Senior Profile: Jonathan Berliner, CC

When Columbia College student Jonathan Berliner graduates, the former president of Orthodox Jewish group Yavneh will be leaving a legacy of creative Shabbat dinners and innovative programming for the group—interests that may have nothing to do with class, or ... beer brewing?

“He is always the first person I go to when I need to find out about the most random thing in the world. Anything from the mechanics of the subway system to the newest exhibits open in the city to solving complex mathematical proofs, Jon is your man,” Oren Benzaquen, CC ‘11 said about his friend.

After high school, Berliner spent a year in Jerusalem, where he went to a Columbia-coordinated dinner of students studying abroad in Israel and came away having met some of his future closest friends. Once he reached Columbia, he found a close-knit Orthodox community and went to work to “maximize our potential.”

During his time at Yavneh, Berliner worked with students both within and outside the group to foster interfaith dialogue on campus and worked with other Yavneh members to develop a peer-advising program. The Yavneh Peer Advising Network is still in its beta stages, but students can already use the service to look up others with whom they share classes or interests and its site already has a career-advising section.

Friends describe Berliner as wholly devoted to working at Yavneh, and noted his commitment to initiatives that won’t even take effect until after he graduates. He was involved in discussions about the date of next year’s Commencement, which would have fallen on a Jewish holiday and made it difficult for many Jewish students to attend.

Benzaquen described Berliner as an infinitely creative person always coming up with new themes for Shabbat meals, like “Oktoberfest,” “Loserfest,” and “Turkeyfest.”

“Jon truly embodies the mantra of ‘I don’t let school get in the way of my education,’” Benzaquen wrote in an e-mail, relating an instance during finals when he had walked into Berliner’s room the night before his friend’s quantum physics final, only to find Berliner studying up on philosophy and bioethics, which had nothing to do with the classes he was taking.

While Berliner started off as a physics major, he wanted to apply his studies to a more social context and eventually switched over to economics with concentrations in physics and math. After graduation, the New Jersey native plans on taking the U.S. Foreign Service and actuary exams, and hopes to go into consulting.

“He is an extremely inquisitive person and when he wants to learn about something nothing can stop him. The unfortunate thing is that it usually ends up being something extremely important and good to know for life, but not related in even the most remote way to any of his classes.”

Benzaquen added, “As a result, Jon can probably sit down to a discussion in almost any subject without prewarning.”

One of those subjects happens to be beer brewing. Berliner and Benzaquen make a beer every year out of their East Campus dorm room. Dubbed “Berlinzaquen,” the beer opening draws people to their suite every year, including some professors. “The first time we brewed Jon showed up in his snorkeling equipment—mask, snorkel, and all—ready to brew,” Benzaquen said.

But Berliner’s dinner may be what he is best remembered for.

“I will never forget when we were having a Friday night meal called ‘Bassarfest’”—an all-meat meal celebrating Noah’s permission to eat meat in the Bible—“when 30 students were in attendance and a noise complaint was filed,” he recalled.

“The security guard came to break up the party but ended up just joining us for the festivities.”