Bagels, Basketball and Hamentaschen

University of Kansas Hillel's Bagels and Basketball program attracted over 150 people to celebrate Purim, eat bagels and lox, and, most importantly, cheer KU on to a last-second victory over its arch rival University of Missouri. Held at Abe and Jake's, a popular club in Lawrence, Bagels and Basketball was a great engagement program that celebrated the holiday in an accessible way. Everyone who attended also received a KU Hillel basketball stress ball and hamentaschen. And starring as Haman was Quinn Snyder, the Missouri basketball coach. Whenever his name was mentioned or he came on television, participants waved their graggers wildly.

This program was partially funded by a Kolker-Saxon-Hallock Family Foundation Engagement Grant.


Students observe Purim with 'Jews Gone Wild' at Indiana Hillel

The Helene G. Simon Hillel Center at Indiana University Hillel was filled with sand, leis and hamentaschen as Jewish students observed Purim with the first annual "Jews Gone Wild" celebration.

Although Purim is an age-old tradition, "Jews Gone Wild" is the brainchild of Hillel Assistant Director Jessie Mallor and social chairs, Elizabeth Rosenberg and Peri Berntsen. The group developed the idea to give Jewish students a way to celebrate their traditions while preparing for spring break.

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Engineers Eschew Pi, Debate Triangular Tart

MIT faculty, renowned for feats of engineering, at last solve the ancient riddle: Which is better, the hamentaschen or latke?

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Project Tikkun: Emory Hillel and Minsk Hillel Celebrate Purim and Do Community Service

A group of eight Emory Hillel students, accompanied by Rabbi Joshua Lesser, joined with the Hillel in Minsk, Belarus, for a week of Purim celebrations and community service. Upon arrival, the Emory students began helping members of the Minsk Jewish community make Purim packages, Mishloach Minot, for disabled children and the elderly. They also decorated a Purim bus that delivered these gifts in the countryside. The group traveled to Vitebsk, the birthplace of Marc Chagall and Shimon Peres, and participated in a Belorusian-Ukrainian Purim festival. They witnessed many different interpretations of the Purim story as groups competed for the best Purimshpiel. The Emory students spent the majority of their week visiting and sharing Purim with the disabled and the elderly.

"This has been the highlight of my experience at Emory University," Rabbi Lesser said. "What better way to cultivate an understanding of global Judaism than to bring the Jewish community's future leaders together now?"

Rebecca Liebeskind, a junior at Emory University wants to go back to Minsk this summer to volunteer in the community. "These people are so sincere in their desire to be Jewish," she commented. "They really want to make a lasting connection with us." Project Tikkun is made possible through the partnership of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and Hillel in the Former Soviet Union.

To find out about how your community can contribute to the Jewish renaissance in the former Soviet Union, contact Avi Rubel at arubel@hillel.org.