 |
|
 |
Hillels Offer High Holy Day Celebrations
September 26, 2006Comments (0) | Add | E-mail this to a friend
On campuses around the country this weekend, Jewish college students celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. With High Holy Day services and traditional meals, complete with apples and honey, brisket and round challah, Hillels and their staff helped students usher in the year 5767. For those unable to go home for the holiday, Hillel was their home away from home.
At Penn State, University President Graham Spanier spoke at the High Holy Day service, held at the university’s Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, a unique center designed as space for all faiths.
While the Hillel at Purdue University didn’t hold its own Rosh Hashanah service, they provided students with transportation to local synagogues.
Some students, like those at the University of Missouri, made do with the best available space. Since the Hillel could not accommodate the crowd of over 200 attendees, a local Baptist church was redecorated for the Jewish service.
But it was not without its distractions.
“You can definitely tell you are in a church,” says the president of the school’s Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
The University of Colorado Hillel knew not all students would come to High Holy Day services. For those who just wanted to enjoy a good meal, Rosh Hashanah dinner was open to all.
Yet nothing beats being home for the holiday. Many students like University of Rhode Island senior, Alex Hershey, had mixed feelings about staying on campus.
“It’s good and bad,” he said. “You miss the family and the going home… but it’s also nice to come to a new place and be with your friends…”
|
 |
|
 |