Have you ever walked around campus and saw your school friends camp friend, or have spoken to someone and realized you had the same mutual friend? What about opening Instagram and seeing a pic of two separately known friends together?
Sound familiar?
Jewish geography is a term used to generalize a game people play to see how many people they know in common. Essentially, it’s a game of networking. It’s ironic; we meet people at different stages of life and sometimes can’t imagine seeing them again. But when you get to college, we are taken from our own ponds and placed into a much bigger one. The comfort of seeing the same faces from home is removed to some extent, but is it really? It seems like we often see more familiar faces then we would have thought to (or liked to).
Binghamton University is notoriously known for being mostly Long Island, and primarily Jewish. There must be a formula to calculate how many people you are bound to know. Odds are to start, you know at least 5 older people from your town or area who go here, or have graduated from Binghamton. Next, there are the 10 peers from your graduating high school class that attend with you. Adding on to that, most of us have Binghamton alum in our bloodline. Saying that you are a Binghamton student in a conversation will 9/10 lead to the other person saying they know someone from here, and maybe you know them as well.
Hailing from a Jewish area, I was lucky enough to have received a Jewish education with the same crowd of teenagers that I went to public school with. Most of us went to or worked at some form of camp, which is a common true stereotype of Jewish teens. By associated, I knew some of their friends, and I found that the friends I made at camp were also Jewish. I am reminded of these friendships on campus daily, as I walk past someone or see a person in class and reminisce for a bit. Jewish geography is a beautiful thing. It allows you to touch base and reconnect with those you thought you would never be able to do again.
Jewish Youth groups are also one of the main culprits of Jewish geography. This expands your circle of both friends and acquaintances, and instantly exposes you to 100 plus people, sort of like a sorority does. Events automatically lead to meeting people from different parts of Long Island, or even beyond, whether these people be so-called Jewish American Princesses, or down to earth. The people you meet on campus may know some of these people as one of their peers from home, or may even be related to them. Believe me, when I say, I’ve seen it all.
My Instagram followers have broadened over the years. It began with just the people I know from home, camp, organizations, and clubs. But it has evolved into befriending people that I have come close to do to mutual friends. People you know introduce you to others they know and it becomes a giant web that I am lucky enough to have as a resource.
Jewish Geography adds a comfort to being at a school that’s big enough, but at the same time small enough to see a familiar face at every step of the way to lecture hall. It makes you wonder how small this world is. With acceptance and opportunities to celebrate and observe religion as much as we choose, It is no surprise that Jewish teens end up here in Binghamton. It’s continuously growing in popularity as the “public ivy” and for being the best bang for your buck. Plus, what other schools have random breaks in the middle of the week for Jewish holidays???
