(May is Jewish American Heritage Month and AEPi, along with dozens of other Jewish organizations, will use the month to explore and highlight the vibrant history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans throughout our nation’s history. AEPi will be focusing on brothers who are making a difference in our Jewish journeys and/or who have an interesting Jewish journey themselves. Join with AEPi this month as we highlight our fraternity’s Jewish American Heritage.)

Brother Jonathan Shapiro (Massachusetts, 2014) has had many people and forces influence his Jewish journey, from music to Lubavitch rabbis to shabbat and, of course, AEPi.

Growing up in the suburbs of Boston, Jonathan was enrolled at Jewish day school until fifth grade and then his parents – both first generation immigrants from the former Soviet Union – put him in a different school for high school. It was there, that he had one of his first formative experiences in his Jewish journey.

“I was on the school tennis team and my doubles partner got angry about losing a match and ripped my magen david from around my neck, spat on it and called me a kike. We got into a fistfight right there. The next day the principal of the school tried to imply that I had done something to start it. My dad took me out of that school and enrolled me in a Jewish high school.”

After graduation, Jonathan enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. “I didn’t know what a fraternity was – I had to call my parents and ask them — but I met some cool guys at a party and joined the Phi chapter my second semester.”

“My Jewish identity kept coming up through AEPi. By then, I was very Jewish, and I knew that I felt good in Jewish spaces and AEPi provided that for me at the time.”

Jonathan’s big brother during his Phi chapter days, Avi “Tweak” Goldstein, is now an on-campus Chabad Rabbi at the University of Rhode Island, has continued as a mentor in Jonathan’s Jewish journey as have many in the Chabad community.

After graduating in 2014, Jonathan returned to Boston and worked at a pharmacy and then Merril Lynch for a while. He heard about an event in town called, “Gin and Jews” and he attended. “I went looking for a date and left with a rabbi.” At the event, he met Rabbi Peretz Goldstein and was asked to come to his house for Shabbat. “I told him that I didn’t celebrate Shabbat, and he told me that I could start now. I just fell in love with Shabbat. His family was so sweet, they took me in. I never had a stranger be so nice to me.”

Jonathan’s Jewish journey took a turn after that. “I started studying to be a Rabbi but I also got involved in a lot of other things, too.” Those other pursuits include playing in a jam band, managing an executive recruiting firm, hechshering cannabis operations (through his company, Pot Yisroel) and working in the kosher space throughout the region.

His love of music, particularly the Grateful Dead, Matisyahu, and other jam bands, continues as Jonathan is now the head of the shul at the annual Sababa Music Festival. Sababa Fest is a meeting ground for Jews of all stripes and types, coming together to share an uplifting, rejuvenating, Shabbat experience with food, great music, nature, sports, and creative workshops nestled on an epic 125-acre campground in South Jersey.

“I went to a bunch of Matisyahu concerts in High School. His content was heavily Chasidic and Kabalistic. I’m very musical now and was happy to be with Matisyahu at Sababa Fest last year. It was a full circle moment.”

Jonathan was also the founder of Boston Chaverim, a fully volunteer organization providing assistance to the community — anything from jump-starts to car lockouts — in non-medical emergency situations.

“AEPi taught me the leadership skills that I use today. I’m still on my Jewish Journey but still I’m the same guy. I just keep Shabbas.”

#ProudtobeaPi

(As Jewish American Heritage Month continues, we will continue to feature AEPi brothers and their Jewish journeys. Click here for more information on Jewish American Heritage Month.)