Shawarma Between Classes: The New Flavor of Jewish Life at Indiana University

The lunchtime line at Yalla moves fast — shawarma sizzling, pitas flying, students lingering long after their plates are empty. On a campus that never had kosher dining before, this storefront at Indiana University has quickly become the place where Jewish life happens between classes.

Located in the Kelley School of Business and just a five-minute walk from the Chabad House, it’s an exciting development for many of IU’s 4500 Jewish students. Ethan Shill, a senior finance major from Irvine, California, used to drive more than an hour to Indianapolis to find kosher items at Trader Joe’s. “When I was a freshman, Rabbi Cunin told me the goal was to have kosher on campus by the time I graduated.”

“Now I’m a senior,” Shill continued, “and I’m helping serve hundreds of meals a day to the Jewish community — it’s surreal.”

The initiative took shape through a post–October 7 partnership between Chabad at IU and university leadership. “The goal was simple,” said Rabbi Levi Cunin, who leads Chabad on campus there along with his wife Sheina. “There are so many Jewish students here,” he said. “They deserve kosher on campus.”

Yalla draws around 450 customers a day who come for the fresh, quality kosher fare and a place to meet between classes. The restaurant is also certified halal, attracting Muslim students as well. It creates what Rabbi Cunin describes as “a crossover of cultures — because everyone can agree on good food.”

“It’s a satellite Chabad,” said Rabbi Cunin.

“Before this, Chabad was really the only place we interacted in a Jewish setting,” said Carly Bernard, a senior finance major who served as Chabad’s president in 2024. “Now Yalla has turned into the most social space for so many students. You walk in and see your friends, you sit down together — it’s brought people of different ages closer in a way we didn’t have before.”

At the grand opening in January, IU President Pamela Whitten, chancellor, chief of staff and executives from IU Dining joined professors and students to sample the menu and mark the milestone. Whitten addressed the crowd, followed by students who spoke about what it meant to finally have kosher food available — and what it signaled about the university’s commitment to Jewish life.

The menu itself was designed to be both authentically kosher and broadly welcoming. Shawarma quickly became the top seller, alongside falafel, kebabs and grilled chicken stuffed into pillowy pitas that Shill says taste “just like in Israel.”

For Shill, who now opens and closes the restaurant and spends several hours a day behind the counter, the long hours are secondary to what he sees happening on the other side of it. “You look up and there are Jewish students sitting together who might never have met otherwise,” he said. “That’s when you realize it’s not just a restaurant — it’s a community.”