HOLIDAYS

The Jewish calendar is jammed full of various observances, celebrations, historical notations and other days variously called: holidays. Holidays are a little crazy-making and a lot of fun. Sometimes they are a quite empowerment oriented, but can usually be used to pull people in, teach a little something, throw a party, do something fun, or make a point. In general, the main program for each holiday is in Marla’s portfolio, if the event is SDSU centered. The biggest ones are done together with all of Hillel of San Diego. Some things are part of Kara’s portfolio, such as area-wide Purim parties and Chanukah parties. But just because one thing is going on, doesn’t mean it has to stop there. You can do something specific with any one (or more!) of your target groups, or plan something for a more intimate audience. Read on for some specifics:

1. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

The High Holidays are a big all-together Hillel of San Diego affair. The past two years, Rosh Hashanah (RH) services were held at Temple Emanu-el and Yom Kippur (YK) services were held on campus at UCSD—a fair compromise. However, since in the coming year both holidays will be before UCSD is in session, they may very well both be on the SDSU side of town. Tickets are free to students and cost for non-students. Your role beforehand is to advertise and get tickets distributed, and during the services you will be expected to give a sermon. Scary, I know. You will hear more about this at the first all-staff meeting. I personally like public speaking, and telling people what I think, so doing the sermon was very good for me. The reason we do them is so that lots of people get to know who we are early in the year. At the services you will also be expected to spend some time greeting and ushering, and being generally helpful. But don’t forget to reserve some time for yourself and your own prayer time!

In addition to services on the actual day of, there are plenty of things to do to get people’s attention before and between the High Holidays. My personal favorite was putting together Happy New Year packets for each of the residence halls students, and delivering them to the halls to be put in their mailboxes. (For examples, check the bottom right drawer of the desk. Those are for you!) This became a problem my second year for some reason—they didn’t all get put in the mailboxes by the desk attendants. I don’t know why, and at some point my other engagement responsibilities became more important than me finding out. Other Fellows have also planned apple-picking trips or honey-cake baking events. If you want good apples or apple pies, head up to Julian. It’s an hour drive, but the pie is worth it! Could be a good weekend Frosh event. Between the two holidays there are opportunities to do introspective programming, for example about new year’s resolutions and the like. Give it a go!

2. Sukkoth

Building the Sukkah in the backyard at Hillel is always a fun project. Generally a bunch of guys show up and argue about the best way to hammer in a nail. Jackie knows more than any of them. And plenty of people show up to hang decorations, make paper chains, show their carpenter skills, etc. Shabbat during Sukkoth is generally very special, with Kiddush in the Sukkah and people eating out there.

This past year, Sukkoth fell just after September 11^th, and none of the staff felt like doing a ton of programming. However, the Sukkah really presents wonderful programmatic opportunities. It is something you can invite people to, which is homey, Jewish, novel, and generally involves food. We did an excellent Birthright reunion in there this year, and it was great. I recommend trying to plan a program in there for each of your target groups, if possible. What a great way to start off the year!

As an aside, Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret both fall at the end of Sukkoth. Since these go relatively unnoticed, typically they aren’t programmed for. However, you can always refer students to celebrations at the area synagogues. I particularly recommend Tifereth Israel’s Simchat Torah—for you and the students!

3. Chanukah

Chanukah, of course, is one of the most known and recognized Jewish holidays. It is also fun, fun, fun. What could be more engagement-y than a holiday full of fun, food, and none of the hard stuff? An area-wide Chanukah party will most likely take place, planned by Kara, staffed by many, and attended by most. However, there are many other things to do. Here is something I wrote up for the Lipinskys about my Chanukah events:

“The first two weeks of December 2001 saw a number of strong Chanukah programs that brought people together after a draining and emotional semester. It was certainly a time of darkness in which many students needed a little light.

