Chabad at George Mason University Opens Kosher Restaurant
by Tzemach Feller – Lubavitch.com
Jewish students at George Mason University in Northern Virginia are welcoming the opening of the Mason Mensch, the first kosher restaurant at the college—and in the northern half of the state. The restaurant was created by Chabad at George Mason University, after Chabad’s Rabbi Ezra and Bracha Wiemer saw increased demand for kosher options on campus.
Some 675 of George Mason’s 40,000 students are Jewish, and while they make up less than 2% of the campus population, they are eager to connect. Sienna Wolfe, a junior at GMU, met the Wiemers in 2021. “Here in northern Virginia there are not a lot of Jews, especially on campus,” says the Los Angeles native, “so it was very important to me in a school like this to find the Jewish community.”
Wolfe attends weekly Torah classes and Shabbat dinners at Chabad. “As a student, going to someone’s house and having a home-cooked meal with a lot of fellow Jews is wonderful,” she said. After hearing from Wolfe—and many others—the Wiemers began working to create kosher food options on campus.
Their initial offering was a kosher meal cart, created in coordination with Char Bar—a Washington, D.C. kosher restaurant, who’d deliver pre-packaged meals each day. As demand grew and the meals would sell out, Chabad partnered with Char Bar, the college, and other Jewish and food service organizations to create the restaurant. Michael Chelst, who owns Char Bar, says it’s “an honor to bring kosher to the university and the Northern Virginia community.”
The restaurant has its own kitchen, and all food is cooked fresh onsite. Diners enjoy brisket nachos, chicken poppers, and shawarma arayes. “I come from a community with lots of kosher restaurants, and the food at Mason Mensch is absolutely incredible,” Wolfe said. “Even non-Jewish students eat there, and it’s nice to see support from other students.”
The Mason Mensch has become a gathering space for Jewish students as well as the local Northern Virginia Jewish community. The opening—at a time when many Jewish students had felt beleaguered on campus after a string of disturbing antisemitic incidents and the arrest of a GMU student who’d plotted a terrorist attack—has made a statement, according to students.
“A lot of Jewish students were afraid to join anything Jewish on campus, and the Mason Mensch gives them a space where they can go and be a proud Jew, eat kosher meals with other Jewish students, and feel safe,” Wolfe said. “It shows the community we’re a strong Jewish presence, and we’re not going anywhere; we’re going to be here no matter what.”
