How Hillel Israel is Finding Joy
On college campuses around the world, Jewish students celebrated Purim with carnivals, service activities, dance parties, and a variety of other programs focusing on bringing their communities together for this holiday centered on Jewish joy and resilience.
But for Hillel communities across Israel, Purim looked very different this year. With the escalating conflict between the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, large Purim gatherings were replaced with neighborhood Megillah readings, tiny costume parties, and exchanges of food and gifts — all happening in miklatim, or shelters, as missiles continued to fall.
“Our daughters are six and three, and they were so excited for their school Purim parties — especially after weeks spent carefully preparing a costume,” said Grace Baker, director of development for Hillel Israel. “We celebrated at home while doing our best to create moments of joy and stability, mainly by baking together and filling our days with creative Purim activities. But it isn’t the same as being surrounded by classmates and teachers in a festive classroom.”
Most colleges in Israel are on break right now, so students are home with their families, but Hillel staff members are regularly reaching out to check in and offer support. And while the majority of programs planned for Hillel students were cancelled, some shifted to online programming instead.
For Purim, Yishai Goldflam, deputy director of Hillel Israel, hosted a small megillah reading in his living room for a few elderly neighbors with limited mobility, and between sirens, Hillel Israel Executive Director Noga Brenner-Samia read the megillah on Zoom in her shelter, accompanied by her neighbors.
“We are not giving up on costumes and hamentaschen,” Goldflam said, joking that he hoped the sirens would synchronize with mentions of Haman during his reading, replacing the usual need for groggers and noisemakers.
Hillel is also supporting students and professionals who were traveling in Israel when the conflict began. “In my little world, I was blessed to be able to give support to two amazing Hillel professionals from Krakow, Poland who got stuck here,” said Hillel International Associate Vice President of Global Israel Experiences Esther Abramowitz. “They were actually at Ben Gurion airport on Saturday morning when the missiles started and the airport shut down. They were brought to Jerusalem, but their luggage wasn’t!” Abramowitz was able to help them safely evacuate with a group of Maccabee Task Force participants from the University of Michigan.
A student from Hillel Ben-Gurion University (BGU) who is currently stranded abroad has remained in close contact with Yehudah, a Holocaust survivor he volunteers with through Hillel BGU, over the last few days. When a missile struck Be’er Sheva and damaged Yehudah’s home, the student mobilized the Hillel BGU community, recruiting volunteers to help Yehudah move his belongings from his damaged apartment to a nearby hotel.
Other Hillel professionals are managing challenges closer to home. Reut Noyman, deputy director of Hillel Israel, had her apartment severely damaged in one of the first missile attacks, and has been called up to reserve duty.
“At this point, I am just thankful that no one [in my building] was hurt,” she said.
Despite the anxiety, uncertainty, and constant interruptions of daily life, Hillel Israel staff are still doing all they can to support students from afar and finding ways to spread joy: sharing mishloach manot (bags of treats traditionally exchanged on Purim) with neighbors in their shelters, and honoring the mitzvot of Purim by reading megillah in small groups or together on Zoom.
Capturing the full range of her experience over the last few days, Abramowitz reflected, “I am alive and living in Jerusalem and that is my complicated, beautiful, grateful, joyous and upside down reality.”