Edith Sulzberg Memorial Intergenerational Program 

Edith Sulzberg Memorial Intergenerational Program 

Launched in fall 2025 in memory of Edith Sulzberg, mother of Marilyn Goldman, Director of Operations & Finance at Tufts Hillel, the Edith Sulzberg Memorial Intergenerational Program creates opportunities for Tufts students and residents of Cabot Park Village to build meaningful relationships across generations through Jewish life, conversation, and shared experiences.

What began as a small gathering has grown into an ongoing partnership centered on relationships across generations. Through holiday celebrations, music, meals, and informal visits, students and residents create space for connection, reflection, and friendship.

Throughout the year, students and residents gather for programs tied to the rhythms of Jewish life and community. Events have included holiday lunches in the sukkah, bingo and ice cream socials, concerts by student performers, shared Shabbat and Passover meals, and dinners hosted at Cabot Park Village. Many gatherings lead naturally into conversation, storytelling, and continued connection beyond the event itself.

It is often in the quieter moments that the spirit of the program is most deeply felt. Around tables set with flowers and shared meals, students lean in to listen as residents recount memories, ask questions, and reflect on lives shaped by decades of experience. Conversations stretch well beyond polite introductions. Stories emerge about childhoods, families, Jewish practice, college life, love, loss, and the changing shape of community across generations.

In one corner of the room, students and residents laugh together over bingo cards and sundaes. In another, a resident pauses mid-meal to share a memory sparked by a holiday song or familiar tradition. Student performers fill the room with music, and long after the final note, many residents remain seated, continuing conversations over coffee and dessert. What begins as a planned event often becomes something more personal and lasting.

For some residents, these programs offer renewed connection to Jewish ritual and campus life. For students, they create opportunities to listen, learn, and build meaningful relationships with older generations. Again and again, participants return not only for the programs themselves, but for the sense of warmth and belonging they create together.

At its heart, the Edith Sulzberg Memorial Intergenerational Program reflects a simple but powerful idea: community grows stronger when generations come together around shared traditions, shared stories, and shared care for one another.