrs. Wrighton help students find balance in their school life by offering them the opportunity to participate in Home Plate, but she also helps a select few in the College of Arts and Sciences to balance their curriculum through her role as an advisor.

While it may seem that many Wash. U. students are dead set on a career, Mrs. Wrighton says she “almost prefers when a student is undecided…because there is lots of time for lots of different things in life.”

It’s this positive attitude that allows Mrs. Wrighton to follow her passions and help many different people.

When pairing up families and students in Home Plate, Mrs. Wrighton looks for the best possible matches, ones that will make both the students and the families happy. Given her ability to make people feel welcomed, it’s no wonder she’s a great match for Wash. U.

With the Jewish New Year only 16 days away, the staff at the St. Louis Hillel at Washington University, and involved students, are finalizing plans for High Holiday services with an additional focus in mind this time—the greater involvement of faculty in service events.

As in the past, students will have the option of attending two services on campus or attending any of the local synagogues in the area. Typically, the services are led by undergraduate students and one guest rabbi, with a different rabbi for the reform and conservative services.

While both the reform and conservative services offered on campus are student-run and led, Hillel has worked to change the overall feel of services by inviting University professors and administrators to give sermons on a variety of topics instead of continuing with the convention of having the guest rabbi give a theological sermon each day.

This year, the Saturday morning conservative service will feature professor Assaf Shelleg, the University’s Efroymson Visiting Israeli Scholar. Shelleg will speak about Jewish identity through Israeli music, with an emphasis on the liturgy of the service.

“I think [faculty] will make the services more attractive to individual students, because they may be interested in hearing a particular member of the faculty or an administrator,” said Michael Landy, executive director of St. Louis Hillel. “Those people have a sense of campus life and student life, and I think they will work hard to speak to the student body.”

Landy also notes that many students will appreciate seeing their role models and other important University figures involved with services.

“It is important to see the way that [these faculty] see Jewish campus life,” he said.

The conservative service, which will convene at the Hillel house, will hear from Landy and guest rabbi Allen Selis on Friday night, with the two speakers welcoming students to services.
Selis will speak on the second day of Rosh Hashana, the holiday celebrating the Jewish New Year, and on Yom Kippur morning, while Landy will speak at Kol Nidrei, the evening service that starts observance of the Yom Kippur holiday.

The reform service, which will meet in May Auditorium in Simon Hall, will hear from a different speaker each day. Landy and guest rabbi Dale Schreiber, rabbinic pastor for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, will speak on Friday night before Hank Webber, the University’s executive vice chancellor for administration, is scheduled to speak tentatively on connecting Judaism from generation to generation on Saturday.

The Reform service also features two guest speakers on Yom Kippur. Stephanie Kurtzman, Director of the Community Service Office,  will speak on Kol Nidrei on seeing holiness through the eyes of a child, and Risa Zwerling, wife of Chancellor Mark Wrighton and a four year academic adviser, will speak on hospitality on Yom Kippur morning.

Landy said that while the Hillel staff is responsible for arranging the logistics, the students involved have been an integral force behind the services.

“The services themselves are something that we’re thrilled that a group of students are engaged in [by] recruiting leaders, and they are part of the decision-making process of how the services look and feel,” Landy said. “The students really invest the time and energy to make the services make sense to students and to work with the Hillel staff, guest rabbis and other participants of the service.”
As in year’s past, Chabad on Campus will also be running High Holiday services. Chabad will host services and dinner on both evenings of Rosh Hashanah and will also host Kol Nidrei and Neilah services. Rabbi Hershey Novack will also blow the shofar on campus throughout the afternoon on the second day of Rosh Hashanah for those who do not attend services.

Aside from those offered at Hillel and Chabad, students also have the option of attending services at other local synagogues. Many Orthodox Jews on campus go to Bais Abraham on Delmar Boulevard.

“We definitely see students as a big part of the community, and they give a lot to the community by leading services and giving energy,” said Hyim Shafner, rabbi at Bais Abraham.

While the service is Orthodox, Shafner explained that all students who have attended services have felt at home.

“We make a real effort to be welcoming to everybody…That’s really one of the unique things about the synagogue. It brings an Orthodox passion to prayer but combines it with an extreme openness,” Shafner added. He did request that people call ahead, though, so the synagogue is prepared.

“The thing that is difficult for students when they come to campus, especially as freshmen for the first time, is that it is never going to feel like it did at home,” Landy said. “Because the holiday [Rosh Hashanah] has such a strong feeling of family from gathering for meals and services, students should seek out their new campus family—that’s what’s going to make the holiday stay significant for most students.”

Rosh Hashanah will begin on the evening of Sept. 18 and will last until dusk on Sept. 20, since the Jewish calendar is lunar. Yom Kippur starts Sept. 27 and will end at sundown the next day. It is the tradition for all Jews to fast on Yom Kippur, excluding young children and people who are ill.

With additional reporting by Josh Goldman.

Correction (9/02/09, 4:20 p.m.)

In an earlier version of this story, it was reported to us that Dean Webber was reported to be speaking on connecting Judaism from generation to generation. This is only a tentative topic. It was also briefly reported that Stephanie Kurtzman is a Hillel board member, which is not true. Student Life regrets these errors.