临近逾越节，希勒尔成员反思学年
In a year of challenges, joyful surprise, and growth, the Jewish student organization 是否满足学生的需要，并与社区保持联系.
This Friday, the 九州娱乐官网 Hillel chapter will host fellow students, faculty, staff, and members of the larger Chestertown 社区 for a Seder, three days before the start of Passover to enable the outreach event without preventing anyone from 和家人一起庆祝节日. 而强调分享 ritual dinner and some of its meaning— celebrating as a 社区, educating about Jewish culture and custom, and lifting the voices of all oppressed peoples—echoes last year’s Intersectional Seder, this year’s event will hew more closely to Jewish tradition, answering a desire from Hillel students during this extraordinary year.
Early this academic year, Hillel was continuing its modest progress, tabling in Hodson Hall and sharing apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah, holding bagel brunches, and welcoming 新成员.
随后，哈马斯于10月9日袭击了以色列. 7. 以色列入侵哈马斯领导的加沙地带， antisemitic incidents, and fear and uncertainty all followed shortly afterwards, deepening 校园里的犹太学生需要融入社区.
“After the October 7 events, we did just open up the 希勒尔的房子, and more people than I expected took advantage of a safe space,” said math professor Gabe Feinberg, 他是希勒尔和生物学教授亚伦·克罗赫马尔的顾问. “我有点惊讶 但很高兴那些人有地方可去并且信任我们.”
That trust has developed through the approach that Feinberg and Krochmal encourage and that the students in Hillel have fully embraced, one that emphasizes creating 一个温馨的空间，满足学生的需求.
As a result, Hillel has attracted students who identify as culturally Jewish, as religiously Jewish, as spiritual but not religious, including students raised in traditions other 比犹太教. 加入希勒尔没有宗教上的考验. 相反，该组织试图这样做 满足其成员的宗教、文化等方面的需要.
Skye Hass ’24 (they/them/their), the outgoing president of Hillel, said Hillel’s focus on what students want and need rather than following a strict plan has allowed them to learn about and embrace their heritage after growing up without a Jewish 社区.
"I greatly enjoy all the cultural celebrations because that is what I was raised with,” 哈斯说. “Making latkes in the winter for Hanukkah, that's a very big joy for me because it's one thing that stayed throughout my entire life was making latkes with 我的妈妈. Being able to celebrate Hanukkah with 社区 outside of just 我的妈妈 has 非常充实.”
Hanukkah this year was noteworthy not just for Hillel but for the entire Chestertown 社区. 切斯特镇第一次在市中心有了一个烛台 holiday displays in December, and scores of 社区 members, students, faculty, and College administrators gathered for the lighting on the first night of Hanukkah.
During the spring semester, Hillel has continued to offer bagel brunches about once a month when anyone on campus is invited for some food and conversation in Hillel House, and the Hillel membership has continued to hold Shabbat dinners about as often 也. Other than those formal events, Hillel members have embraced using the house simply to gather, enjoying movie nights or other more spontaneous moments, something Feinberg said he and Krochmal have been hoping to see develop since the spring of 2022年，他们成为了该组织的顾问.
In March, Hillel member Sara Sypolt ’26 led a workshop on “Mitigating Anti-Semitic (Micro)aggressions” with the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Team, for which 她充当促进者的角色. Sypolt和希勒尔的其他成员帮助开发了 workshop as a new module for the education-focused JEDI, and a cross-section of students, staff, and faculty attended the workshop at 希勒尔的房子, the first time it was offered.
“我们有很多人非常乐于接受. 我们聊得很开心 反犹主义是如何延续下去的，”Sypolt说. “很多反犹太主义都存在于微观侵略中. 我们可以破坏它，我们应该尽我们所能破坏它.”
Sypolt will also be presenting in 希勒尔的房子 as this year’s winner of the 罗伊·安斯美籍犹太人研究奖学金, which provides a $2,500 stipend for a sophomore or junior completing a research project related to the Jewish-American experience in any area of study offered by 九州娱乐官网. Sypolt通过一个交叉点研究犹太酷儿文学 lens, and her presentation will share her findings of varied, unique experiences and the commonality those writers showed in their resilience in adapting to their religious 以及性别认同. Sypolt的演讲将于5月1日，周三，四点半开始 邀请校园社区的所有成员参加.
Even with the Seder and Ans Fellowship presentations still 来 to finish out the 2023-24 academic year, already Hillel’s advisors and students alike are looking ahead. Elections for next year’s officers illustrated how the organization has grown this year, as they were able to fill not only traditional board roles like president and vice president, but also elected chairs for religious events and for cultural events.
Feinberg noted he is optimistic about Hillel’s future given the momentum with more 学生们参与进来，拥抱这个组织 希勒尔的房子. Incoming President Zoe Shevitz ’25 agreed that the increased membership and activity were encouraging this year and re-emphasized the focus on inclusivity as vital to 希勒尔的身份.
“We have really worked towards making Hillel a safe place for anyone and everyone 来. It's nice to see people want to learn about the Jewish religion and want to be involved in our holidays even if we’re just having dinner,” Shevitz said. “这是 a great thing to have people from all different backgrounds coming into Hillel. 每一个人 给希勒尔带来了不同的东西. 我们都是一个社区. 看到它 今年的成长对我来说真的很重要. 我想知道未来的学生会 希勒尔会成为校园里更大的一部分吗.”
——Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven