This year, be sure to keep an eye out for the dinners that the campus religious group Hillel is offering for all Jewish students on campus as well as curious community members. Every other Friday in honor of the Jewish Sabbath (or Shabbat in Hebrew), Hillel will gather. On alternating weeks, they meet in Lowry 118 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Students are welcome to grab some dinner in Lowry and bring it down to the meeting.
At the meeting, the rituals are performed in order to begin the Shabbat dinner, such as lighting the candles and performing the traditional blessings over the wine and bread. Afterwards, attendees are always welcome to stick around and hang out with the group. Activities generally include mingling, watching a movie or playing board games.
“One Friday in every four we meet in UnderOver, as we did this past week, and one Friday in four, students walk together up to the temple for the service there,” said Rabbi Joan Friedman, leader of Hillel.
When Hillel meets at UnderOver in the basement of Overholt House, a service is held for students and afterwards, they eat together. The members of Hillel volunteer to do the cooking for the event. “This semester Katie Lothstein ’11 is in charge of cooking,” said Friedman. In addition to cooking, students also lead the services. This past week the service was led by Wendy Gibilisco ’11.
These gatherings are open to the entire campus. However, if you do wish to attend one of the dinners, please RSVP so that the cooks know how many people to prepare food for.
Gathering to pray and eat and hang out is not all Hillel does around campus. This year, along with four other campus religious groups, they are hosting a Sukkahthon. This event is related to the seven-day fall holiday of Sukkot. A sukkah is a humble shelter that is constructed each year for the holiday. Hillel members volunteer to help build a sukkah next to Lowry Center each year.
During the Sukkahthon, people pledge so many hours during which they sit in the sukkah to raise money for charity, sometimes even staying overnight. “[Sukkot] is both a harvest festival and a reminder of the Exodus from Egypt: the temporary huts we build are a reminder of the temporary dwellings our ancestors lived in when they wandered in the desert after coming out of Egypt,” said Friedman.
Along with raising money for charity, spending time in the sukkah involves reflection about the problems the Jewish people had to overcome during the Exodus. The proceeds will go to an interfaith group in Cleveland that helps out the homeless. There will be music and food, and a variety of snacks will be provided for the event. The exact date for the Sukkahthon has yet to be determined, but it will occur during the harvest season.