“On December 6, 2002, I worked with a Resident Advisor (RA) in the Tenochca residence hall to bring “A Festival of Lights” to the students who live in that building. We invited the Afrikan Student Union to present about Kwanzaa, the RA spoke a bit about little known-Christmas facts, and I made a presentation on Chanukah. We also provided food which represented each holiday. We decorated the room to reflect the emphasis on light in each of these holidays, and I put together a multi-cultural poster about the use of lights in many winter holidays, including Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Solstice, and Chinese New Year. This program was a chance for me to work within the residence halls and thereby meet Jewish students who live there but who had not previously been involved with Hillel, as well as to educate non-Jewish students about Chanukah.

“On December 12, 2002, I helped host “Chanukah in the House”. This was a Jewish-Greek latke-making event in the AEPi fraternity house. We put out invitations to Jewish members of all fraternity and sorority houses, and sent personal invites to known Jewish members of various houses. The potatoes, onions, and eggs were all shredded and mixed at Hillel during the day with the help of an AEPi brother. At the event, which was attended by approximately 30 Jewish members of the Greek system, participants lit Chanukah candles together, fried latkes for each other, sang some Chanukah songs, and had various informal discussions about the nature of miracles and Chanukah. The program was a hit as it brought together Jewish members of at least 4 houses, so that they could identify each other as Jewish and form friendships together, even within the context of their own social identities.

“Starting at Thanksgiving and culminating just before finals week, JSU participated in Jewish Family Services’ (JFS) Adopt-A-Family program. As a group the students decided to adopt a small family and raise the money to buy them gifts by promoting the projects at all events. The project became a way for each student to put in just what they could, whether it was $1 or $18, and know that they were helping someone in need. The family we adopted was a 2-person family (mother and 2-year-old) from a domestic violence background. Through the money raised we were able to buy everything on their “wish list” and more, including clothing, toys, music, tools, kitchen items, and a gift certificate for D.Z. Akins. This event also was an excellent opportunity to partner with JFS and let our students know about the excellent work that is done by them in our community.”

4. Purim

Again, like Chanukah, Purim usually is a great time for an area-wide bash. Leave it to Kara to plan something great you can invite all the students to. In addition to this, you can plan all sorts of things. Last year I contacted an R.A. in Chapultapec and hosted a mask-making event in her floor’s lounge. I brought art supplies, hamentaschen, and info sheets about Purim. It brought out various Jewish students, and even some non-Jewish ones who thought our holidays sounded really cool! Marla has done lunch and learn programs, and we usually have people bake Hamentaschen in the Hillel building. You could also deliver mishloach manot to students in the halls or to the Greek houses. Two suggestions I heard and loved, but didn’t try, were to do a self-defense program with women and tie it in to Vashti standing up for herself; and doing a project with LGBT students about the masks we wear and not “coming out” as Jews or gay if they don’t feel safe. There are many themes of Purim to work with, so don’t stop with the party!

4a. I almost forgot Tu B’shevat. How could I forget such a great holiday? The birthday of the trees…. Marla has done a Tu B’shevat seder the past two years, which have been great. This past year I got a group of students together to plant a tree on campus. Sometime when you walk onto campus with Jackie, have her point out the various JSU trees. It was all very simple. I called up the Physical Plant, told them I wanted to plant a tree on campus, told them it had been done before, and we went from there. They showed up with the tree and some shovels and we showed up with a small group of students, and a tree was planted. They billed us for the tree, and we were all set. There are some good tabling opportunities for Tu B’shevat as well, such as Eat Dirt (with candy and cookie crumbs) or handing out dried fruit.

5. Pesach

The procedure for Pesach actually changes from year to year, based on when it falls in relation to the semester, what part of the week the Seders are in, and the like. My first year, we were in full swing, so we did first night Seder in the building, and kashered the kitchen for Pesach. All week the building was open for people to come cook and eat Pesadik meals. There was usually a huge group around mealtimes, and it was a lot of fun—but a ton of work. This year, UCSD was on break during the seders and SDSU was on break during the week of Passover. We therefore collaborated, doing an enlarged Seder at SDSU for everyone. Because we were on break most of the week, we didn’t officially kasher the kitchen and we didn’t serve meals.

