Shabbat: Each Friday night we have, on average, about 125 students attend services and dinner. We offer a Reform, Conservative and Traditional service.
In terms of the service, it is important that the staff are pretty evenly spread between the services. Our biggest task of the evening though, is helping everyone transition from services to dinner. We have to fold away the walls in the Reform and Conservative service rooms, help the students carry chairs from each of these services to the dinning room (big room) and help everyone congregate in the big room to do Kiddush. Once Kiddush is finished it is important to help the rest of the evening run smoothly. This includes everything from the handwashing before the meal to the birkat hamazon. As a staff, we work together to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and that the evening moves along in an organized fashion.
Throughout the evening it is important to greet everyone and create a welcoming atmosphere for the students.
High Holidays: We have the Conservative High Holiday services at Hillel and the Reform High Holiday services at the Red Gym. The Traditional services are at Chabad, and we are not responsible for those. Throughout the High Holiday season, we each work cohesively to make sure the approprite books are in the correct locations, we are utilizing as many chairs as possible and that the perimter of the rooms are setup appropriately (i.e., there are flyers up, calendars available and everything looks clean).. Beyond these basics, the most important task is to be aware of everything that is happening and help each day run smoothly. This includes making sure all the books are being utilized, helping services start on time and creating a welcoming environment for all the students.
Passover: Passover is one of the busiest holidays, mostly because of all the food we serve. We serve two meals a day for Passover and two full Seders. It is important to start early when it is your turn to help prepare food, and/or setup for Seders. All of the staff work together to help facilitate the Passover meals. Keep your calendar open during Passover.
The Rest of the Holidays: Each holiday has its own unique tasks that need to be completed. For example, a sukkah must be built for Sukkot and a memorial service is organized for Yithak Rabin. Some tasks are smaller than others. Some people inherently have larger roles for certain holidays because of student groups they work with, or unique competencies they posses. Make it known what holidays you are more capable of taking a larger role in and be avialable to help with those in which you have less responsibility. For instance, I enjoy building things, so I helped build the Sukkah last year.
National Initiatives -- For almost every holiday, there are national initiatives available. In fact, there are national initiatives that exist unrelated to the holidays. There are people that work within Hillel and with numerous partner agencies that create valuable resources and programs year-round. You will not be able to utilize everything that is organized on a national level, but definitely explore the resources that are available to you as a fellow and member of the Hillel staff. To view the resource page, click here.
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