Before and during Passover are both opportune times to do outside programming. This year I did a Chocolate Seder in the dorms which mostly ended up educating non-Jews about what Pesach is. When we were serving meals last year, I showed Prince of Egypt during dinner one night. I think this could be shown either in a residence hall or a Greek house, to get it out of the building. I discovered how much I love the desert—and how close it is—a little too late but going for a “wandering in the desert” trip the week before Pesach might be fun. There is also a book of Kesher suggestions from Kesher which has some good ideas in it. Pesach is one of the best known and most observed Jewish holidays. Thus you have many opportunities for discussions and programs. More than usual, people will be paying attention and looking for a connection. (However, this doesn’t keep people from being oblivious if Spring Break is at the same time.)

6. Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, Yom Ha’Atzmaut

Affectionately called “the Yoms” around here, these three cultural holidays fall within a week of each other. Marla runs a crackerjack Yom HaShoah program on campus complete with a Name Reading and quilt-making. Offer to be helpful, but additional programming isn’t generally necessary. Yom HaZikaron, the memorial day for Israel’s fallen soldiers, each year is commemorated at the JCC for the whole community. It is best to invite students to participate in and attend this, as it is an opportunity for them to be a part of the larger Jewish community in San Diego. This past year, the ceremony included a memorial for the fallen victims of terror, and doubled slightly as a pro-Israel rally. Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, is more festive. There is an annual celebration on a Sunday at the JCC which Hillel participates in. On campus, activities have included handing out “birthday cake for Israel”, Israeli dancing, falafel, etc. This year we had shirts and pins from the consulate which we handed out on campus. As it fell within a period of serious tension in the region and renewed violence, the feeling was to educate and celebrate together.

7. Shavuot

SDSU has a tendency, albeit unintentional, to schedule graduation the same weekend as Shavuot. At least, it was true both years I was here. Needless to say, programming was minimal. Okay, non-existent. I personally attended Tifereth Israel both years. In fact, this year it will fall in June after the students are gone, so don’t worry about it. Enjoy the days off!

8. Shabbat

Ahhh…Shabbat. It comes every week. Get ready. Sure it is a day of rest, but services and dinner each week can make everyone a little crazy. Shabbat here is actually a wonderful and beautiful time, and a great chance to catch up with students. So be sure to relax and enjoy it, as well as worry about whether there are enough plates or whatever. Actually, things here are a pretty well-oiled machine in terms of Shabbat, and Jackie and Marla will brief you on everything before the first Shabbat of the semester.

As for your role…. No one works every Shabbat each month. It is important for you to be present at some Shabbats in the building, and to have it be a time students can expect to see you and catch up with you. However, Shabbat also creates some unique out-of-the-building engagement experiences. Jackie and I had it worked out that I would do one Shabbat in the building each month, and also plan one target-group oriented Shabbat out of the building each month. Some of these were more successful than others, but they were worth doing regardless. They included: Residence Halls Shabbat in Cholula and/or Tula; Birthright reunion Shabbat in my apartment; LGBT Shabbat with Dan at The Center in Hillcrest; The Reform Retreat, also with Dan, all over the place; and others. I often thought about doing a Greek Shabbat in one of the houses, but it didn’t work out this year. You may have a great opportunity for it, though, with the AEPi’s living in the new Fraternity Row.

When doing Shabbat out of the building, the main thing is to design it to fit the target group. I almost never did an actual service with these. Usually I had people do candles, Kiddush, and motzi beforehand, and birkat hamazon after the meal, and sometimes some sort of discussion during the meal. The point for me was to have a home-like Shabbat meal and to design it around the theme of the target group in some way. I also found that these dinners were an ideal spot for people to meet others who had similar interests as themselves.

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